HISTORY 



OF 



THE CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 



FROM THE INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY 



TO THE 



PERIOD OP THE DISRUPTION IN 1843, 



BY THE 



REV ¥. M. HETHERINGTON, A.M., 

TORPHICHEN. 

AUTHOR OF THE "MINISTER'S FAMILY j" "HISTORY OF THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLT 
OF DIVINES," ETC., ETC., ET3. 



NEC TAMEN C-ONSDMEB ATUR. 



THE LIBRARY 
OF C ONGR ESS 

WASHINGTON 



NEW YORK: 

ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, 
No. 285 BROADWAY. 



1856. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

Chapter I. — From the Introduction of Christianity into Scotland to the 

Commencement of the Reformation, 7 

Chapter II. — From the Beginning of the Reform2, + .ion to the Meeting of the 

first General Assembly, . 22 

Chapter III. — From the first General Assembly, in 1560, to the year 1592, 

and the Great Charter of the Church, . . 52 

Chapter IV. — From the Great Charter of the Church, in 1592, to the Rati- 
fication of the Five Articles of Perth, in the year 1621, . 95 

Chapter V.— From the Ratification of the Five Articles of Perth, in the year 

1621, to the National Covenant, in 1638, .... 127 

Chapter VI. — From the Subscribing of the Covenant, in 1638, to the Resto- 
ration of Charles II., in 1660, 156 

Chapter VII. — From the Restoration of Charles II. to the Revolution of 1688, 205 

Chapter VIII.— From the Revolution, in 1688, to the Treaty of Union, in 1707, 294 

Chapter IX. — From the Union to the Rise of the Second Secession, in 1752, 322 

Chapter X. — From the Period of the Second Secession till the Assembly 

of 1841, ... * 362 

Chapter XL— From the Assembly of 1841 to the Disruption in 1843, . . 421 

Appendix, 475 



PREFACE. 



The want of a History of the Church of Scotland, at once concise and entire, haa 
long been felt Separate periods have been very fully treated of by several authors, 
leaving for their successors nttle to do but to compress the voluminous records which 
they had collected ; and ample materials exist to fill up the intermediate chasms, and to 
continue the narrative down to the present times. But as no attempt has hitherto been 
made to compress the histories of these detached periods, to fill up the intermediate 
chasms, and to continue the narrative, it is a matter of considerable difficulty for any 
person who has not much leisure to spend, nor ready 'access to public libraries, to ob- 
tain a connected view of the Church of Scotland throughout its entire history. Seve- 
ral very serious disadvantages have resulted from the want of such a work ; a great 
degree of ignorance has been allowed to prevail respecting the true principles and 
sharacter of the Church of Scotland ; her enemies have availed themselves of this ig- 
norance to misrepresent her past conduct, to calumniate the characters of her Reform- 
ers and Martyrs, and to assail her present proceedings, while many of her zealous 
friends are without the means of vindicating the past and defending the present ;' and 
numbers are remaining in a state of neutrality, liable to be misled, who require but 
accurate information to induce them at once to give their cordial support to the Church 
of their fathers. Nor can there be a doubt, that many are at present not merely neu- 
tral but hostile, who would become her strenuous defenders, if they possessed sufficient 
Knowledge of her past and present history. 

Impelled by these considerations, and by the strong persuasion, that by giving to 
the public a faithful record of the scriptural principles of the Church of Scotland, her 
sufferings in defence of the Redeemer's Headship and of Gospel truth and purity, and 
the mental, moral, and religious blessings which she has been instrumental in confer- 
ring on the kingdom, I should best aid in her vindication and defence, I have endeav- 
oured to supply the long-felt want of a concise, continuous, and entire History of the 
Church of Scotland. I have not the presumption to imagine that my work will ade- 
quately supply the want. For reasons which seemed to me imperative, I have re- 
stricted myself within the limits which prevent the possibility of giving more than a 
tolerably full outline of a subject requiring several volumes to do it justice. Much pe- 
culiarly interesting and instructive matter, — both fitted to illustrate great principles, and 
characteristic of the interior life and private influence of the Presbyterian Church, — 
has been unavoidably, and very reluctantly, withheld, that the continuity of the main 
outline might not be broken, nor the general impression weakened by minute details. 

References to authorities have been given in every matter of chief importance, ex- 
cept where these are already well known and universally admitted. It would have 
been easy to have adduced very many more ; but while a superfluous array of refer- 
ences appears to me to savour of ostentation, and can be of little consequence to the 
general reader, for whom chiefly this work is intended, it is believed, that those who 
wish to prosecute their acquaintance with the subject, will find enough to authenticate 
every statement, and to direct them to sources where more minute details may be ob- 
tained. I have preferred to quote the testimony of opponents rather than that of 
friends, in many instances, as less liable to be disputed ; and when several authorities 
support the same account, I have given the one most generally known, rather than the 
rarer, that the reader might the more easily verily my statement, if so disposed. The 
edition of Knox's History of the Reformation to which reference is made, is that which 
Dr. M ; Crie regarded as the most authentic. No pains have been spared in the investi- 
gation of every point respecting which conflicting opinions have been entertained ; and 
in forming my own judgment I have been guided chiefly by the testimony of those 
who were amply acquainted with the events which they related, and whose characters 
give the highest value to their evidence. 



vi 



PREFACE. 



With regard to the sentiments contained in the work, I cannot but be aware, that 
while stating my own feelings and opinions, what I have written will not be equally 
agreeable to all. I have no wish to give unnecessary offence to any ; but in my 
opinion, no person ought to attempt to write history, who has not both an honest de"- 
sire to ascertain the truth, and sufficient courage to state it freely and impartially when 
ascertained. And it is perfectly impossible to write the History of the Church of 
Scotland, without relating events which cannot fail to excite strong moral indignation 
against the two systems by which that Church has, at different periods, been perse- 
cuted and oppressed. It has been my desire to abstain from unnecessary asperity of 
language, even when detailing acts of perfidy and cruelty, rarely equalled in the annals 
of persecution; not because I think that Scottish Prelacy has any peculiar claim to be 
leniently treated, but because the plain and simple statement of the truth will best dis- 
play the spirit and character of that intolerant system. 

Painful, indeed, has been the task of tracing the course of worldly policy and eccle- 
siastical corruption and despotism, which prevailed throughout the last century and the 
beginning of the present; and most reluctantly have I felt myself constrained to record 
the deeds which were done in Scotland during the long reign of Moderatism. But it 
was felt to be an imperative duty to do so, both as required by historical fidelity, and 
as rendered peculiarly necessary by the present circumstances of the Church. It would 
be a very instructive chapter in the history of the errors which the spirit of the world 
has superinduced upon Christianity, to give a full view of the rise, progress, and com- 

Elete developement of the system which has been called Moderatism. I have not, 
owever, sought to do so, further than appeared absolutely necessary for the purpose 
of displaying so much of its real essence and character as might sufficiently prove, 
that the true Presbyterian Church of Scotland is not justly chargeable with the actions 
of a secular system, which had its origin in hostile elements, which gradually usurped, 
and long exercised over her the most cruel and oppressive tyranny, and whose whole 
procedure was one continuous endeavour to destroy her principles and subvert her con- 
stitution. 

To those Gentlemen who have kindly favoured me with the perusal of valuable 
books, to which I could not otherwise have easily obtained access, I take this oppor- 
tunity of returning my grateful thanks. And I now lay my work before the public, in 
the hope, that what was undertaken solely from a strong conviction of duty to the Di- 
vine Head of the Church, to the Church of Scotland, and to my countrymen in gen- 
eral, may, through the blessing of God, be of some avail in removing ignorance and 
prejudice, correcting erroneous misrepresentations, and enabling the community to 
form an accurate conception of the real principles and character of the Church of 
Scotland. 

In preparing this edition of the History of the Church of Scotland, it has been 
thought expedient to continue the narrative of events till the Disruption which took 
place in May last, and resulted in the formation of what is now termed The Free 
Church of Scotland, — in which are still preserved entire the constitutional principles, 
the unfettered freedom, the vital energy, the doctrinal purity, and the spiritual fervency, 
that have, in its best periods, always distinguished the testimony-bearing Church of 
our fathers. 

W. M. H. 

Free Manse, Torphichen, 
October 1843. 



HISTORY 

OF THE 

CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



CHAPTER L 

TROM THE INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY INTO 
SCOTLAND, TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE 
REFORMATION. 

Introductory Remarks— Statement of General Princi- 
ples involved in all Church History— Divine Truth 
infused into the Social System— Opposition from 
Man's Fallen Nature— Characteristic Principles of 
different Churches— Of the Church of Scotland— In- 
troduction of Christianity into Scotland— The Cul- 
dees— Peculiarities of their System — Introduced into 
England— Aueustine the Monk— He and his followers 
oppose the Culdees— They retire to Scotland— The 
Prelatic System of Rome introduced — the Culdees 
at length overborne and suppressed— The leading 
Tenets of the Culdees— Progress of Popery— Its 
Wealth and Power— State of Scotland at the Com- 
mencement of the Reformation. 

Thee.e are certain general principles 
involved in all Church History, greatly 
more profound in their character and im- 
portant in their consequences than those 
which appear in, or can be deduced from, 
the records of Civil History. The civil 
historian has to deal with man merely as 
the mortal inhabitant of this world ; and, 
however deeply his philosophical know- 
ledge of the human mind may enable 
him to penetrate into those undeclared 
motives by which sovereigns and states- 
men are often influenced, and the affairs 
of nations controlled, there is still one de- 
partment, and that the mightiest of all, 
into which it is not his province to enter. 
He may unravel the twisted intrigues of 
mere worldly policy ; he may detect and 
confute the sophistries of worldly wis- 
dom ; but, except he be something more 
than a philosophical historian, he will 
remain utterly unable to understand the 
meaning and the power of conscience. 



influenced by religion, and impelling 
men frequently to act directly contrary 
to every thing which he would deem 
politic and expedient. Not only this 
class of motives, but the course of events 
also, will often be found to lie equally 
beyond his reach adequately to compre- 
hend and explain. He will often find 
means and arrangements apparently the 
wisest and most sufficient, utterly fail of 
accomplishing the proposed end ; while 
others, which seem ill advised and feeble, 
will be crowned with the most remarka- 
ble success. Frequently, therefore, must 
he content himself with recording the 
course of events, of which the impelling 
causes and controlling agencies are to 
him altogether unknown. Man as he 
is, in short, impelled by the passions and 
allured by the interests of his known and 
common nature, — circumscribed, as he 
at present appears, within the limits of 
space and time, of his earthly pursuits 
and mortal life, — forms the object of the 
»?ivil historian's important yet incomplete 
researches. 

But Church History has to deal with 
the deeds and characters of men in that 
very department into which the civil his- 
torian cannot enter. It views man as a 
moral and spiritual being, fallen from his 
original condition of purity and happi- 
ness, the slave of guilty passions, degra- 
ded by low and grovelling pursuits, and 
blinded by inveterate prejudices, yet ca- 
pable of recovery from his depraved and 
miserable condition, and at present under 
a dispensation divinely fitted to restore 



8 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



him to more than the purity and eleva- 
tion from which he fell. He is seen, 
therefore, as constantly impelled by the 
one or the other of two contending influ- 
ences, directly hostile to each other ; — 
the one, the influence of his fallen and 
corrupt nature, striving to perpetuate all its 
own evil tendencies, and to impede and 
pervert all the efforts of its opponent ; the 
other, the influence of revealed religion, 
of Christianity, striving to expel corrup- 
tion, remove prejudices, and heal the 
moral maladies of the soul, by the infu- 
sion of the new and sacred principles of 
eternal truth. Church History has, there- 
fore, for its peculiar province, the infu- 
sion into the soul of fallen man of the 
sacred principles of divine revealed truth, 
— their influence in the social system, as 
they strive to pervade and mould it anew, 
— the opposition which they meet with 
from the inherent depravity of the heart, 
— the struggles of these contending in- 
fluences of good and evil, of the world 
and religion, — the convulsions occasion- 
ally thereby produced, — and the changes 
which take place in the aspect and struc- 
ture of society, as the one or the other 
from time to time obtains ascendency, 
puts forth its power, and exhibits its na- 
tive character. It is thus evident that the 
history of the Church of any land is the 
history of the moral and spiritual life of 
that land ; and that it claims, as its own 
peculiar domain, that very region of 
moral and spiritual principles and mo- 
tives into which the secular historian, as 
such, cannot even enter, and yet without 
some knowledge of which, much of what 
is most important in the history of every 
nation can never be understood and ex- 
plained. 

In tracing the Church History of any 
country, we must expect to meet with 
much that we must both deplore and 
condemn. For although the principles 
which Christianity introduces into the 
soul of man, and thereby into the social 
system, are in themselves absolutely per- 
fect, yet they are rarely perfectly re- 
ceived, and never have been perfectly 
developed. Divine truth does not, in- 
deed, contract any portion of human error 
by entering into the mind of man ; but 
the depraved and prejudiced human mind 
obtains in general only a partial recep- 
tion and distorted view of its great prin- 



ciples. The inevitable consequence is, 
that its genuine effects are very greatly 
impaired by the disturbing influence of 
human depravity and prejudice. Some 
of the most important religious principles 
are frequently obscured, because they 
have been either imperfectly understood, 
or are so opposed to the natural predilec- 
tions of fallen man as to be disliked, and 
therefore perverted. They do indeed re- 
appear from time to time, as peculiar 
junctures, under the guiding of Divine 
Providence, call them forth ; until their 
true character and value being thus forced 
upon the perception of the general mind, 
they are at length received, and oppor- 
tunity thereby given for the similar pro- 
cess of developement to others, which 
had been equally neglected or opposed. 
This is the case, whether such principles 
have direct reference to the government, 
the doctrine, or the discipline of the 
Christian Church, as might easily be 
shown from the general records of 
Church History. 

There is also a necessary continuity 
of character, as of being, in the life and 
history of any Church ; and that charac- 
ter can never be rightly understood, how- 
ever familiar we may be with the details 
of its general history, unless we have a 
clear and true conception of those lead- 
ing principles which have always formed 
the master element of its essential exist- 
ence. By keeping them steadily in view, 
we shall be able to trace distinctly all the 
various changes and alternations of its 
course, marking and understanding not 
merely those external events which are 
manifest to the world, but those unseen 
influences which move, and mould, and 
animate the whole. Even in periods of 
comparative stagnation, when there seems 
to be a cessation of all active and vital 
impulses, the knowledge of what forms 
the essential characteristics of a national 
Church may enable us to detect the 
otherwise imperceptible progress of a 
deep and calm under-current, preparing 
for some new and mighty developement 
of silently-ripened energies, by which 
the whole structure of society may be 
convulsed, and constrained to assume a 
new aspect, more. in conformity with the 
character of its inward moral and reli- 
gious life. 

Every person who has paid much at- 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 



9 



tention to Church History must be aware 
that, of the great leading principles of 
Christianity, some have been held in pe- 
culiar reverence, and defended with pe- 
culiar determination, by one national 
Church, and some by another ; and from 
this has arisen in each that distinctive 
characteristic by which the various por- 
tions of the Church general maintain 
their individuality, notwithstanding their 
common resemblance. It would require 
too wide a survey, and perhaps involve a 
discussion too vague, to point out the dis- 
tinctive characteristics of the chief na- 
tional Churches throughout the Christian 
world ; but there can be little difficulty 
in making specific mention of that great 
Christian principle which the Church of 
Scotland has always striven to realize 
and defend, — namely, That the Lord 
Jesus Christ is the only Head and 
King of the Church ; whence it fol- 
lows, by necessary consequence, That 
its Government is derived from Him 
alone, and is distinct from, and not 
subordinate in its own province to, the 
Civil Magistrate. The very remote- 
ness of Scotland from Rome, the seat first 
of imperial, and subsequently of ecclesi- 
astical power, tended to allow for a time 
a more free developement of that great 
principle, and of its legitimate conse- 
quences, than would have been possible 
had it been more accessible to the influ- 
ence of Roman supremacy. It might, 
perhaps, be thought by some, that the 
Presbyterian form of church government, 
rather than the great principle of the sole 
Sovereignty of Christ, has been, and is, 
the characteristic tenet of the Church of 
Scotland. But it requires only a little 
deeper investigation, or profounder 
thought, to enable any impartial and un- 
prejudiced person to see, that the great 
principle of Christ's sole Sovereignty 
must prohibit the Church which holds it 
from the adoption of any merely human 
inventions or arrangements in that form 
of government which He has given to 
the Church, his free spiritual kingdom, 
of which the Holy Scriptures contain the 
only authoritative enactment and declara- 
tion. 

It is not our purpose to enter here into 
the controversy respecting forms of 
church government, farther than merely 
to state our full conviction, that it can be 



proved, and often has been proved, that 
the Episcopalian, or rather let us term it 
now, and throughout this work, the Pre- 
latic form of church government, is one 
of merely human invention ; whilst the 
Presbyterian is of divine origin and au- 
thority, and consequently is that which 
would of necessity be adopted and re- 
tained by any Church which held as its 
leading principle the sole headship and 
kingly dominion of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. But it is enough at present 
merely to have stated these general prin- 
ciples, and suggested their application. 
If the candid reader will bear them in 
mind during his perusal of the following 
pages, he will soon be able to decide for 
himself respecting their truth and their 
importance. 

The first introduction of Christianity 
into Scotland cannot, it appears, be now 
exactly ascertained. It would be in vain 
to refer to the legendary records of an- 
cient Scottish kings, given by some of 
our historians, as furnishing authoritative 
information respecting the events of a pe- 
riod so far beyond the boundaries of our 
nation's authentic annals. Perhaps the 
earliest indication that the light of Chris- 
tianity had begun to dawn upon the re- 
mote regions of Caledonia, that can at 
all be depended upon, may be found in 
the words of Tertullian, who asserts, that 
" those parts of Britain which were inac- 
cessible to the Romans had become sub- 
ject to Christ." And although we are 
not to attach to the fervid lanffuag-e of a 
rhetorician the same degree of credit 
which we yield to the direct statements 
of a historian, yet, remembering the ex- 
treme rapidity with which Christianity 
was propagated throughout the Roman 
empire in the apostolic age, it is by no 
means improbable that it should have 
reached Britain, and even penetrated to 
the mountains of Caledonia, before the 
close of the second century. The vio- 
lence of the persecutions which raged in 
every part of Rome's dominion's during 
the third century, may readily be sup- 
posed to have driven many of the Chris- 
tians beyond the boundaries of the em- 
pire, and thus to have aided indirectly in 
the diffusion of the gospel, and especially 
to have promoted its introduction into the 
territories of unsubdued nations. Many 



10 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



of those persecuted Christians may then 
have found a refuge among the uncon- 
quered districts of Scotland and Ireland, 
where they would, of course, endeavour 
to instruct the rude but not inhospitable 
natives in the knowledge of the truth as 
it is in Jesus. 

In what manner these early Christian 
refugees commenced what may be termed 
their missionary labours among the Scots 
and Picts, — and whether, as some authors 
assert, the greater number of them re- 
sorted to Ireland, and there assembling 
themselves together, resumed the form of 
primitive ecclesiastical government to 
which they had been accustomed, — are 
questions into which it would be fruitless 
to inquire, it being now almost impossi- 
ble to arrive at any certainty on these 
points. The records of those remote 
times are so obscure and contradictory, 
that they rather furnish material for con- 
jecture, than data from which any satis- 
factory inferences may be drawn. There 
are, however, a few points on which all 
ancient records seem to agree. These, 
therefore, we may assume as generally 
admitted facts, although party-writers 
have endeavoured to deduce from them 
the most opposite conclusions ; and while 
we do not venture to claim for ourselves 
absolute impartiality and freedom from 
all biassing predilections, we shall do 
our utmost to guard against the influence 
of prejudices, — to state nothing but what 
we believe, after very careful investiga- 
tion, to be the truth, — and to frame no 
inferences but what seem to us to be nat- 
ural, direct, and inevitable. 

There is reason to believe, as has been 
already stated, that the knowledge of 
Christianity was to some extent commu- 
nicated to the people of Scotland and Ire- 
land as early as towards the close of the 
second, and more especially during the 
third, century of the Christian era, in the 
times of those fierce persecutions which, 
while they were meant to exterminate, 
were actually overruled to promote the 
progress of the Christian religion. There 
is no reason, however, to think that those 
persecuted and banished Christians at- 
tempted at that early period to construct 
any distinct frame of ecclesiastical govern- 
ment. They seem rather to have dwelt 
in comparatively isolated solitude, each 
m his own retreat, and each communica- 



ting to his own immediate neighbours as 
much instruction as he could impart, 
or they could be persuaded to receive. 
If any dependence may be placed upon 
the fabulous records of those ages, there 
were too many convulsions and semi-rev- 
olutions in both Scotland and Ireland, 
caused by the contensions of rival races 
and petty monarchies, to have permitted 
the construction of any regular form of 
church government ; so that for a con- 
siderable period, while Christianity was 
gradually pervading both countries, it 
was doing so almost imperceptibly, 
through the exertions of individuals, 
without system and without combination, 
farther than that invisible but strong har- 
mony which is caused by identity of prin- 
ciple and aim. In this manner Chris- 
tianity might have been, and indeed 
appears to have been propagated exten- 
sively throughout the British Isles, before 
it began to assume the external aspect of 
a Church, with a regular system and 
form of government. But when persecu- 
tion ceased, in consequence of the fall of 
Paganism before the progress of Chris- 
tianity, and Rome began to be regarded 
as the central seat of ecclesiastical gov- 
ernment, the Bishop of Rome very early 
assumed a sort of supremacy over the 
whole Christian Church, and took it 
upon him to interfere with the arrange- 
ments of the whole Christian world. To 
this, in all probability, we owe the visit 
of Palladius, about the object and conse- 
quences of which so much fruitless con- 
troversy has arisen. 

According to the Archbishop Ussher, 
Palladius was sent from Rome to " the 
Scots believing on Christ," in the year 
431, by Celestine, at that time Bishop of 
Rome, as their "first bishop," (primus 
episcopus).* Some writers assert, that 
by the word "Scots" we are to under- 
stand the Irish to be meant ; and are fur- 
ther to learn, that Palladius was sent to 
be Primate of Ireland ! It is not neces- 
sary to waste space in the discussion of 
assertions which contain their own refu- 
tation in their absurdity. Whatever else 
may have been among the secret objects 
of the Roman Bishop Celestine in the 
mission of Palladius, it appears suffi- 
ciently evident from the above-quoted ex- 

* Ussher, Primord., p. 801. See also Jamiesons His» 
tory of the Culdees, pp. 7, 8. 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



11 



pression, that the chief one was to intro- 
duce Episcopal government among the 
Scottish and Irish Christians ; whence it 
clearly follows, that previously no such 
form of ecclesiastical government was 
known, if indeed there did exist pre- 
viously either organization or govern- 
ment at all, beyond the mental harmony 
which subsisted among those who held 
one faith, were animated by one Spirit, 
trusted in one Saviour, and worshipped 
one God. 

Whether the mission of Palladius were 
chiefly to Ireland or not, it may not now 
be possible to determine with certainty ; 
but there is reason to believe that he not 
only visited Scotland, but that he died 
there, at Fordoun, in the Mearns.* The 
very common opinion that Palladius was 
sent expressly to refute the errors of Pe- 
lagius, which are said to have become 
prevalent among the British Christians, 
we are disposed to regard as without 
sufficient foundation. The Pelagian 
heresy was scarcely known till the year 
412, and that chiefly among the African 
Churches ; and it is not at all likely that 
it had even reached, much less made ex- 
tensive progress among, the simple- 
minded Christians of Scotland and Ire- 
land, before the year in which the mis- 
sion of Palladius is recorded to have taken 
place. 

Nothing certain is known respecting 
the direct effects produced by the mission 
of Palladius. It is indeed stated by 
Marianus Scotus, that after him St. Pat- 
rick was consecrated by Celestine, and 
sent as archbishop to Ireland, where, in 
the course of forty years, he converted 
the whole island to the faith ;| but this 
account cannot be relied on, in conse- 
quence of its opposition to other and more 
authentic records. There is no proof 
whatever that St. Patrick had any con- 
nection with Rome ; while there is strong 
reason to believe that he was a native of 
Scotland, and that the Christianity which 
he communicated to Ireland was, both in 
forms and doctrines, what he had him- 
self been taught by his Scottish instruct- 
ors. What the form of church govern- 
ment was which St. Patrick instituted in 
Ireland, appears very plainly, even from 
the statement of Archbishop Ussher. 
" We read," says that learned and candid 

" Jamieson'8 Hist. Culd., p. 9. t Ibid., p. 8. 



prelate, — tl we read in Nennius, that at 
the beginning St. Patrick founded 365 
churches, and ordained 365 bishops, 
besides 3000 presbyters" (or elders).* 
What kind of bishops these were, is suffi- 
ciently apparent from the fact that there 
was one for each church, and also from 
the number of the elders, — about eight to 
each bishop. It was, in short, manifestly 
the same institution which ultimately be- 
came the Presbyterian Church of Scot- 
land, — a parish minister, with his session 
of elders, in each church and parish that 
had received the gospel. But it is time 
to quit the regions of dark and half-fabu- 
lous antiquity, and to direct our attention 
to what, though still obscure, has been 
brought into somewhat of a more definite 
form, by those writers who have pre- 
served to us an outline of the aspect of 
primitive Christianity in Scotland, in the 
remarks they have made on the Culdees. 

It is not our intention to investigate at 
any length the questions which have 
been so long agitated respecting the 
origin, the doctrines, and the form of 
church government of the Culdees, but 
rather to state briefly and consecutively 
all that is clearly known concerning 
them. 

The name Culdees appears to have 
been given to those Christians who fled 
from persecution, and sought refuge in 
those districts of Scotland which were be- 
yond the limits of the Roman empire. 
Different explanations have been sug- 
gested of the name itself ; some deriving 
it from Latin, and assuming it to have 
been an abbreviation of Cultores Dei, 
worshippers of God ; others from the 
Gaelic expression, Gille De, servants of 
God ; and others from the Gaelic Cml 
or Ceal, a sheltered place, a retreat. We 
would combine the two latter opinions, 
and suppose that the Culdees derived 
their name from the union of these two 
facts in their early history, namely, that 
they were refugees, and dwelt generally 
in comparatively secret retreats and hid^ 
ing-places ; and that chey were known to 
be in a peculiar manner servants of God. 
Their early possession of the island of 
Iona, and concentration there as their 
chief seat, we would regard also as the 
result of a combination of circumstances. 

* Discourse on the Religion of the Irish and British 
| p. 77. 



12 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



The same necessity which drove them to 
Scotland would impel them to seek some 
tolerably secure place of safety, to which 
they could at all times retreat from dan- 
ger. The marked and important inter- 
course between the Dalriad Scots and the 
Irish, which subsisted at that period, 
would point out some interjacent island 
as affording easy access to either country 
and people. For these reasons Iona 
would readily recommend itself to them, 
as at once a safe retreat, even from its 
insignificance in point of size, and at the 
same time allowing free and convenient 
intercourse with Picts, Scots, and Irish. 
It thus became their chief residence; 
and in it first appeared that form of eccle- 
siastical government, the rudimental prin- 
ciples of which they had either brought 
with them, or into which Christianity 
itself naturally tended to mould a society 
of single-hearted believers. 

The first definite accounts which have 
reached us respecting the Culdees are 
those which relate to Columba, who is 
said to have been a native of Ireland, and 
of royal extraction. He is reported to 
have founded the monastery, or rather 
abbey, of Iona, in . the year 563, and to 
have been himself the first abbot. He 
took with him, we are told, from Ireland 
to Iona, twelve companions, over whom 
he possessed no other kind of superiority 
than that of being president for life. 
Neither the office nor the designation of 
bishop, in its prelatical sense, appears to 
have been known among them. The 
institution of Iona formed, in truth, a re- 
gular presbytery, as it has long existed 
in Scotland, with this slight difference, 
that the presidency, or what we term the 
moderatorship, was permanently enjoyed 
by the abbot, whom even Bede terms the 
" Presbyter- Abbott." Upon the death of 
this, permanent president, or presbyter- 
abbot, the remaining presbyter-monks 
met and chose a successor from among 
themselves, to whom was accordingly 
given the permanent presidency, but 
without any such rite as that of consecra- 
tion, or any thing which could indicate 
elevation to an office essentially superior 
in itself. He was, in fact, nothing more 
than " the first among equals," placed so 
by the choice of his brethren, for the pur- 
pose of maintaing order in their meetings 
together for deliberation and consultation. 



This peculiarity was well known to the 
venerable Bede, who terms it " an un- 
usual constitution" (ordo insusitatus), 
as indeed it must have appeared to one 
who had been himself accustomed to the 
constitution of a diocesan and prelatic 
Episcopacy. 

It deserves to be remarked, that the 
number of the council or college of 
presbyter-monks of Iona was fixed at 
twelve ; and that, when the Culdees 
formed new settlements, they adhered to 
the same number. This was, in all pro- 
bability, caused by their veneration for 
the primitive apostolic council of twelve ; 
and indicates, either that the Culdees 
must have reached Scotland in a very 
early age, while apostolic forms were 
still uncorrupted and prelacy unknown ; 
or that they followed the sacred Scrip- 
tures as closely as possible, regarding 
them as the only and the sufficient stan- 
dard of both faith and ecclesiastical 
government. We find them also appeal- 
ing to the authority of the Apostle John, 
in their controversy with the Romanized 
English clergy respecting Easter, which 
indicates both the earliness of their origin 
and the quarter whence they derived 
their tenets and their institutions. An 
additional proof of their early origin and 
unperverted belief and practice appears 
in the fact, that though generally termed- 
monks by ecclesiastical writers of that 
age, to whom the term had become 
familiar, they did not hold the tenet of 
monastic celibacy, but were married men, 
and were even frequently succeeded in 
their official station and duties by their 
own sons. From this we can scarcely 
avoid drawing the conclusion, that those 
who held a form of Christianity so pri- 
mitive, so simple, and so pure, must have 
branched off from the central regions 
and stem of the Christian Church at a 
very early period indeed, — almost before 
any corruption had begun to disfigure 
the institutions, and pollute the doctrines 
and customs, of the apostles. For these 
and other reasons the second century 
seems not too early a date to assign to 
the origin of Christianity in Scotland. 

Little is known respecting the pro- 
gress made by the Culdees in propagat- 
ing Christianity among the Scots and 
Picts, impeded as their efforts must have 
been by the almost incessant hostilities in 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



13 



which these tribes were engaged, That 
they did make some progress, however, 
is certain, from the various semi-monas- 
tic settlements which they formed in the 
districts inhabited by each people, as at 
Dunkeld, Abernethy, Arbroath, Brechin, 
Monimusk, &c. It deserves to be noted 
also, that in each of these settlements the 
Culdees retained the institutions of Iona 
already specified, namely, a council of 
twelve presbyter-monks, with a life-pre- 
sident or presbyter-abbot, chosen from 
among their own number by themselves, 
and continuing of the same order, than 
which they acknowledged no higher. 

Although the intestine feuds of the 
Scots and Picts must have greatly retard- 
ed the progress of Christianity among 
them, yet their neighbours of the south- 
ern part of the island were in a much 
worse condition. It is well known that, 
on the final departure of the Romans 
from Britain, the enfeebled Britons ap- 
plied to the Saxons for aid against the in- 
vasions of the Scots and Picts ; and were 
themselves, after a protracted and bloody 
struggle, completely subdued by their 
faithless auxiliaries. The effect of these 
devasting wars was the complete ascen- 
dency of the Saxons in England, and the 
entire extinction of Christianity in the 
territories upon which they had seized ; 
the remainder of the British race, with 
what of Christianity survived among 
them, being driven into the mountain 
fastnesses of Wales, where, accordingly, 
the relics of the primitive Culdee system 
continued for a considerable time to 
exist.* 

At length there came a period of com- 
parative tranquillity ; and the Christianity 
which had been preserved in the north- 
ern regions began to find its way south- 
ward. Bede informs us, that Oswald, 
king of the Northumbrian Saxons, had 
been himself educated at Iona ; and im- 
mediately upon his obtaining the sove- 
reignty, he sent to the Scottish elders 
{major es natu\ requesting them to send 
nim what would now be termed an or- 
dained minister (antistes), by whose doc- 
trine and ministry his subjects might be 
instructed in the Christian faith. t From 
this period and downwards, the Culdees 

* Keith, Preface, pp. viii. and xv. : Jamieson's Hist. 
Culd., pp. 35 and 259. 

t Bede, Hist., lib. iii. c. 17; Jamieson's Hist. Culd., 
pp. 36, 37. 



prosecuted their missionary labours 
among the Saxons with great activity. 
At first their success was but indifferent. 
Corman, their first missionary, was a 
man of austere manners, and failed to 
render himself and his ministry accept- 
able to the rude and warlike Saxons. 
They next sent Aidan, one of the pres- 
byter-monks of Iona, having first ordain- 
ed him as a preaching presbyter. He 
formed a settlement at Lindisfarne, 
constructing it upon the model of that of 
Iona • and it became a new salient point 
from which Christianity might make its 
aggressive movements into England. 
Such, nevertheless, was the veneration 
entertained for Iona, and such also, in all 
probability, its superiority in the means 
of instructing aspirants for the Christian 
ministry, that several of the immediate 
successors of Aidan, in the presbyter-ab- 
botship of Lindisfarne, were sent thither 
from the primitive seat of the Culdees. 

But while the simple primitive Chris- 
tianity of the Culdees was making rapid 
progress among the Pagan Saxons, a 
more formidable opposition was preparing 
to meet it. The attention of Pope Greg- 
ory the Great was accidentally directed 
to Britain ; and he sent Augustine the 
Monk, with forty missionary attendants, 
to attempt the conversion of the Saxons. 
The imposing pomp, and keen subtilty 
and artifice, of the Italian monk and his 
associates, speedily acquired an ascen- 
dency which the simple Culdee presby- 
ters could not gainstand. The contro- 
versy respecting the proper time for ob- 
serving Easter, and other points of form 
and ceremony in which the Culdees dif- 
fered from the Roman Church, was for- 
mally begun by Augustine, in a synod 
held by him in the year 603. This was 
the commencement of the corruption and 
tyranny of the Romish Church in Brit- 
ain. The Romish party continued to 
advance, employing all the craft and des- 
potism with which fhey were so familiar, 
and bearing down their opponents ; and 
in a synod held at Whitby in the year 
662, for the purpose of deciding the con- 
troversy, Colman, at that time presbyter- 
abbot (termed also, in conformity with 
the names then become prevalent, bishop) 
of Lindisfarne, was overborne by the ar- 
rogant manner and confident assertions 
which his opponent Wilfrid had learned 



11 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



at Rome ; but rather than abandon the 
tenets which he had been taught by his 
elders, as he termed them, he relinquish- 
ed his position at Lindisfarne, and re- 
turned to Iona. 

From this time forward the Romish in- 
fluence made rapid aggressive progress. 
The adaptation of the Romish system to 
the natural pride and ambition of man, 
lent it a mighty impulse : and the Culdees 
were either allured to exchange their 
presbyter-abbot for a prelatic and dioce- 
san bishop, or compelled to abandon their 
settlements and return to Scotland. In- 
deed the name bishop was often applied 
to the presbyter-abbot of the Culdees by 
the writers of that period ; and so far as 
it was applied in its primitive sense, it 
was his due, there being no distinction 
between an ordained presbyter and a 
scriptural bishop. Still, their difference 
from the Romish diocesan bishop, or pre- 
late, was marked even by those writers, 
in the peculiar appellation, " bishops of 
the Scots," by which they were desig- 
nated. 

It is not our intention to trace minutely 
the encroachments of the prelatic Romish 
party, as they not only expelled the Cul- 
dees from England, but also, following 
up the ever-intolerant policy of Rome, as- 
sailed them in Scotland itself, and ceased 
not their hostile efforts till they procured 
their final suppression. It deserves, how- 
ever, to be peculiarly observed, that what 
chiefly excited the hostility of the Romish 
party was the want of Prelacy among 
the Culdees, even more than their differ- 
ing in other points from the superstitious 
rites and ceremonies of Popery ; and that 
the introduction of Prelacy was the di- 
rect means by which the pure scriptural 
system of worship and government held 
by the early Scottish Church was at last 
overthrown. Nor let it pass unmarked, 
that England's influence and example 
were the direct causes of the corruption 
and subversion of Scotland's more an- 
cient and purer faith. This might be 
rendered evident, beyond the possibility 
of contradiction, did our limits permit us 
to trace minutely the successive events 
which led to this disastrous result ; such 
as the residence for a time in England 
of some of our most powerful kings, es- 
pecially Malcolm Canmore, and David I., 
who, returning to Scotland with their 



minds filled with prejudices in behalf of 
the pomp and splendour of the English 
Prelacy, made it their most strenuous en- 
deavour to erect buildings, and organize 
and endow a hierarchy, which might vie 
in dignity and grandeur with those of 
their more wealthy neighbours. The 
ruinous effects were soon apparent. In 
vain did the best of the Scottish clergy 
oppose these innovations ; their more am- 
bitious brethren were but too ready to 
grasp at the proffered wealth and honour ; 
and at length, to save themselves from 
the usurpations of the archbishop of Can- 
terbury, who strove to assert supremacy 
over the Scottish Church, they yielded 
up their spiritual liberty to the Roman 
pontiff, in the year 1 176. 

It can scarcely fail to strike every 
thoughtful reader, that the history of the 
Culdees presents, in its main outline, a 
very close resemblance to the general as- 
pect and characteristic incidents subse- 
quently exhibited in the history of the 
Church of Scotland, at and since the 
time of the Reformation. When left to 
itself, and free from external influence, 
the Scottish Church has always been re- 
markable for its simplicity of forms and 
purity of doctrine, taking the word of 
God as its sole rule and guide in both ; 
the wealthier and more worldly Church 
of England has always hated and 
sought to overthrow a Church which 
contrasted so strongly with its own ex- 
ternal pomp and internal corruption and 
inefficacy : and the monarchs and nobil- 
ity of Scotland, being Anglicised, have 
striven to introduce forms of worship, 
and a system of despotic ecclesiastical 
government and corrupt doctrine, equally 
opposed to the simplicity and purity of 
the Scriptures, and to the grave, manly, 
and free spirit of the Scottish people. 

It is at all times a melancholy task to 
trace the progress of a persecuted, op- 
pressed, and falling cause, whether that 
cause be of religious or of civil liberty, 
which, indeed, suffer together and alike. 
We shall, therefore, very briefly state the 
most marked incidents in the suppression 
and extinction of the Culdees. After 
the Synod of Whitby, in the year 662, 
the Culdees generally either retired from 
England, or submitted to the institutions 
and doctrines of Rome, which from that 
time forward held supreme ascendency 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



15 



among the English. Soon after that pe- 
riod arose the furious contests between 
the Scots and Picts, which ended in the 
complete overthrow of the latter, and 
their entire national extinction, the con- 
quered and the conquerors becoming so 
thoroughly blended together, that the 
Picts ceased to be known as a separate 
people. 

It appears that during these wars the 
Culdees suffered severely. The annals 
of Ulster state that, in the year 716, "the 
family of Iona was expelled beyond 
Drum-Albin, by Nectan, king of the 
Picts." This seems to have been con- 
nected with an attempt by Nectan to intro- 
duce the form of the Anglican Church 
into his dominions ; as we find that a 
Saxon priest, Ecgberht, was at the same 
time placed in Iona; while the Pictish 
king applied to Ceolfrid, abbot of Gir- 
vey, for architects to erect a church after 
the Roman manner. It was probably his 
intention to transfer the chief seat of ec- 
clesiastical government from Iona to 
Abernethy, his own capital, whereby he 
might expect that his personal influence 
would enable him to accomplish his in- 
tended religious innovations. 

The premature death of Nectan put 
an end to these attempts ; and Iona re- 
covered its shaken supremacy, and en- 
joyed about sixty years of comparative 
tranquillity. But a more terrible enemy 
appeared. The Danes and Norwegians 
began their piratical invasions of the 
Western Isles ; and in 801, Iona itself 
was burned, and a great number of the 
Culdees slain, by these fierce invaders. 
About the year 877, the Culdees of Iona 
fled from another Danish invasion to 
Ireland, carrying with them the relics of 
Columba. Still a considerable number 
of the Culdees continued to cleave to the 
long-hallowed abode of their ancestors, 
though now sadly shorn of its ancient 
splendour. But their perils and suffer- 
ings continued ; and in 905, the Danes 
again pillaged the monastery, and killed 
the abbot, with fifteen of his presbyters. 
In 1059, the monastery was destroyed 
by fire ; but still the devoted Culdees 
lingered among the scathed ruins of 
their venerated Iona. A large body of 
them, indeed, appear to have sought 
refuge in Dunkeld, where they endeav- 
oured to perpetuate their simple scriptu- 



ral institutions ; but Iona continued to be 
inhabited by Culdees till the year 1203, 
when " Ceallach built a monastery, in 
opposition to the learned of the place."* 
Thus the Romish usurping power seized 
upon the very citadel ; and this seems 
effectually to have driven the remains of 
the persecuted Culdees from Iona, which 
they never again recovered. The only 
further accounts of them which can be 
gleaned from the incidental notices, re- 
present them as scattered throughout the 
districts of the western counties of Scot- 
land, especially in Kyle and Cunning- 
ham ; where, though their name soon 
became extinct, their tenets were pre- 
served in a great measure pure from pa- 
pal corruption, till about the time that the 
Lollards, the followers of Jerome and 
Huss, and of Wickliffe, appeared like 
the faint day-break of the Reformation. 

Although we have traced chiefly the 
fortunes of the original settlement of the 
Culdees at Iona, it must not be forgotten 
that there were many other similar settle- 
ments of them in Scotland ; and that in 
latter times some of these were even 
more prominently the scenes of contest 
with the encroaching Anglo-Roman 
Church than was Iona, and maintained 
the conflict for a longer period. In the 
year 1176, the abbot of Dunkeld per- 
mitted himself to be made a diocesan 
bishop. It was not till the year 1230, or 
about that time, that the Culdees of Mo- 
nimusk were deprived of their peculiar 
privileges ; and in the year 1297, the 
Culdees of St. Andrews made the last at- 
tempt at resisting the usurpations of the 
bishop of that see, by an effectual appeal 
to Rome. This, therefore, may be taken 
as the date of the final suppression, by 
prelatic and papal fraud and tyranny, 
of the primitive, scriptural and presby- 
terian Church of Scotland. 

Before concluding this brief sketch of 
the Culdees, it may be expedient to state 
the main points of doctrine and ritual, as 
of ecclesiastical government, in which 
they differed from the corrupt Church of 
Rome. For although Bede and other 
writers make most mention of the dis- 
putes and controversies respecting the 
celebration of Easter, and the peculiar 
form of the clerical tonsure, and such 
like idle fooleries, from which some 

* Jamieson's Hist. Culd., p. 301. 



1C> 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



have hastily concluded that there was, 
after all, nothing but the most trifling 
and unessential distinctions between the 
Culdees and their Anglo-Roman oppo- 
nents ; yet a closer examination may 
enable us to discover, what a little more 
reflection would have led us to conjecture, 
that they differed in some points of vital 
importance, although the popish and pre- 
latic party, with their usual cunning, con- 
trived to make the public aspect of the 
controversy one of mere rites and cere- 
monies. It may, indeed, be here stated, 
as an axiomatic principle, which we shall 
have frequent occasion of applying and 
verifying, that the opposers of pure re- 
ligion never venture to assail what is 
manifestly sacred, if they can obtain the 
slightest hold of what is merely ritual or 
civil. From incidental notices, however, 
it may be gathered that the Culdees were 
opposed to the Church of Rome in such 
essential doctrines as the following: — 

They rejected that dark and tyranni- 
cal tenet of Popery, auricular confession, 
and also its natural sequents, penance, 
and authoritative absolution ; confessing 
their sins to God alone, as believing that 
He alone could forgive sins. 

They opposed the idolatrous doctrine 
of the real presence, or transubslantia- 
tion ; holding the sacrament of the 
Lord's Supper to be indeed a healing or- 
dinance and an appointed means of grace 
to all faithful receivers, but at the same 
time in its own nature essentially com- 
memorative. 

They rejected and opposed the idola- 
trous worship of angels, and saints, and 
relics, and all these peculiar superstitious 
practices by means of which the Roman 
Church so grossly imposed upon credu- 
lous ignorance, and promoted its own 
wealth and influence ; and so sensible 
do they appear to have been in their ap- 
prehension of the danger lest idolatry 
should creep into their pure system, that 
they would not permit any of their 
churches to be dedicated to, or designated 
by the name of, any saint or angel. 

They neither admitted praying to 
saints for their intercession, nor prayers 
for the dead. For they were persuaded, 
that while we are in the present world, 
we may help each other either by our 
prayers or by our counsels ; but when 
we come before the tribunal of Christ, 



" neither Job, nor Daniel, nor Noah, can 
intercede for any one, but every one 
must bear his own burden ;" — so scrip- 
tural were their views on these points. 

They strenuously denied the popish 
doctrine of works of supererogation ; ut- 
terly disclaiming all merit of their own, 
and hoping for salvation solely from the 
mercy of God, through faith in Jesus 
Christ ; stating as their view of that es- 
sential point of Christian doctrine, " That 
the faithful man does not live by right- 
eousness, but the righteous man by 
faith." 

It has been already shown that the ec- 
clesiastical constitution and government 
of the Culdees was diametrically op- 
posed to prelatic Episcopacy ; and it 
ought to be stated, both as a consequence 
and as an additional proof, that they were 
unacquainted with the episcopalian rite 
of confirmation. 

And, as an additional proof of their 
freedom from superstitious usages of 
merely human invention, they, in the sa- 
crament of baptism, made use of any 
water that was conveniently at hand, as 
did the apostles, rejecting the " conse- 
crated chrism" introduced by the Roman- 
ists, and still retained wherever popish 
and prelatic institutions prevail.* 

When to the preceding doctrinal tenets 
of the Culdees we add their freedom from 
the pernicious system of an unmarried 
priesthood, their repugnance to the lordly 
rule of a disocesan Prelacy, and the 
scriptural simplicity of their presbyterial 
form of church government, we cannot 
fail to be struck with the close resem- 
blance which they bear to the authorita- 
tive doctrines and institutions of the 
Word of God; to the opinions and de- 
sires of the great men of the Reforma- 
tion, — of Luther and Melancthon, Calvin 
and Beza, Cranmer and Ridley, Knox 
and Melville; and to the constitutional 
confession and government of the Pres- 
byterian Church of Scotland. And we 
have been at some pains to extricate, as 
far as may now be done, the tenets of our 
old ancestral faith from the confused and 
faded records of bygone ages, because 
we regarded that as tho best method of 
ascertaining what were the actual life- 
germs and essential principles of that 

* For authorities in proof of the preceding state- 
ment of the differences between the Culdees and the 
Romish Churches, see Jamieson's Hist. Culd. chap. x. 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



17 



primitive, apostolic, and scriptural form 
of Christianity which was so early en- 
joyed by our fathers ; and because we 
are persuaded that, however much ex- 
ternally overborne by the corrupt prelatic 
Church of Rome, its influence never per- 
ished, but, after having for a season lain 
concealed, yet not unfelt, within the 
strong and independent heart of Scot- 
land, while the fierce storms of English 
invasion and civil broils were sweeping 
over and devastating the land, it sprang 
again into energetic action, when the 
voice of reformation went forth, awaken- 
ing Europe, and became the moving and 
moulding life-power of our reformed, or 
rather resuscitated, national Church. 

We have given the outline of all that 
is with any degree of certainty known 
respecting the Culdees, in one continued 
narrative, for the purpose of presenting 
it to the reader in the most intelligible 
form, unbroken by reference to contem- 
poraneous events. But some of these 
demand a portion of our attention, before 
proceeding with the main course of our 
narrative. The chief of these we shall 
now proceed to state with all practical 
brevity. 

It has been already stated, that the 
Christianizing labours of the Culdees 
were met and borne back from England 
by the efforts of the Romish Church, 
which even then was greatly corrupted ; 
and also, that the system established in 
England speedily began to be imitated 
by our own somewhat Anglicised sove- 
reigns and clergy. But it must be ob- 
served, that neither king nor clergy had 
the slightest intention of subjecting the 
Church of Scotland to that of England. 
Indeed, there occur some noble instances 
of the determined manner in which the 
Scottish kings repelled the aggressions 
of the archbishops of Canterbury and 
York, when endeavouring to extend their 
supremacy over the Church of Scotland ; 
in particular, the conduct of Alexander 
I., in the contest which arose in 1 109, is 
deserving of the highest approbation. 
Yet this monarch was, in these attempts 
at usurpation by the English archbishops, 
only reaping the fruits of his own inno- 
vations, as it was by him chiefly that 
bishoprics were first erected in Scotland. 

During the reign of his successor, 
David I., Popery obtained complete foot- 
3 



ing in Scotland, by the erection of an .im- 
mense number of monasteries and ab- 
beys, and the vast wealth which these 
scenes of corruption speedily acquired. 
Still, however, the Church of Scotland 
maintained its independence, refusing to 
submit to the dictation of that of England 
Even after that unfortunate defeat which 
threw William the Lion into the power 
of the English monarch, and after he 
had consented to surrender the indepen- 
dence of the kingdom, that •: e might re- 
gain his personal liberty, the Scottish 
clergy refused to submit to equal degra- 
dation. The archbishop of York was 
now the claimant for this supremacy ; 
and in the year 1176, an assembly of the 
English and Scottish clergy was held at 
Northampton, on a citation for that pur- 
pose by the Pope's legate. It would ap- 
pear that Prelacy had already begun to 
do its work, in producing a mean spirit 
of subserviency ; for not one of the Scot- 
tish prelates ventured to oppose the arro- 
gant claim of the archbishop of York. 
But a young canon, named Gilbert Mur- 
ray, rose and addressed the assembled 
dignitaries, in a tone of bold and manly 
independence worthy of his country and 
his cause, repelling the arrogant preten- 
sions of the arch-prelate, and asserting 
the freedom of the Church of Scotland.* 
The result was an appeal to Rome, and 
the declaration, by a papal bull, of the 
independence of Scotland, in all matters 
ecclesiastical, of any other power than 
the Pope or his legate. Although this 
incident proves that the national spirit of 
a Scot was still stronger in some than 
the unnationalising spirit of Popery, yet 
the result was productive to the country 
of an evil scarcely, if at all, less than that 
which it was intended to repel. It un- 
questionably tended to increase the inter- 
course between the Scottish ecclesiastics 
and Rome, and thereby to introduce 
more rapidly, and to diffuse more wide- 
ly, the pernicious errors of Popery. 

That the Romish system, thus unhap- 
pily introduced, made rapid progress, 
and speedily became prevalent through- 
out the kingdom, cannot be doubted ; but 
the records of these things are so meagre, 
that no specific details can be given. 
During the fierce wars by which Scot- 

* Jamieson's Hist. Culd., pp. 240-244; SpotswootL, 

p. 38. 



18 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



-and was devastated, in consequence of 
the attempts of Edward I. of England to 
annex it to his own dominions, it may he 
well supposed that little opportunity ex- 
isted for either the improvement of reli- 
gious institutions, or their temporal ag- 
grandizement. But soon after Scotland 
had secured its national independence, 
we find fresh indications of the growing 
power, wealth, and profligacy of the 
clergy. So early, indeed, as the reign 
of Malcolm II., which hegan in 1004, 
the ecclesiastical courts had ohtained the 
sole right of judging in all matters per- 
taining to dowries and testaments ; and 
also, the passing of a law, that all men 
might bequeath property to the Church.* 
This soon became a fertile source of gain, 
ignorant people being persuaded by the 
wily priests, that by such bequests they 
might secure the salvation of their souls, 
whatever might have been the criminality 
of their course of life. Besides, while 
the priesthood were by these means ac- 
quiring great wealth, they possessed the 
only education which existed in the coun- 
try, and were by no means desirous of 
communicating it to either the nobility or 
the common people. They thus became 
indispensable in the management of all 
public matters, and soon engrossed the 
chief official stations in the kingdom. 
That some of them discharged the duties 
of these stations with decided ability, need 
not be denied ; but that they at the same 
time neglected their sacred duties, and 
allowed the country to remain in a state 
of great ignorance and barbarism, is 
equally certain. 

In the meantime the social structure of 
Scotland had gradually reached the last 
stage of developement of which such a 
system was capable. The feudal system 
had been superinduced upon the patriar- 
chal or clan system. Those of the great 
barons who were of Norman extraction, 
comprising nearly all the Lowland no- 
bility, maintained the feudal system in all 
its stern inflexible despotism. The sove- 
reign they regarded as but the highest of 
their own order, to whom they owed a 
merely nominal or formal allegiance; 
each other they viewed as rivals, against 
whom they might wage open war or 
frame machinations, as seemed the safest 
policy ; and the people they considered 

* Regain Majestatem, pp. 11 and 66. 



as mere serfs, born to obey, and toil, and 
bleed, as each haughty tyrant might be 
pleased to command. In the Highlands 
the system of clanship prevailed ; in 
which, though the system itself was per- 
fectly despotic, yet it was somewhat mit- 
igated by the idea essential to it, that 
there subsisted a family relationship be- 
tween the chief and every clansman ; so 
that, in theory at least, the tie was one of 
nature's formation, the authority that of a 
father, and the obedience that of children. 
In both the feudal and the clan systems 
the tendency was to divide the nation, or 
to keep it divided, into a number of jeal- 
ous and conflicting sections, and to ren- 
der it a constant scene of strife, anarchy, 
and blood, such as neither the power of 
the king, which was little more than 
nominal, nor the supremacy of the laws, 
which was scarcely recognised except in 
theory, was able to restrain. The con* 
dition of the body of the people, exposed 
to the wild violence of factious and im- 
placable nobles, may be more easily im- 
agined than described. Nor is it our 
purpose to do more than merely suggest 
the public aspect of affairs in Scotland 
previous to the Reformation, leaving its 
minuter delineation to the professedly 
civil historian, to whom that province be 
longs. 

Reference has already been made to 
the excessive grants of land and othei 
wealth bestowed upon the Romanized 
clergy by several of the Scottish kings 5 
especially by David L, and the encour- 
agement thereby given to that avaricious 
class of men. We have also seen that 
the ruin of the more ancient and purer 
faith and discipline of the Culdees was 
effected by the same instrumentality, — 
prelates, abbots, and church dignitaries 
of every name and order, alike detesting 
a system, the simplicity and purity of 
which formed a strong and manifest con- 
demnation of their own. At the same 
time, we are not unaware, that although 
the encouragement given to the popish 
system may have at first arisen in a great 
measure from religious motives operating 
on minds comparatively ignorant, there 
may have been not a little of an influence 
very different in character, by which the 
Scottish kings were induced to promote 
the wealth and power of the clergy. 
They may have regarded the epclesiasti* 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



19 



cal body as the most likely counterbal- 
ance to the exorbitant power of the feudal 
nobility, which could be organized. And 
it must be admitted, that in many in- 
stances the prelates of the Church did 
lend important assistance to the sovereign, 
and also exercised some influence in im- 
parting civilization to "'the community. 
Let it be observed also, that to whatever 
extent the prelates did counteract the no- 
bility, to that extent they provoked the 
jealousy of these proud and overbearing 
men, who were not unlikely to remem- 
ber past hostilities in a day of retribution, 
even though that retribution had begun 
on far other and holier grounds. The 
enormous wealth which the all-grasping 
Romish Church had acquired, while it 
confirmed the influence of that Church, 
tended equally to increase the bitter ha- 
tred of the nobility, who both envied and 
scorned the wealth and the luxurious in- 
dulgence of the pampered priesthood. 
The existence of this feeling, and its 
baneful consequences, we shall have am- 
ple occasion hereafter to display. 

But instead of continuing our own ob- 
servations, we cannot better conclude 
this introductory chapter than by copy- 
ing, from Dr M'Crie's Life of Knox, the 
following account of the state of religion 
in Scotland before the Reformation. 

" The corruptions by which the Chris- 
tian religion was universally disfigured 
before the Reformation, had grown to a 
greater height in Scotland than in any 
other nation within the pale of the 
Western Church. Superstition and re- 
ligious imposture, in their grossest forms, 
gained an easy admission among the 
rude and ignorant people. By means of 
these, the clergy attained to an exorbi- 
tant degree of opulence and power, which 
were accompanied, as they always have 
been, with the corruption of their order, 
and of the whole system of religion. 

" The full half of the wealth of the 
nation belonged to the clergy ; and the 
greater part of this was in the hands of 
a few individuals, who had the command 
of the whole body. Avarice, ambition, 
and the love of seculiar pomp, reigned 
among the superior orders. Bishops 
and abbots rivalled the first nobility in 
magnificence, and preceded them in 
honours ; they were privy-councillors, 
and lords of session as well as of parlia- 



ment, and had long engrossed the 
principal offices of state. A vacant bis- 
hopric or abbacy called forth powerful 
competitors, who contended for it as for 
a principality or petty kingdom : it was 
obtained by similar arts, and not unfre- 
quently taken possession of by the same 
weapons. Inferior benefices were open- 
ly put to sale, or bestowed on the illite- 
rate and unworthy minions of courtiers, 
on dice-players, strolling bards, and the 
bastards of bishops. Pluralities were 
multiplied without bounds ; and benefi- 
ces, given in commendam, were kept va- 
cant during the life of the commendator, 
nay, sometimes during several lives ; so 
that extensive parishes were frequently 
deprived, for a long course of years, of 
all religious service, — if a deprivation it 
could be called, at a time when the cure 
of souls was no longer "regarded as at- 
tached to livings originally endowed for 
that pupose. The bishops never on any 
occasion condescended to preach ; in- 
deed, I scarcely recollect an instance of 
it mentioned in history, from the erection 
of the regular Scottish Episcopacy, down 
to the Era of the Reformation. The 
practice had even gone into desuetude 
among all the secular clergy, and was 
devolved wholly on the mendicant monks, 
who employed it for the most mercenary 
purposes. 

" The lives of the clergy, exempted 
from secular jurisdiction, and corrupted 
by wealth and idleness, were become a 
scandal to religion, and an outrage on 
decency. While they professed chastity, 
and prohibited, under the severest penal- 
ties, any of the ecclesiastical order from 
contracting lawful wedlock, the bishops set 
an example of the most shameless pro- 
fligacy before the inferior clergy, — avow- 
edly kept their harlots, provided their 
natural sons with benefices, and gave 
their daughters in marriage to the sons 
of the nobility and principal gentry, 
many of whom were so mean as to con- 
taminate the blood of their families by 
such base alliances, for the sake of the 
rich dowries which they brought. 

" Through the blind devotion and mu- 
nificence of princes and nobles, monas- 
teries, those nurseries of superstition and 
idleness, had greatly multiplied in the na- 
tion ; and though they had universally 
degenerated, and were notoriously be- 



20 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



come the haunts of lewdness and de- 
bauchery, it was deemed impious and 
sacrilegious to reduce their number, 
abridge their privileges, or alienate their 
funds. The kingdom was swarmed with 
ignorant, idle, luxurious monks, who, 
like locusts, devoured the fruits of the 
earth, and filled the air with pestilential 
infection ; with friars, white, black, and 
gray ; canons regular and of St Anthony, 
Carmelites, Carthusians. Cordeliers, Do- 
micians, Franciscan Conventuals and 
Observantines, Jacobins, Premonstraten- 
sians, Monks of Tyrone and of Vallis 
Caulium, and Hospitallers or Holy 
Knights of St. John of Jerusalem ; nuns 
of St. Austin, St. Clair, St. Scholastica, 
and St. Catharine of Sienna ; with can- 
onesses of various classes. 

" The ignorance of the clergy respect- 
ing religion was as gross as the disso- 
luteness of their morals. Even bishops 
were not ashamed to confess that they 
were unacquainted with the canon of 
their faith, and had never read any part 
of the sacred Scriptures, except what they 
met with in their missals. Under such 
masters the people perished for lack of 
knowledge. That book which was able 
to make them wise unto salvation, and 
intended to be equally accessible to ' Jew 
and Greek, Barbarian and Scythian, 
bond and free,' was locked up from them, 
and the use of it in their own tongue 
prohibited under the heaviest penalties. 
The religious service was mumbled over 
in a dead language, which many of the 
priests did not understand, and some of 
them could scarcely read ; and the great- 
est care was taken to prevent even cate- 
chisms, composed and approved by the 
clergy, from coming into the hands of 
the laity. 

" Scotland, from, her local situation, 
had been less exposed to disturbance 
from the encroaching ambition, the vex- 
atious exactions, and fulminating anathe- 
mas of the Vatican court, than the coun- 
tries in the immediate vicinity of Rome. 
But from the same cause, it was more 
easy for the domestic clergy to keep up 
on the minds of the people that excessive 
veneration for the holy see, which could 
not be long felt by those who had the 
opportunity of witnessing its vices and 
worldly politics. The burdens wfc^h 
attended a state of depenfamw upon a, xe- 



mote foreign jurisdiction was severely 
felt. Though the popes did not enjoy 
the power of presenting to the Scottish 
prelacies, they wanted not numerous pre- 
texts for interfering with them. The 
most important causes of a civil nature 
which the ecclesiastical courts had con- 
trived to bring within their jurisdiction, 
were frequently carried to Rome. Large 
sums of money were annually exported 
out of the kingdom, for the confirmation 
of benefices, the conducting of appeals, 
and many other purposes ; in exchange 
for which were received leaden bulls, 
woollen palls, wooden images, old bones, 
and similar articles of precious consecra- 
ted mummery. 

" Of the doctrine of Christianity almost 
nothing remained but the name. Instead 
of being directed to offer up their adora- 
tions to one God, the people were taught 
to divide them among an innumerable 
company of inferior divinities. A plu- 
rality of mediators shared the honour of 
procuring the Divine favour with the 
' one Mediator between God a?>d man j' 
and more petitions were presenteuXo the 
Virgin Mary, and other saints. than x to 
' Him whom the Father heareth always.' 
The sacrifice of the mass was repre- 
sented as procuring forgiveness of sins 
to the living and the dead, to the infinite 
disparagement of the sacrifice by which 
Jesus Christ expiated sin and procured 
everlasting redemption ; and the con- 
sciences of men were withdrawn from 
faith in the merits of their Saviour, to a 
delusive reliance upon priestly absolu- 
tions, papal pardons, and voluntary pen- 
ances. Instead of being instructed to de- 
monstrate the sincerity of their faith and 
repentance by forsaking their sins, and 
to testify their love to God and man by 
practising the duties of morality, and ob- 
serving the ordinances of worship author- 
ised by Scripture, they were taught that 
if they regularly said their ave.s and cre- 
dos, confessed themselves to a priest, 
punctually paid their tithes and church- 
offerings, purchased a mass, went in pil- ' 
grimage to the shrine of some celebrated 
saint, refrained from flesh on Fridays, or 
performed some other prescribed act of 
bodily mortification, their salvation was 
infallibly secured in due time ; while 
those who were so rich and pious as to 
build a chapel or a] altar, and to endow 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 



21 



it for the support of a priest, to perform 
masses, obits, and dirges, procured a re- 
laxation of the pains of purgatory for 
themselves or their relations, in propor- 
tion to the extent of their liberality. It is 
difficult for us to conceive how empty, 
ridiculous, and wretched those harangues 
were which the monks delivered for ser- 
mons. Legendary tales concerning the 
founder of some religious order, his won- 
derful sanctity, the miracles which he 
performed, his combats with the devil, 
his watchings, fastings, flagellations ; the 
virtues of holy water, chrism, crossing, 
and exorcism ; the horrors of purgatory, 
and the numbers released from it by the 
intercession of some powerful saint, — 
these, with low jests, table-talk, and fire- 
side scandal, formed the favourite topics 
of the preachers, and were served up to 
the people instead of the pure, salutary, 
and sublime doctrines of the Bible. 

" The beds of the dying were besieged, 
and their last moments disturbed, by ava- 
ricious priests, who laboured to extort be- 
quests to themselves or to the Church. 
Not satisfied with exacting tithes from the 
living, a demand was made upon the 
dead : no sooner had the poor husband- 
man breathed his last, than the rapacious 
vicar came and carried off his corpse- 
present, which he repeated as often as 
death visited the family. Ecclesiastical 
censures were fulminated against those 
who were reluctant in making these pay- 
ments, or who showed themselves diso- 
bedient to the clergy; and for a little 
money they were prostituted on the most 
trifling occasions. Divine service was 
neglected ; and, except on festival days, 
the churches, in many parts of the coun- 
try were no longer employed for sacred 
purposes, but served as sanctuaries for 
malefactors, places of traffic, or resorts for 
pastime. 

" Persecution, and the suppression of 
free inquiry, were the only weapons by 
which its interested supporters were able 
to defend this system of corruption and 
imposture. Every avenue by which 
truth might enter was carefully guarded. 
Learning was branded as the parent of 
heresy. The most frightful pictures were 
drawn of those who had separated from 
the Romish Church, and held up before 
the eyes of the people, to deter them from 
imitating meir example. 1 ' any person, 



who had attained a degree of illumina- 
tion amidst the general darkness, began 
to hint dissatisfaction with the conduct 
of churchmen, and to propose the cor- 
rection of abuses, he was immediately 
stigmatized as a heretic, and if he did not 
secure his safety by flight, was immured 
in a dungeon, or committed to the flames. 
And when at last, in spite of all their per- 
secutions, the light which was shining 
around did break in and spread through 
the nation, the clergy prepared to adopt 
the most desperate and bloody measures 
for its extinction. 

" From this imperfect sketch of the 
state of religion in this country, we may 
see how false the representation is which 
some persons would impose on us ; as if 
Popery were a system, erroneous, indeed, 
but purely speculative, — superstitious, but 
harmless, provided it had not been acci- 
dentally accompanied with intolerance 
and cruelty. The very reverse is the 
truth. It may be safely said, that there 
is not one of its erroneous tenets, or of its 
superstitious practices, which was not 
either originally contrived, or afterwards 
accommodated, to advance and support 
some practical abuse, to aggrandize the 
ecclesiastical order, secure to them im- 
munity from civil jurisdiction, sanctify 
their encroachments upon secular author- 
ities, vindicate their usurpations upon the 
consciences of men, cherish implicit obe- 
dience to the decisions of the Church, 
and extinguish free inquiry and liberal 
science."* 

To this very masterly summary of 
the state of religion in Scotland before 
the Reformation nothing need be added ; 
and it must convince every reflecting 
reader, that such a state of matters could 
not be much longer endured by a people 
like the Scottish, who, though held in 
deep ignorance, were naturally shrewd 
and sagacious, despisers of idleness and 
luxury, and filled with an indestructable 
love of liberty, which even their civil 
feuds and public wars served in no incon- 
siderable degree to stimulate and con- 
firm. And the more protracted and se- 
vere that the burden of spiritual despot- 
ism had been, it was to be expected that 
it would be followed by a correspond- 
ingly mighty and extensive revulsion 
and recoil. Nor should it be forgotten, 

* M'Crie's Life of Knox, pp. 9-15, 6th edit. 



22 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



C CHAP. II. 



that widely as Popery had shed its bale- 
ful influence, it had not been able wholly 
to exterminate the purer faith and simpler 
system of the ancient Culdees, especially 
in Ayrshire, and perhaps also in Fife, — 
the districts adjacent to St. Andrews and 
Iona, — the earliest abodes and the latest 
retreats of primitive Christianity in Scot- 
land. 



CHAPTER II, 

PROM THE BEGINNING OF THE REFORMATION 
TO THE MEETING OF THE FIRST GENERAL AS- 
SEMBLY. 

From the Beginning of the Reformation to the Meeting 
of the first iGenera] Assembly in 1560 — State of Affairs 
in Rome— Introduction of Wickliffe's Opinions — ■ 
Patronages— Lollards of Kyle— Patrick Hamilton the 
first Scottish Martyr— Persecutions in St. Andrews, 
Edinburgh, and Glasgow— Cardinal Beaton — Barba- 
rous Persecution at" Perth — George Wishart — His 
Preaching, — and Martyrdom— Death of Cardinal Bea- 
ton — John Knox in the Castle of St. Andrews — His 
Confinement in the Galleys— Returns tp Scotland — 
Proceedings of the Queen-Regent and the Reformers 
— Tne First Covenant — The Lords of the Congrega- 
tion—Martyrdom of Walter Mill — Political Intrigues 
— Final Return of Knox— Destruction of the Monas- 
teries at Perth — Knox at St. Andrews — Growing 
Strength of the Reformers— Conventions of Estates 
— Siege . of Leith— Death of the Queen-Regent — 
— Meeting of Parliament and Treaty of Peace — 
First Confession of Faith— First General Assembly 
of the Church of Scotland. 

In the preceding chapter a brief sketch 
has been presented to the reader of the 
usurpations of the prelatic and corrupt 
Church of Rome, and the final suppres- 
sion of the Culdees, which we may re- 
gard as having been accomplished in the 
year 1297, that being the date of the last 
documents signed by them as a public 
body. But though from that time the 
Culdee form of church government and 
discipline may be regarded as extinct, 
there is no reason to believe that their re- 
ligious tenets were consigned to oblivion 
at the same instant. Indeed, such a re- 
sult may be regarded as absolutely im- 
possible. All forcible attempts to sup- 
press religion but compel it to burn with 
increased intensity, and to be retained 
with increased pertinacity, within the se- 
cret heart ; unless, indeed, such attempts 
be carried to the extreme of utterly ex- 
terminating the adherents of the perse- 
cuted faith, — a dire result which has 
been several times produced in different 
nations. There is, besides, evidence, al- 
though but slight, to prove that the doc- 



trine of the Culdees continued to survive 
long after the suppression of their forms 
of church government. Sir James Dal- 
rymple refers us to a clause in the bull 
of Pope John XXII. in 1324, conced- 
ing to Robert Bruce the title of King 
of Scotland, and removing the ex- 
communication ; in which clause that 
pontiff makes mention of many heretics, 
whom he enjoins the king to suppress.* 
There is every reason to believe that 
these were the adherents of the Culdees, 
against whom some of the Scottish Ro- 
manized clergy had complained to the 
pope. 

The great schism which happened in 
the Church of Rome, through the con- 
tentions of rival popes, gave occasion, as 
is well known, to those who had secretly 
disapproved of papal corruption, of as- 
sailing Popery more openly than before, 
and' more boldly demanding some mea- 
sure of reformation. Wickliffe, the 
morning star of the Reformation, began 
then openly both to censure the abuses 
of the Church of Rome, and to proclaim 
those great doctrines of Christianity 
which it had been the policy of that cor- 
rupt Church to conceal. It might have 
been expected that his doctrines would 
find a ready reception among the adhe- 
rents of the Culdees of Scotland, if any 
were still remaining ; and accordingly 
we find, that John Resby, an English- 
man, and a scholar of Wickliffe's, was 
condemned for maintaining that the pope 
was not the vicar of Christ, and that no 
man of a wicked life ought to be ac- 
knowledged pope.f For holding and 
teaching these opinions, with certain 
others deemed also heretical, he was 
burned to death in the year 1407. It 
would appear that this cruel deed had for 
a time prevented at least the open 
avowal of similar doctrines in Scotland ; 
as the next victim of popish tyranny was 
found at the distance of twenty-five years. 
This victim was Paul .Craw, a Bohe- 
mian, and a follower of John Huss. It 
does not appear on what account he had 
come to Scotland ; but having begun to 
disseminate the opinions of the Bohemian 
reformer, he was laid hold of Dy the in- 
stigation of Henry Wardlaw, bishop of 
St. Andrews, convicted of denying the 

* Sir J. Dalrymple's Historical Collections, p. 52. 
t Spotswood, p. 56, 



A. D. 1525.] 

doctrines of transubstantiation, auricular 
confession, and praying to saints, then 
iianded over to the secular powers, and 
by them committed to the flames, at St. 
Andrews, in the year 1432. That he 
might not at the stake promulgate his 
opinions among the spectators by his last 
dying declaration, his destroyers adopted 
the barbarous policy of forcing a ball of 
brass into his mouth, then gazing, as 
they thought, in safety, on the agonies of 
the voiceless sufferer. 

The popish clergy seem to have 
thought taeir triumph complete, and them- 
selves at liberty to prosecute with even 
increased energy their schemes of ag- 
grandisement. One method in which 
this was prosecuted deserves to be par- 
ticularly noticed, as intimately connected 
with a subject to which we shall have 
repeated occasion to refer in the course 
of this work, viz., the subject of patron- 
age. It has not been exactly ascertained 
at what time the system of lay patronage 
was introduced in Scotland. 

The Late Dr. Mc'Crie, whose opinions 
on all matters of church history are of 
the very highest authority, held that it 
could not have been introduced before 
the tenth century. The first mention of 
Scottish patronages and presentations 
with which we are acquainted occurs in 
the Book of Laws of Malcolm II, 
who ascended the throne in the year 
1004;* and although the critical acu- 
men of Lord Hailes has succeeded in 
casting considerable doubt- upon the 
genuine antiquity of these laws, this 
much may at least be said, that no claim 
more ancient can be pretended for the 
asumed right of patronage in Scotland, at 
the same time that by these laws the 
right of deciding respecting "the advo- 
cation of kirks and the right of patron- 
age," pertains to the jurisdiction of the 
Church. For a time, it would appear, 
the Scottish clergy followed the usual 
policy of the papal Church, holding out 
every inducement to men to bequeath 
large sums for the erection and endow- 
ment of churches, monasteries, &c, as 
the best mode of securing their salvation ; 
and allowing to such donors and subse- 
quently to their heirs, the right of pre- 
senting to the benefices thus bequeathed. 
But when they had obtained a very large 

* Regiam Majestatem, pp. 2, 11. 



23 

proportion of the wealth of the kingdom 
into their own possession, these crafty 
churchmen became anxious to resume 
the patronages into their own hands; 
and putting the same machinery of super- 
stition again to work, they prevailed on 
the lay patrons to resign the right of 
presentation to the Church, by annexing 
it, as it was called, to bishoprics, abbacies, 
priories, and other religious houses. 
The benefices thus annexed or appro- 
priated were termed patrimonial, and 
were not longer subject to the patronage 
of laymen. The civil power became at 
length alarmed at the prospect of the 
lands and wealth of the kingdom being 
thus placed in the hands of a body of men 
who were not only beyond the control 
of the civil law, but were in fact the sub- 
jects of a foreign power. An attempt 
was therefore made to check this practice 
of annexation, by a statute in the reign 
of James III., in the year 1471 ; but so 
effectual had the schemes of the clergy 
been, that at the period of the Reforma- 
tion there were in Scotland only two 
hundred and sixty-two non-appropriated 
benefices out of the whole number, con- 
sisting of about nine hundred and forty. 
Even of these two hundred and sixty-two 
a considerable number, though not annex- 
ed, were in the hands of bishops, abbots, 
and the heads of other religious houses ; 
so that the crafty and avaricious popish 
clergy might deem themselves secure, 
being possessed of more than half the 
wealth of the kingdom, and that, too, 
placed beyond the power of any control, 
except that of an appeal to Rome, — a 
danger which they might well regard as 
not very formidable. 

[1494.] But while the priesthood 
were thus strenuously endeavouring to 
consolidate their power, and to increase 
their splendour, obtaining the erection of 
an archbishopric, first at St. Andrews, 
and then at Glasgow, they did not seem 
to be aware that the spirit of religious re- 
formation was diffusing itself silently but 
rapidly throughout the kingdom, especial- 
ly in the western districts of Kyle, Car- 
rick, and Cunningham. At length they 
began to take alarm, and shaking on 
their golden dreams, they prepared to 
crush their hated antagonists. Robert 
Blacater, the first archbishop of Glasgow, 
prevailed on James IV. to summon be 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



24 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. II 



fore the great council about thirty per- 
sons, male and female, natives mostly of 
the above-named western districts ; the 
chief of whom was George Campbell of 
Cessnock, Adam Reid of Barskimming, 
John Campbell of New-mills, Andrew 
Schaw of Polkemmet, and the Ladies of 
Stair and Polkellie.* This memorable 
trial of the Lollards of Kyle, as they 
were opprobiously termed, took place in 
the year 1594. The articles which 
they were accused of holding have been 
recorded both by Knox and Spotswood 
with little variation, except that Knox's 
account is rather more full than the other. 
Their main tenor is chiefly in condem- 
nation of the worship of the Virgin Mary, 
of saints, reliques, images, and the mass ; 
and also of the various arrogant preten- 
sions and licentious abuses of the pre- 
lates and the priesthood, without any 
very clear statement of the leading doc- 
trines of pure Christianity. It appears, 
indeed, exceedingly probable, that the 
Lollards of Kyle did little more than re- 
vive the old contest between the Culdees 
and the prelates ; and that the designa- 
tion given to them by their popish ene- 
mies was not in consequence of their hav- 
ing actually imbibed the tenets of Lollard 
the Waldensian, but that it was applied 
to them partly as a term of reproach, and 
partly with a view to prejudge their 
cause. For it has always been the policy 
of those who were engaged in persecut- 
ing religion, to slander, misrepresent, 
and affix to it a calumnious name, and 
then to assail it under this maliciously- 
imposed disguise. Few men have ever 
persecuted religion avowedly as such ; 
but how often have they called religion 
fanaticism, and then persecuted its ad- 
herents under the calumnious designation 
of fanatics ! 

Providentially for the Lollards of 
Kyle, James IV. himself presided at the 
trial, — a monarch who, with all his 
faults, had yet too much of manliness 
and candour to permit his judgment to 
be greatly swayed by the malignity of 
the prelates. Adam Reid appears to 
have taken the chief part in the defence, 
and to have answered with such spirit, 
point, and humour, as to amuse James, 
and baffle the bishop completely. The 

* Knox's History of the Reformation, p. 2; Sjots- 
wood, p. 60. 



result was, that they were dismissed, 
with an admonition to beware of new 
doctrines, and to content themselves with 
the faith of the Church. 

No new persecutions for heresy oc- 
curred during the reign of James IV., 
and after his death on the fatal field of 
Flodden, the attention of the nobility and 
the clerical dignitaries was too much oc- 
cupied with the prosecution of their own 
selfish and factious designs, to bestow 
much regard upon the progress of reli- 
gious opinions. James Beaton had been 
translated from Glasgow to the arch- 
bishopric of St. Andrews, and, in con- 
junction with the Douglas faction, ruled 
the kingdom with considerable ability 
during the minority of the young king, 
James V. According to Spotswood, Bea- 
ton " was neither violently set, nor much 
solicitous, as it was thought, how matters 
went in the Church." Still, notwith- 
standing their political cares, the clergy 
were aware that the writings of the Con* 
tinental Protestant divines were begin- 
ning to be introduced, as appears from 
an act of parliament passed in 1525, 
strictly prohibiting the importation of all 
such writings, and also forbidding all 
public " disputations about the heresies 
of Luther, except it be to the confusion 
thereof, and that by clerks in the schools 
alenarlie" [alone.]* Nor was their anxi- 
ety unfounded. There is great reason 
to think that some of these Protestant 
writings had about this time fallen into 
the hands of a youth whose rank and 
talents shed lustre on the cause which he 
espoused. 

Patrick Hamilton, a youth of royal 
lineage, and not less distinguished by the 
possession of high mental endowments, 
was the chosen instrument by means of 
whom " the Father of lights" rekindled 
in Scotland the smouldering beacon of 
eternal truth. 

Being designed by his relations for the 
Church, there had been conferred on him, 
even in infancy, the abbacy of Ferae,— 
a foretaste of the wealth and honours to 
which he might aspire, and a stimulus to 
quicken his ambition. But while his 
friends were anticipating for him a splen- 
did career of worldly pomp and power, a 
very different path was preparing for him. 
The ambitious and worldly, yet ignorant 

* M'Crie's Life of Knox, p. 23, 6th edit. 



A, D. 1538.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



25 



priesthood, by whom he was surrounded, 
began to mark with jealous eye his al- 
tered manner, to note suspiciously the 
praise he gave to the study of ancient lit- 
erature in preference to the dry logic of 
the schools, and the severe terms in which 
he condemned the abounding corruptions 
of the Church. Partly, perhaps, to avoid 
the danger to which he was thus expos- 
ing himself, but chiefly to obtain a more 
complete knowledge of the doctrines of 
the Reformation, he resolved to visit the 
Continent in 1526. With this view he 
naturally directed his course to Wittem- 
berg, where he was speedily honoured 
with the friendship and esteem of Luther 
and Melancthon. After enjoying the bene- 
fit of their society for a short time, he pro- 
ceeded to the University of Marbourg, 
where he obtained the instructions of the 
celebrated Francis Lambert. But the 
more that his own mind acquired of the 
knowledge of divine truth, the more ear- 
nestly did he long to return and commu- 
nicate that knowledge to his beloved coun- 
trymen. 

The return to Scotland of this noble 
youth at once attracted all eyes, as if a 
new star had appeared in the heavens. 
His instructions were listened to with the 
deepest attention, and the doctrines which 
he taught began to spread rapidly through- 
out the kingdom. His high birth, repu- 
tation for learning, the attractive elegance 
of his youthful aspect, and the persuasive 
graces of his courteous demeanour, ren- 
dered his influence almost irresistible ; 
and the popish clergy saw no safety to 
their cause but in his destruction. They 
framed their murderous plans with fiend- 
like ingenuity. Being apprehensive that 
the young king might not readily be per- 
suaded to sanction the death of one who 
stood to him in the near relationship of 
cousin, they contrived to send him on a 
pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Dothess, 
or Duthack, in Ross-shire. They next 
decoyed Patrick Hamilton to St. An- 
drews, on the pretence of wishing to have 
a free conference with him on religious 
subjects. Pursuing their perfidious plot, 
they caused Alexander Campbell, prior 
of the Blackfriars, to hold several inter- 
views with him, and even to seem to con- 
cede to his opinions so far as to draw from 
him a full avowal of them. Their meas- 
ures being new ripe for execution, they 
4 



caused him to be apprehended under 
night, and committed to the Castle. 

The very next day he was brought be- 
fore the archbishop, and a large conven- 
tion of bishops, abbots, priors, and other 
dignitaries and doctors of the Church, and 
there charged with maintaining and pro- 
pagating certain heretical opinions. Johr 
Knox declares, that the articles for which 
he was condemned were merely those of 
'-'pilgrimage, purgatory, prayers to 
saints, and prayers for the dead" al- 
though matters of greater importance had 
been in question. Spotswood, on the 
other hand, specifies thirteen distinct arti- 
cles, of much graver character, which 
were condemned as heretical, and he con- 
demned for holding them. The proba- 
bility is, that both statements are true ; 
that the articles specified by Spotswood 
are those "matters of greater importance" 
to w T hich Knox alludes ; but that in de- 
claring the sentence publicly, no mention 
was made of any but the four topics stated 
by Knox, because for his accusers to have 
done otherwise would have been to have 
published tenets themselves, which they 
wished to consign to oblivion. Such, in- 
deed, has been the policy of persecutors 
in all ages, — to fix the attention of the 
public, as far as possible, on the external 
aspect and the nonessentials of the sub- 
ject in dispute, thereby to conceal the 
truth, while they are destroying its de- 
fenders. So acted the Romanized Eng- 
lish prelates towards the Culdees, as we 
have already seen ; and so, as we shall 
afterwards see, acted the persecutors of 
the Church of Scotland in different peri- 
ods of her history. 

[1528.] The sentence of condemna- 
tion was pronounced ; and, to give it all 
the w r eight of authority, every person of 
name and rank, civil and ecclesiastical, 
was induced to sign it; amongst whom 
was the Earl of Cassilis, a boy of thir- 
teen years of age. Arrangements were 
then made to carry it into effect, that very 
day. The pile was erected in front of 
the College of St. Salvador, and the youth- 
ful martyr hurried to the stake. Before 
being bound to the stake, he divested 
himself of his outer garments, and 
gave them to his servant, who had attend- 
ed him faithfully and affectionately for a 
number of years, accompanying the gift 
with these tender and pathetic words : — 



26 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLA.Ni). 



[CHAP. n. 



" This stuff will not help me in the fire, 
and will profit thee. After this you can 
receive from me no more good, but the 
example of my death, which, I pray thee, 
keep in mind ; for, albeit it be bitter to 
the flesh, and fearful in man's judgment, 
yet it is the entrance into eternal life, 
which none shall possess .that denies 
Christ Jesus before this wicked genera- 
tion." A train of gunpowder, laid for 
the purpose of setting fire to the pile, ex- 
ploded ineffectually, scorching his left 
side and face, but leaving the mass un- 
kindled. While they were procuring 
materials of a more combustible nature, 
the calm spirit of the scorched sufferer 
poured itself forth in earnest exhortations 
and instructions to the pitying spectators. 
The treacherous Friar Campbell attempt- 
ed to disturb him by calling on him to re- 
cant, and pray to the Virgin Mary, which 
drew from the dying martyr a severely 
solemn reproof, ending with an appeal 
and citation to the judgment-seat of the 
Lord Jesus. The pile was then effectu- 
ally kindled ; and as the flames blazed up 
around him, his voice rose calm and 
clear, — " How long, O Lord, shall dark- 
ness cover this realm ? How long wilt 
thou suffer this tyranny of man ? Lord 
Jesus, receive my spirit!" — and with 
these words his spirit returned to God 
who gave it.* 

Thus died Patrick Hamilton, the first 
Scottish martyr, on the last day of Feb- 
ruary 1528, and in the twenty-fourth year 
of his age. He died a victim to the mal- 
ice and the treachery of the popish priest- 
hood ; but his death did more to recom- 
mend the cause for which he suffered to 
the heart of Scotland, than could have 
been accomplished by a lengthened life, 
— as a sudden flash of lightning at once 
rends the gnarled oak of a thousand 
years, and yields a glimpse of the strong 
glories of heaven. 

[1529.] The report of the martyrdom 
of this noble youth spread rapidly through- 
out the kingdom, and men began to in- 
quire why Patrick Hamilton was burned, 
and what were the opinions he had held 
and maintained to the death. When 
these opinions were related, the public 
mind was not only excited, but enlighten- 
ed also ; and many began to call in ques- 
tion much which they had never before 

* Kn<-,x, p. 6 ; Spotawood, p. 65. 



doubted, and to admit sacred truths with 
which they had till then been utterly un- 
acquainted. Several even of the friars 
began to preach and defend doctrines 
savouring strongly of the Reformation, 
and, at the same time, to declaim loudly 
against the licentious and ungodly lives 
of the bishops and the chief men of the 
ecclesiastical body. 

The archbishop and his familiars, 
alarmed and irritated, spoke of burning 
some, in order to terrify and silence oth- 
ers ; but a bystander, with a mixture of 
shrewdness and mockery, warned the 
archbishop to act warily, and if he burned 
any more, to burn them in cellars ; " for 
the smoke," said he, " of Mr. Patrick 
Hamilton hath infected as many as it 
blew upon." So rapidly, indeed, did 
these reforming doctrines spread, that in 
a short time Alexander Seaton, a Domin- 
ican friar, and confessor to the king, pub- 
licly preached in a strain directly sub- 
versive of the very essence of Popery. 
The following were his leading proposi- 
tions : — That Christ Jesus is the end and 
perfection of the law, — that there is no 
sin where God's law is not violated, — 
and that to satisfy for sins lies not in 
man's power, but the remission thereof 
cometh by unfeigned repentance, and by 
faith apprehending God the Father, mer- 
ciful in Jesus Christ his Son.* Such 
doctrines, publicly preached by a bold 
and eloquent man, occupying an influen- 
tial position, gave dire offence to the cor- 
rupt priesthood, who accordingly called 
him to account for certain heretical opin- 
ions which he was accused of holding. 
His able defence, and the favourable re- 
gard of the king, which he then enjoyed, 
"Saved him for that time ; but the arch- 
bishop secretly influenced the young and 
licentious monarch against a man who 
was too faithful and severe a monitor ; 
and Seaton, becoming aware of the secret 
machinations against him, fled to Ber- 
wick, and wrote to the king a remarka- 
ble letter, defending himself, retorting the 
charge against his enemies, and demand- 
ing the protection of just and impartial 
laws. This letter is given at length in 
Knox's History of the Reformation, and 
is well deserving of an attentive perusal, 
as containing the first attempt, by a Scot- 
tish reformer, to point out the duty of the 

• Knox, Historie, p. 10. 



A. D. 1534.] 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



27 



civil magistrate respecting religious mat- 
ters ; asserting it to be the duty of the 
king, to which he is " bound by the law 
of God, to cause every man, in any case 
accused of his life, to have just defence, 
and his accusers produced conform to 
their own law." It will be observed, 
that while this asserts the power and the 
duty of the sovereign in what regards the 
life, and by consequence the property, of 
the subject, it leaves the accused person 
to be tried by the laws of that court 
which he is assumed to have offended, 
and by consequence to suffer, if convicted, 
the punishments which such court may 
be competent to inflict. To this letter, 
and the principle very ably stated in it, 
we direct the reader's attention the more, 
in consequence of the misrepresentations 
of party writers, who refer to it as admit- 
ting the right of the king to judge directly 
in matters of doctrine. 

[1534.] The fierce persecuting zeal of 
the Archbishop Beaton, and his counsel 
of prelates, abbots, priors, &c, was in- 
effectual. Many learned men, especially 
Gawin Logie, principal of St. Leonard's, 
and John Winram, the sub-prior, either 
directly taught or secretly connived at 
the teaching of the reformed doctrines ; 
while considerable numbers of the infe- 
rior orders of the clergy abandoned the 
errors of Popery, cast aside the impure 
and extravagant legends of saints, and 
became earnest preachers of the gospel. 
Fear and rage inflamed the hearts of the 
persecutors, and increased their cruelty. 
Norman Gourlay and David Straiton 
were condemned at Edinburgh ; and, 
after being half-strangled, were cast into 
the flames, at Greenside, on the 17th 
August, 1534. Henry Forrest was 
burned at St. Andrews about the same time. 

In February 1538, Robert Forrester, 
gentleman, Duncan Simpson, priest, 
Friar Kyllor, Friar Beveridge, and Dean 
Thomas Forrest, were condemned to 
death, and burned in one huge pile on 
the Castle Hill of Edinburgh. There is 
an incident connected with the last-named 
person, which deserves attention, as ex- 
hibiting the ignorance of the bishops. 
We give it in the words of Archbishop 
Spotsvvood : — " This poor man, not long 
before, had been called before the bishop 
of Dunkeld, his ordinary, for preaching 
every Sunday to his parishioners upon 



the epistles and gospels of the day, and 
desired to forbear, seeing his diligence 
that way brought him in suspicion of 
heresie. If he could find a good gospel 
or a good epistle, that made for the liberty 
of the holy Church, the bishop willed 
him to preach that to his people, and let 
the rest be. The honest man replying, 
that he had read both the New Testa- 
ment and the Old, and that he had never 
found an ill epistle or an ill gospel in 
any of them. The bishop said, / thank 
God I have lived well these many yeatt, 
and never knew either the Old or the 
New : I content me with my portuise and 
pontificall ; and if you, Dean Thomas, 
leave not these fantasies, you will repent 
when you cannot mend it. Dean Thomas 
answered, that he believed it was his 
duty to do what he did, and that he had 
laid his account with any danger that 
might follow."* 

In the course of the same year, (1538) 
Jerom Russell, a friar, and a young man 
named Kennedy, of Ayr, were both 
burned at the same stake in Glasgow. 
At first, the heart of Kennedy, glowing 
with all the fresh feelings of youth, 
shrunk from the prospect of such an 
early and fearful death ; but spiritual 
strength being graciously imparted to 
him in his hour of weakness, he fell on 
his knees, breathed forth his fervent 
thanks to God for the heavenly comfort 
he had received, and then exclaimed, 
" Now I defy death ! Do what you please ; 
I praise God, I am ready !" This scene 
made such ^n impression upon the arch- 
bishop of Glasgow, that he would have 
spared the lives of the heroic martyrs, 
had he not been urged on to the dreadful 
deed by the bloody brotherhood around 
him. The two young sufferers perished 
together at the stake, exhorting each 
other to endure patiently their short ago- 
nies, for the sake of Him who died to 
destroy death, and to purchase for his 
followers eternal life ; and their calm 
Christian fortitude awoke the deep sym- 
pathies of the pitying and admiring spec- 
tators. 

Hitherto the persecution of the reform- 
ers had been carried on nominally under 
the authority of James Beaton, archbishop 
of St. Andrews, who, however, was in 
his latter years greatly under the influ- 

* Spotswoofj, pp. 66, 67. 



28 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. IL 



ence of his nephew, David Beaton, a 
man of great talents, still greater ambi- 
tion, and immitigable cruelty of disposi- 
tion. He had been educated in France; 
and after his return to Scotland, he was 
sent by the king to negotiate respecting 
the marriage of his own sovereign with 
a French princess. This was an object 
on which the hearts of the Scottish clergy 
were most earnestly bent, being appre- 
hensive lest James should comply with 
the proposal of Henry VIII. of England 
to give to the Scottish monarch his own 
daughter in marriage. The deep designs 
of the clergy were successful. The minds 
of Henry and James were estranged 
from each other ; and first a daughter of 
the French king, and, upon her early 
death, Mary of Guise, became succes- 
sively united in marriage to the Scottish 
king. For these services the King of 
France prevailed upon the pope to raise 
David Beaton to the rank of a cardinal, 
by which title he is hereafter to be desig- 
nated. 

Upon the death of James Beaton, in 
the year 1539, the cardinal succeeded 
him in the archbishopric of St. Andrews, 
and very speedily gave proof of his de- 
termination to employ still sharper mea- 
sures for the extermination of the reform- 
ers and their tenets. He called together 
all his adherents of the clerical body, to- 
gether with a considerable number of the 
nobility, to St. Andrews ; and there, pre- 
siding in state, proceeded to declare the 
dangers to which the Church was ex- 
posed from the prevalence, of heresy, 
which, he said, found too much counte- 
nance even at court, and the necessity of 
instituting still more rigorous measures 
for the suppression of heresy. He then 
named Sir John Borthvvick as infected 
with heretical opinions, and cited him to 
appear and answer to the charge. But 
Borthwick, having been aware of his 
danger, had fled to England ; and not 
appearing when summoned, was con- 
demned in absence, and burnt in effigy, 
in May 1540, both at St. Andrews and 
Edinburgh. The king was at that time 
thought to be favourably disposed to- 
wards the reformers, influenced, proba- 
bly, by his friendship for Sir David 
Lindsay, whose poetical genius attracted 
the admiration of the youthful monarch, 
himself possessing a taste and somewhat 



of a talent for poetry. But matters of 
grave political importance and civil dis- 
sensions intervened, turning aside the 
king's favour, and directmg the active 
energies of the cardinal into another 
channel. 

Allusion has been already made to the 
wish of Henry VIII. to form an alliance 
with James V., by offering to him his 
daughter in marriage. Against this the 
cardinal and whole clergy of the king- 
dom remonstrated in the strongest terms. 
They were afraid that the influence and 
example of Henry might induce James 
to favour the Reformation, in which case 
their power and their wealth must inevit- 
ably perish. They pointed out to James 
the danger of his being imprisoned, as his 
ancestor James I. had been should he 
venture into England ; and they offered 
to provide him funds for the support of an 
army, should war arise in consequence 
of his refusing to hold an interview with 
Henry. The reader of Scottish history 
must be well aware that the reign of 
James V. was one continued contest be- 
tween the king and the nobility. His 
first great conflict was with the house of 
Douglas, which he succeeded in over- 
throwing, after a protracted and dubious 
struggle. Pursuing what had been the 
policy of the race of Stuart, especially 
since the time of James I., the king strove 
to reduce the power of the great feudal 
barons; and this induced him to yield 
more readily to the persuasions of the 
clergy than he might otherwise have 
done, and also to promote unworthy fa- 
vourites to those stations of dignity and 
power which the nobility were accus- 
tomed to regard as their birthright. But 
though the intrigues of the clergy might 
sway the councils of the king, they could 
do him little service in the field. The 
wars with England produced but a series 
of disgraceful defeats, the nobles allow- 
ing themselves to be routed and taken 
prisoners by mere handfuls of their an- 
tagonists. These disastrous events broke 
the heart of the unhappy monarch, who 
died at Falkland on the 14th day of De- 
cember 1542, leaving the shattered sove- 
reignty to his infant daughter, the ill-fated 
Mary, who was born seven days before 
his death. 

Both Knox and Spotswood assert that 
Cardinal Beaton suborned a priest, called 



A. D. 1543.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



29 



Henry Balfour, to forge a document pur- 
porting to be the will of the king, in 
which the cardinal, and the Earls of 
Huntly, Argyle, and Murray, were ap- 
pointed governors of the kingdom during 
the minority of the infant queen. But 
this daring attempt was defeated in a 
meeting of the chief nobility at Edin- 
burgh ; and James Hamilton, earl of 
Arran, next heir to the crown, was ap- 
pointed regent and governor of the king- 
dom. 

The defeat of the cardinal, and the ap- 
pointment of Arran to the regency, were 
productive of great advantage to the cause 
of the Reformation. After the king's 
death, there was found a list which had 
been furnished to him by the cardinal, 
containing the names of some hundreds of 
persons of various ranks, and possessed of 
property and wealth, whom they denounc- 
ed as heretics, and by whose forfeited 
riches the coffers of the king might, ac- 
cording to their suggestions, be easily re- 
plenished. The knowledge of this ne- 
farious scheme tended not a little to bring 
odium on the cardinal and his party, and 
to strengthen the cause of their opponents. 
The regent Arran had also been for some 
time favourable to the Reformation, to 
which the lamented death of his relative, 
the martyr Patrick Hamilton, may easily 
be thought to have greatly contributed. 
In a parliament held the same year, 1542, 
an act was passed, declaring it lawful for 
all to read the Scriptures in their native 
language. Against the passing of this 
act the cardinal and the bishops strove 
with all the energy of fury and despair, 
but strove in vain. The effect was in- 
stantaneous and great. Copies of the sa- 
cred volume, which had been most care- 
fully concealed, and perused with secrecy 
and fear, were now to be seen, as Knox 
says, lying on every gentleman's table, 
and the New Testament, especially, borne 
about in almost every person's hands.* 
For a time the regent gave direct encour- 
agement to the Reformation, and employ- 
ed as his own chaplains Thomas Guil- 
laume or Williams, and John Rough, 
both zealous and faithful preachers of the 
reformed doctrines. And, as if for the 
purpose of settling the Reformation upon 
a firm and extensive basis, a treaty was 
concluded with Henry VIII. for a con- 

• Knox, p. 34. 



tract of marriage between his son Ed- 
ward and the infant queen of Scotland. 

So far all seemed prosperous ; but a 
great reverse was at hand. The regent, 
though a plausible, was a weak and fickle 
man, liable at all times to be wrought 
upon and biassed by those of greater de- 
cision and energy of character. With 
this, his constitutional failing, the wily 
cardinal was well acquainted ; and, to 
avail himself of it, invited from France, 
John Hamilton, abbot of Paisley, the 
regent's own illegitimate brother, and 
David Panter, afterwards bishop of Ross, 
two able and designing men, by whose 
influence he hoped to accomplish his de- 
sign. Too well did they succeed in their 
subtile enterprise. In a short time the 
regent's mind became so much alienated 
from the reformers, that his chaplains 
were under the necessity of withdrawing 
from court to save their lives ; Williams 
retiring to England, and Rough to Kyle. 
Sir David Lindsay, Kirkaldy of Grange, 
and other gentlemen who favoured the 
reforming party, were also obliged to re- 
tire ; and the regent became completely 
the tool of the cardinal and the popish 
faction. He accordingly broke off the 
agreement with England, abjured the re- 
formed religion, and entered heartily into 
the great master-scheme of the cardinal, 
to give the young queen in marriage to 
the Dauphin of France. 

[1543.] Cardinal Beaton having thus 
recovered his ascendency in the govern- 
ment of the kingdom, renewed his efforts 
to suppress the Reformation, by means of 
the most merciless and exterminating per- 
secution. He began his barbarous career 
at Perth, where five men and one woman 
were brought before him, accused of 
heresy. They were tried, condemned, 
and sentence of death passed upon them, 
— the men to be hanged, the woman to 
be drowned. The case of the poor wo- 
man, named Helen Stark, deserves to be 
more particularly recorded. She was the 
wife of one of the above-mentioned men, 
and had recently given birth to a child. 
During the anguish of her travail, she 
had been urged by her female assistant to 
pray to the Virgin Mary, and had an- 
swered that she would only pray to God, 
in the name of Jesus Christ. For this 
she was accused of heresy, and con- 
demned to die. On the day of execution 



30 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP II. 



she earnestly requested that she might die 
along- with her husband. Her pathetic 
appeal was harshly refused ; but she ac- 
companied him to the fatal spot, bearing 
her infant in her arms, and exhorting her 
husband to patience and constancy in the 
cause of Christ. He was murdered be- 
fore her eyes ; and as soon as life had 
left his quivering frame, she was dragged 
to a pool of water close at hand, with her 
babe still clinging to her bosom. When 
she had withdrawn her precious infant 
from its last enjoyment of nature's resting 
place and nature's nourishment, and con- 
signed it to the charge of a pitying neigh- 
bour, and to the care of Him who is the 
orphan's stay, she felt that for her the bit- 
terness of death was past, and being cast 
into the whelming waters, died without a 
struggle, full of the steady fortitude and 
the heavenly comfort of a Christian 
martyr.* 

Not satisfied with these victims, the 
cardinal pursued his bloody circuit 
through Angus and Mearns, inflicting 
upon some fines, upon others imprison- 
ment, and persecuting others to the death, 
taking with him the feeble regent, that 
he might have the appearance of his 
sanction to the perpetration of these cruel 
deeds. 

[1544.] He was soon to stain his soul 
with the blood of a more distinguished 
victim. This was the celebrated George 
Wishart, brother of the Laird of Pittar- 
row, in Mearns. He had been banished 
by the instigation of the bishop of Bre- 
chin, for teaching the Greek language in 
Montrose, and had resided for some 
years at the University of Cambridge. 
In the year 1544, he returned to his na- 
tive country in the company of the com- 
missioners who had been sent to negoti- 
ate a treaty with Henry VIII. of En- 
gland. Immediately upon his arrival in 
Scotland, he began to preach the doc- 
trines of evangelical truth, with such 
warm and persuasive eloquence as at 
once to attract, and soften, and convince 
the crowding audiences, who wept, and 
glowed, and trembled as he preached. 
In the accounts transmitted by cotempo- 
rary writers of this eminent Christian 
martyr, we seem to trace the features of 
a character of surpassing loveliness, bear- 
ing a close resemblance in its chief line- 

• Spotswood, p. 75. 



aments to that of the beloved Apostle 
John, — so mild, gentle, patient, and un- 
resisting, — his lips touched with a live 
coal from off the altar, and his heart over- 
flowing with holy love to God, and com- 
passionate affection to mankind. The 
citizens of Montrose, and especially of 
Dundee, felt and owned the power of his 
heavenly eloquence ; and much of his 
time and labours were spent in the latter 
city. 

[1545.] The cardinal was soon in- 
formed of Wishart's preaching, and of 
the deep impression it was producing in 
Dundee. Instigated by him, Robert 
Mil!, a man of great authority in the 
town, openly commanded him to leave 
the place, and trouble them no more with 
his sermons. Expressing his pity and 
regret that they were thus refusing to 
listen to the message of salvation, he took 
his departure, along with some of his 
friends, to Ayrshire. There his preach- 
ing was attended with equal success, and, 
of course, excited equal hostility in the 
breasts of the bishops and clergy. The 
archbishop of Glasgow hastened to the 
town of Ayr, to prevent Wishart from 
preaching in the church ; and the sheriff 
of the county prevented him from preach- 
ing in the church of Mauchline. But 
this was a small hindrance to the zeal- 
ous martyr. He could preach in the 
market-place, in the fields, or on the hill- 
side, with equal readiness, and with equal 
success in convincing his hearers. 

Hearing that the plague had visited 
Dundee, he hastened to return thither, 
that he might bring the hopes and con- 
solations of the gospel to perishing men 
in their hour of extreme need. There 
he braved the horrors of the plague, min- 
istering comfort to the miserable suffer- 
ers, both speaking to their souls, and sup- j 
plying their temporal necessities. Even 
when engaged in this work of mercy, an 
attempt was made upon his life by a 
priest ; and he escaped narrowly from a 
plot laid to get him into the power of the 
cardinal. Soon afterwards he proceeded 
to Edinburgh, and from thence to Had- 
dington, beset by enemies, yet for a time 
delivered from their snares. During his 
abode in that neighbourhood he was very 
constantly attended by John Knox, who 
was at that time residing as tutor in the 
family of Douglas of Langniddiie, and 



4. D. 1546.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



81 



who scrupled not to wear a sword for the 
defence of his beloved friend, the gentle 
and unresisting Wishart. 

[1546.] But the time of his martyrdom 
was at hand. After preaching at Had- 
dington, he went to Ormiston, accompa- 
nied by the proprietor, and by Crichton 
of Brunston and Sandilands of Calder. 
John Knox wished to have accompanied 
him also, but Wishart refused to permit 
him, saying, " Go back to your pupils : 
one is sufficient for one sacrifice." Dur- 
ing the night, the house w r as beset by 
armed horsemen, headed by the Earl of 
Bothwell j while the regent and the car- 
dinal were but a short way distant with 
a larger force, so that resistance was in 
vain. Ormiston, however, refused to 
yield up Wishart, till Bothwell pledged 
his honour to protect his life from the 
cardinal's hatred ; or, if he should find 
that to be impracticable, to restore him 
again to the protection of his friends. 
But the cardinal and the queen-dowager 
persuaded Bothwell to violate his pledge ; 
and Wishart was carried to St. Andrews, 
and left theie a prisoner, in the power of 
his deadly foe. 

While the cardinal was summoning 
together his prelatic council, that he 
might with the utmost pomp and ostenta- 
tion proceed to the destruction of his vic- 
tim, David Hamilton of Preston endea- 
voured to persuade the regent not to con- 
sent to the death of so distinguished a 
servant of God. The regent yielded so 
far as to write to the cardinal not to pre- 
cipitate the trial of Wishart till he should 
himself come to St Andrews. The car- 
dinal haughtily returned this answer: 
" That he wrote not to the governor as 
though he depended in any measure upon 
his authority, but out of a desire he had 
that the heretic's condemnation might 
proceed with a show of public consent, 
which, since he could not obtain, he 
would himself do that w r hich he held 
most fitting."* 

He proceeded accordingly to the exe- 
cution of his bloody purpose ; gave or- 
ders that Wishart should be summoned 
to trial ; and marched in state to the 
Abbey Church, accompanied by the 
archbishop of Glasgow, and a great 
number of bishops, abbots, and other 
clerical dignitaries, and attended by a 

• Spot«w w>d, p. 79. 



large body of retainers in military array. 
The sub-prior, John Winram, by the car- 
dinal's command, preached a sermon on 
the nature of heresy, but expressed in 
such guarded terms, that it gave no coun- 
tenance to the ruthless deed about to be 
perpetrated. Then rose up John Lauder, 
a priest, and entering fully into the spirit 
of the cardinal, began, in a strain of the 
coarsest and most ferocious invective, to 
enumerate eighteen articles of accusation 
against Wishart. He answered them all 
calmly and mildly, but with great strength 
of reasoning, and full proof of all his 
opinions from the Scriptures. He was 
nevertheless condemned by the unani- 
mous voice of the assembled popish pre- 
lates and clergy, and sentence passed ad- 
judging him to be burned to death, as a 
heretic, on the following day. 

Wishart passed the intervening night 
in the chamber of the captain of the cas- 
tle, occupying the greater part of it in 
prayer. Early next morning, the 2d 
day of March, 1546, after refusing to 
hold intercourse with two friars who had 
been sent to hear his confession, he re- 
quested to converse with Winram, the 
sub-prior. Winram came immediately, 
and after some private conversation, re- 
turned to the cardinal, to request that the 
sacrament might be given to the prisoner. 
This was refused ; but being invited by 
the captain to breakfast with him, Wis- 
hart prayed, exhorted, and distributed 
bread and wine to those who were pre- 
sent, — thus commemorating, as fully as 
circumstances would permit, the dying 
love of Him for whose sake he was him- 
self so soon to die. He then retired to 
his private apartment, and remained in 
prayer till those came who were appointed 
to take him to the place of execution. 
They divested him of his usual attire, 
clad him with a loose garment of black 
linen, and fastened bags of gunpowder to 
various parts of his body ; and when 
thus arrayed, he was conducted to an 
outer room near the gate of the castle, to 
wait there till the rest of the hideous pre- 
parations should be completed. 

The cardinal, in the meantime, had 
commanded a stake to be fixed in the 
ground, and combustible materials to be 
piled around it, in front of one of the 
castle-gates, near the priory ; and, lest 
the friends of Wishart should attempt a 



32 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. D. 



rescue, he had also given directions that 
all the cannons and other ordnance of 
the castle, should be pointed to the place 
of execution. The battlements and win- 
dows of the fore-tower of the castle were 
hung with tapestry and spread with rich 
cushions, that the cardinal and the pre- 
lates might, in state, and at their ease, 
feast their eyes upon the torments of the 
martyred servant of the Lord. 

All things being now prepared, Wish- 
art was led to the stake, with his hands 
bound behind his back, a rope round his 
neck, and an iron chain about his waist. 
When he reached the spot, he kneeled 
down and prayed aloud saying thrice, "0, 
thou Saviour of the world, have mercy on 
me ! Father of heaven, I commend my 
spirit into thy holy hands!" He then 
rose and addressed the people, exhorting 
them not to be offended with the Word 
of God, notwithstanding the torments 
which they saw preparod for him ; en- 
treated them to accept, believe and obey 
the Word of God ; and expressed entire 
forgiveness of his enemies and persecu- 
tors. Then the executioner, casting him- 
self upon his knees, before the martyr, 
begged to be forgiven for the deed he 
was about unwillingly to do. Wishart 
desiring him to draw near him, kissed 
his cheek, saying, " Lo, here is a token 
that I forgive thee ; my heart, do thine 
office!" The sounding of a trumpet 
gave the signal ; the martyr was tied to 
the stake, and the fire was kindled around 
him, exploding the gunpowder, but not 
putting an end to his sufferings. The 
captain perceiving him still alive, drew 
near the pile, and bade him be of good 
courage. Wishart replied with unfalter- 
ing voice, " This fire torments my body, 
but no way abates my spirit." Then 
looking towards the cardinal, he said, 
" He who in such state from that high 
place feedeth his eyes with my torments, 
within few days shall be hanged out at 
the same window, to be seen with as 
much ignominy as he now leaneth there 
in pride." As he ended these words, 
the executioner tightened the rope that 
was about his neck ; and the fire now 
blazing fiercely, he was speedily con- 
sumed to ashes.* 

Thus died George Wishart, one of the 

* For a more full account, see Spotswdod, pp. 75-82 ; 
Knox, Historie, pp. 43-63 ; Foxe, Martyrology. 



most amiable, eloquent, and truly pious 
men that ever endured the tortures and 
obtained the crown of Christian martyr- 
dom. But his death, while it seemed 
the triumph of the cardinal's power, 
proved to be the consummation of his 
guilt, and the knell summoning him to 
judgment. While the fierce popish fac- 
tion extolled the zeal and the courage of 
the cardinal, in thus, by his own author- 
ity exterminating heretics, and avenging 
the cause of holy mother Church, a great 
body of the people were stirred with in- 
dignation against the shedders of inno- 
cent blood, and several men of birth 
and influence began to talk openly 
of the necessity of putting an end to 
the bloodthirsty career of the cardi- 
nal, unless they were willing tamely to 
yield themselves up to be butchered at 
his pleasure. Of those who thus talked, 
the chief were John Lesly, brother to the 
Earl of Rothes ; Norman Lesly, son to 
the same Earl ; William Kircaldy of 
Grange, who afterwards acted a distin- 
guished part in the Reformation ; Peter 
Carmichael ; and James Melville, of the 
family of Carnbee. To these were 
joined several other men of less note, but 
equally determined ; and they began to 
plot how they might best succeed in their 
determination to put the cardinal to death. 

The cardinal was not unaware of the 
indignation which his cruelties had ex- 
cited ; but his haughty spirit determined 
him to brave the hostility which he had 
provoked. For this purpose he gave 
his illegitimate daughter in marriage to 
the Earl of Crawford, thereby to confirm 
his personal influence ; and began to for- 
tify more strongly his archiepiscopal 
palace, or castle, at St. Andrews. This 
latter scheme, from which he hoped se- 
curity, prepared the way of his death. 
The conspirators came privately, and se- 
parate from each other, so as to avoid 
causing suspicion, to St. Andrews, on the 
evening of the 28th of May. Next 
morning, as the workmen employed in 
fortifying the castle were assembling, 
they entered separately, till the whole 
number, sixteen in all, had obtained ad- 
mission. They then seized the porter, 
took possession of the keys, and secured 
the gates ; and going from room to room, 
either put out the domestics, or locked 
them up. Having thus mastered the 



A. D. 1546.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



33 



castle, they proceeded to the apartment 
o:cupied by the cardinal, who was still 
asleep, — so quietly had the whole affair 
been conducted. Starting at length out 
of his slumbers, the cardinal demanded 
the cause of the noise ; and learning that 
the castle was in the hands of his ene- 
mies, he at first attempted to escape, and 
finding that to be impracticable, he barri- j 
caded his chamber door, and then held \ 
parley with those by whom it was as- , 
sailed. The assailants refused to prom- 
ise him his life ; and, as the door re- 
sisted their efforts to force it, they called 
for a fire to burn it open. Upon this the j 
door was opened, and the cardinal 
throwing himself despairingly into a 
chair, cried out, " I am a priest, I am a 
priest; ye will not slay me!" John 
Lesly and Peter Carmichael struck him 
hastily with their daggers, but James 
Melville interposed, and putting them | 
aside, said, " This work and judgment of 
God, although it be secret, yet ought to I 
be done with greater gravity." Then 
turning to the cardinal, and presenting 
the point of his sword to his breast, he 
continued, " Repent thee of thy former j 
wicked life, but especially of the shed- 
ding of the blood of that notable instru- ■ 
ment of God, Mr. George Wishart ; 
which, albeit, the flame of fire consumed | 
before men, yet cries it for vengeance : 
upon thee, and we from God are sent to 
avenge it. For here, before my God, 1 1 
protest, that neither the hatred of thy 
person, the love of thy riches, nor the 
fear of any trouble thou couldest have 
done to me in particular, moved or mov- 
eth me to strike thee, but only because 
thou hast been, and remainest, an obsti- 
nate enemy against Christ Jesus and his 
holy evangel." With these words he 
struck the wretched an»l trembling man 
twice or thrice through the body ; whose 
expiring breath was spent in crying, " I 
am a priest, I am a priest ! fy, fy ! all is 
gone !" Thus died David Beaton, car- 
dinal, and archbishop of St. Andrews, 
without uttering one word of repentance 
or of prayer, on the 29th day of May, 
1546, leaving behind him a name unri- 
valled in Scottish annals for the fearful 
combination of evil qualities of which 
his character was composed, — unscrupu- 
lous ambition, far-reaching treachery, de- 
5 



liberate malice, gross licentiousness, and 
relentless cruelty.* 

Scarcely was the Cardinal dead when 
a tumult arose in the town, caused by 
those who had been expelled from the 
castle ; and a large body of the populace 
collected and began loudly to demand to 
see the cardinal, or to know what was be- 
come of him. To allay the tumult, the 
conspirators exposed the dead body from 
the same window, or over the same part 
of the battlements, where the cardinal had, 
a short time before, reclined in haughty 
state, gazing on the martyrdom of Wishart. 
Thus were the prophetic dying words of 
the martyr fulfilled; ai. d many of the peo- 
ple, when they beheld the strange specta- 
cle, remembering at the same time the 
previous prediction, began to regard the 
event as a signal instance of the just judg- 
ment of God, and, abandoning all thought 
of tumultuary revenge, returned quietly 
to their homes. 

That the death of Cardinal Beaton was 
an act of deliberate murder, and therefore 
in itself highly criminal, no right-think- 
ing man will deny. At the same time it 
ought to be kept in mind, that such actions 
bear in our eyes a much blacker aspect 
than they did in the estimation of men of 
that period. Some of the conspirators 
may also have been excited by resentment 
for private injuries, others by motives of 
state policy and the influence of English 
gold ; but a desire to deliver their country 
from his oppression, and especially to 
avenge the death of Wishart, seems to 
have been unquestionably the predominat- 
ing feeling by which they were impelled 
to the deed. The attempt which has been 
recently made, by a modern historian, to 
blacken the characters of all parties con- 
cerned, and even to implicate the martyr 
Wishart himself, deserves no other an- 
swer than to be at once indignantly re- 
pelled, or, if an answer, not, more than 
may be contained in a brief appended 
note.f To every reader accustomed to 
investigate moral evidence, the true na- 
ture of the transaction will at once be 
manifest ; and by all such, a fair estimate 
of the moral delinquency of men who 
thought themselves called upon to avenge 
the wrongs of their country and the mur- 
der of their friend, by committing a deed 

* Knox, Historie, pp. 64, 65. t See te in Appendix 



34 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. II 



of lawless justice on the person of a crimi- 
nal too high for the reach of law, will, 
without difficulty, be formed ; and with 
these remarks we quit the subject. 

Soon after the death of Cardinal Bea- 
ton, a number of gentlemen of Fife, who 
favoured the reforming party, entered into 
the castle of St. Andrews, thus both giving 
countenance to the deed of the conspira- 
tors, and securing a place of strength in 
which they could defend themselves while 
they were endeavouring to make their 
peace with the regent. This, however, 
it was not so easy to accomplish, insti- 
gated as he was by the clergy to avenge 
in the most exemplary manner the death 
of their leader. The regent laid siege to 
the castle in August ; but it was by this 
time so well garrisoned and supplied with 
both provisions and ammunitions from 
England, that the besiegers could make 
no impression upon it, and at length en- 
tered into terms of agreement and a sus- 
pension of hostilities with the defenders. 
John Rough, formerly chaplain to the 
regent before his relapse into Popery, had 
entered into the castle of St. Andrews, 
along with the Fifeshire gentlemen, pre- 
vious to the commencement of the siege ; 
but upon the suspension of hostilities he 
extended his preaching to the town, to 
which he then gained ready access. He 
was there encountered by John Annan, a 
popish priest and dean, and being inferior 
to his antagonist in learning, made ap- 
plication for aid to one who was destined 
to become the man of the age. 

[1547.] This was John Knox, the 
great Scottish Reformer. He had been 
educated for the Romish Church ; but his 
bold and penetrating mind could not be 
held in the trammels of mere priestly and 
scholastic authority, and at a very early 
period of his public life he showed his 
disposition to disregard antiquated dog- 
matism, and to walk freely on the paths 
of light and liberty pointed out by the 
Word of God. His mind had received 
some benefit in its early researches by the 
teaching of the regent's two chaplains, 
Guillaume and Rough ; but the clear 
doctrines, the heart-warm love, and the 
heavenly piety of the martyr Wishart, 
completed his conversion to the reformed 
faith. About the beginning of April 
1547, he entered the castle of St. An- 
drews, partly drawn by respect to those 



by whom it was held, and partly induced 
to seek an asylum within it from the hos- 
tility of the popish clergy, who seemed 
already to have marked him out as a dan- 
gerous opponent, and therefore to be cut 
off as soon as possible ; but chiefly to aid 
Rough in the controversy with Annan. 
Soon after his arrival, the people of the 
place, together with Rough, resolved to 
give John Knox a solemn and public call 
to be their minister. He was at first over- 
whelmed with anxiety when he thought 
of the awful responsibility of the ministe- 
rial office, but durst not refuse the call ; 
and from that hour manifestly regarded 
himself as devoted, with all his energies 
of mind and body, to the preaching of the 
everlasting gospel* 

Knox being thus publicly called to his 
great work, proceeded immediately to 
place the controversy between the Reform- 
ers and the Papists on its proper basis. 
Instead of waging a skirmishing warfare 
of outposts, he directed his efforts against 
the very heart of the enemy's position. 
Instead of contending about rites and cere- 
monies, the licentious lives of the priest- 
hood, and minor errors and perversions 
of doctrine, he boldly stated, and offered 
to maintain, the proposition, that the papal 
Church of Rome is Antichrist. From 
the hour when that proposition was boldly 
announced, are we disposed to date the 
real beginning of the Reformation in 
Scotland ; because from that hour it was 
manifest that there could be no compro- 
mise, — no retaining of anything in form, 
government, or doctrine, which had no 
other authority than what was derived 
from the practice or the teaching of an 
apostate and antichristian body, — no ap- 
peal to any other standard than the Word 
of God. 

A public disputation was held in the 
presence of the sub-prior, between Knox 
and the priests ; the effect of which was 
prodigious upon the numerous audience, 
who now clearly perceived that the 
popish party were unable to maintain 
their cause in argument Nor were the 
prelates unaware of their danger ; and 
therefore they prepared to overwhelm by 
force what they could not oppose success- 
fully from reason and Scripture. Hav- 
ing procured assistance from France, 
they again besieged the castle, not only 

* Life of Knox, by Dr M'Crie, pp. 32, 3a 



A. D. 1547 ] HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



35 



by land, but also by sea, by means of the 
French galleys, which blockaded the 
harbour, thereby cutting off their sup- 
plies from England. After a gallant re- 
sistance, the defenders were obliged to 
capitulate, on the 31st day of July 1547, 
making their terms with the French 
commander, and stipulating that their 
lives and liberties should be preserved. 
These terms, however, were not kept; 
for immediately upon the return of the 
French fleet to France, the prisoners, in- 
stead of being set at liberty, were con- 
fined to the galleys as slaves.* 

The triumph of the popish party was 
great ; but it was of brief duration. The 
Duke of Somerset, protector of England 
in the minority of Edward VI, resenting 
the perfidy of the regent and his counsel- 
lors, invaded Scotland at the head of a 
powerful army, and inflicted on the Scot- 
tish forces a severe defeat at the battle of 
Pinkie. This had little other affect than 
that of throwing the ruling party in Scot- 
land more completely into the arms of 
France, and thereby hastening the de- 
cisive struggle. In a parliament held at 
Stirling in 1548, it was resolved to send 
the young Glueen of Scotland to France, 
first to be educated there, and then mar- 
ried to the dauphin. 

After hostilities had continued for some 
time between Scotland and England, of 
a harassing rather than of a destructive 
character, a peace was concluded, in 
which France also was embraced ; and, 
in consequence of the application of the 
English ambassadors, John Knox was 
released from the galleys, and allowed 
:o return to England. He resided for 
some time in that country ; and while 
there, refused the offer of the bishopric 
of Rochester, which he could not accept 
because he regarded prelacy as without 
the sanction of scriptural authority. 
From England Knox proceeded to the 
Continent ; and, after being for some 
time pastor of a Protestant church at 
Frankfort, whence he withdrew on ac- 
count of the usurpation and intolerance 
of an English prelatic party, went to 
Geneva, where he remained till his re- 
turn to Scotland in the year 1555. 

But during this interval some things 
occurred which deserve to be mentioned, 
that the series of events may not be left 

* Knox, Historie, p. 77 ; Spo swood, p. 88. 



unconnected. After the taking of the 
castle of St. Andrews, and the banish- 
ment of its defenders, the popish party 
continued their efforts for the suppression 
of the incipient Reformation ; in which 
they promised themselves the more com- 
plete success that Knox was now no lon- 
ger present to defend it. Adam Wallace, 
who was tutor to the family of Ormiston, 
was accused of heresy, and burned on the 
Castle Hill of Edinburgh. Several 
gentlemen of property, accused of favour- 
ing the reforming party, were banished, 
and their estates forfeited. Councils of 
the clergy were held at Linlithgow, and 
at Edinburgh, for devising measures, 
not only to extirpate heresy, but also to 
reform such glaring abuses as excited 
public odium, hoping thereby to allay 
the general desire of further reformation. 
Some of the regulations passed by these 
councils were good in themselves, but as 
they were left to be carried into execu- 
tion by the very persons who were in- 
terested in the perpetuation of abuses, 
they remained themselves generally in- 
operative. In the meantime, the reform- 
ing party were left without a leader, 
several of the nobility, and the inferior 
barons of considerable influence, con- 
tinued to favor the views of the reformers, 
but contented themselves with retaining 
their opinions, and waiting for a more 
propitious juncture. The zeal of the 
persecutors seemed also to abate. They 
flattered themselves that they had suc- 
ceeded in suppressing heresy in Scot- 
land ; and they returned to their old em- 
ployment of engaging in political in- 
trigues. 

There was at this time a double 
course of intriguing carried on ; and, on 
the one side, by a person who proved 
herself an adept in the art, — namely, the 
queen -mother. It was foer desire to ob- 
tain the regency, and yet not to give 
direct offence to the Earl of Arran. 
She contrived therefore, to form a party 
against him among the nobility and gen- 
try who -were attached to the principles 
of the Reformation, to whom, secretly, 
she promised protection. At length Ar- 
ran, feeling his influence departing, re- 
signed the regency, which was given to 
the queen-mother, Mary of Guise, on the 
10th of April 1554. She thus reached 
the summit of her ambition ; and had 



36 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. II. 



the state of torpor into which the Refor- 
mation had been cast continued, she 
might, in all probability, have enjoyed 
her power for a considerable time, and 
with no little reputation ; for she was 
possessed of superior abilities, untroubled 
by conscientious scruples, and able to 
gild over her designs by plausible artifice 
and deep dissimulation. 

But the mind of Scotland was not al- 
lowed to remain long in this state of tor- 
pidity. The accession of Mary to the 
English throne on the lamented death of 
Edward VI. produced an immediate 
change in religious matters throughout 
the island. The fierce persecution 
which arose in England drove several 
of the English Protestants to Scotland, 
where they renewed the public preach- 
ing, which had been for some time in a 
great measure suppressed. Of these the 
most distinguished were William Har- 
low and John Willock, the latter of 
whom was afterwards colleague to John 
Knox. 

At length, in the end of harvest, in the 
year 1555, John Knox himself returned 
to Scotland, and resumed his reforming 
labours, with double energy, zeal, and 
success. From Edinburgh, where he 
first recommenced his toils, he proceed- 
ed, along with the justly celebrated John 
Erskine of Dun, to Angus and Mearns, 
where he preached in public for a month, 
rekindling in that district the embers of 
the Reformation. His next position was 
at Calder House, where he resided for 
some time as the friend and guest of Sir 
James Sandilands, preceptor, or provin- 
cial grand-master of the Knights of St. 
John, who had been for some time at- 
tached to the reformed faith, and was a 
person of distinguished talents, blameless 
life, and great weight and dignity of 
character. In his mansion Knox held 
intercourse with Lord Erskine, subse- 
quently Earl of Mar, and Regent ; the 
Lord of Lorn, afterwards Earl of Argyle ; 
and Lord James Stewart, an illegitimate 
son of James V., afterwards Earl of 
Murray, "the Good Regent." By his 
intercourse with these noblemen, Knox 
was at that time framing the nucleus of 
what subsequently grew into a power 
capable not only of assuming an attitude 
of self-defence, but of wielding the king- 
dom. 



From Calder House Knox went to 
Ayrshire, accompanied by Campbell of 
Kinyeangh, and traversed that dis 
trict, preaching wherever he had an op- 
portunity, to increasing, attentive, and 
deeply impressed audiences. The Earl 
of Glencairn, who alone had opposed the 
martyrdom of Adam Wallace, gave the 
full weight of his countenance and sup- 
port to the teaching of Knox. Con- 
tinuing his reforming progress Knox 
again visited Calder, the district of An- 
gus and Mearns, and finally returned to 
Edinburgh. 

[1556.] By this time the priesthood 
were thoroughly roused out of their vain 
security; and, determining to stem the 
tide ere it should reach its flood, they 
summoned Knox to appear in the Black- 
friars Church at Edinburgh, on the 15th 
of May 1556. Knox at once determined 
to comply with this summons, and con- 
front his opponents ; and with that inten- 
tion came to Edinburgh a little before the 
day appointed, accompanied by Erskine 
of Dun, and several other gentlemen. 
But the clergy were not prepared to deal 
summarily with this dauntless antago- 
nist. They were not sure how far the 
queen-regent would support them, and 
they deserted the diet, and allowed Knox 
to keep the field unchallenged. He, on 
his part, did not let slip the opportunity : 
he preached openly in Edinburgh, deep- 
ening the impression formerly made, and 
increasing the alarm and confusion of his 
enemies. Some of the nobility, who were 
equally impressed and astonished with 
the convincing power of his fervid elo- 
quence, persuaded him to write to the 
queen-regent, hoping that, if she could 
be prevailed on to hear him, she too 
might be converted to the reformed faith. 
But after glancing carelessly over his let- 
ter, she handed it to the archbishop of 
Glasgow, saying, in a tone of mockery, 
" Please you, my Lord, to read a pas- 
quil." So vanished the hope of her re- 
formation. 

While John Knox was thus strenuously 
engaged in promoting the Reformation, 
in his native country, letters came from 
his former flock in Geneva, earnestly 
pressing him to return to his charge 
among them. After revisiting those parts 
of Scotland where he had previously 
preached, and spending a few days at 



A. D. 1557.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



37 



Castle Campbell with the aged Earl of 
Argyle, he departed for Geneva in July 
1556. He was no sooner gone than the 
clergy renewed their summons ; and up- 
on his failing to appear, he was con- 
demned of heresy, and burned in effigy at 

the market-cross of Edinburgh, an 

achievement sufficiently showing the 
fangless malice of his enemies. 

Although John Knox had left Scot- 
land, the reformed doctrines continued to 
be preached in different parts of the 
country. John Douglas, a Carmelite 
friar, renouncing the errors of Popery, 
became chaplain to the aged Earl of Ar- 
gyle ; and when the archbishop of St. 
Andrews endeavoured to persuade the 
earl to dismiss his suspected chaplain, he 
positively refused, and continued to pro- 
tect him till his own decease. Willock, 
about the same time, arrived from the 
Continent ; and Paul Methven began to 
preach the Protestant doctrines in Dun- 
dee, as did others in Angus and Mearns. 

The clergy perceiving that their own 
power was now insufficient for the sup- 
pression of what they termed heresy, pre- 
vailed on the queen-regent to summon 
the preachers before the council of state, 
and there to have them accused of stir- 
ring up sedition among the people, — a 
device to which persecutors have very 
often since resorted, for the purpose of 
at once accomplishing the object, and es- 
caping the odium of persecution. But 
this device was, in this instance, com- 
pletely frustrated. When the preachers 
came to Edinburgh, such numbers of 
their friends came along with them, that 
it was judged dangerous to proceed to 
extremities. A proclamation was, how- 
ever, issued, ordering all who had come 
to the town without having been com- 
manded, to repair immediately to the 
borders, and there remain fifteen days 
under the banner of the lieutenant-gen- 
eral. The Protestant gentlemen, pene- 
trating easily into the object of this pro- 
clamation, assembled together, and, in- 
stead of obeying it, proceeded to court, 
and forced themselves with little cere- 
mony into the presence of the queen, 
then sitting in council with the bishops. 
Chalmers of Gadgirth, a bold and zealous 
man, spoke in the name of all: — "Ma- 
dam, we know that this proclamation is 
a device of the bishops, and of that bas- 



tard, (the primate of St. Andrews) that 
stands beside you. We avow to God, 
that ere we yield, we will make a day of 
it. These idle drones oppress us and our 
tenants ; they trouble our preachers, and 
would murder them and us. Shall we 
suffer this any longer ? No, madam, it 
shall not be." And therewith every man 
put on his steel bonnet. The queen-re- 
gent had recourse to fair words, disa- 
vowed the proclamation, and discharged 
the citation of the preachers. Thus that 
storm blew past.* 

A few days after this there was a lu- 
dicrous tumult of the people, at a proces- 
sion in honour of St. Giles, when the im- 
age was thrown scornfully to the ground, 
drawn through the mi: of the streets, 
its head beaten off, the body thrown into 
the North Loch, and then dragged out 
and burned. These events so discour- 
aged the queen and the clergy, that they 
thought it expedient to abandon their 
persecuting schemes, and to endeavour to 
procure an accession of strength before 
they should again provoke the courage 
of the Protestant gentry and the tumults 
of the people. This accession of strength 
they expected to obtain by procuring an 
act of the Scottish parliament to confer 
the crown-matrimonial of Scotland on 
Francis the Dauphin, and husband of 
Mary ; by which scheme there would be 
so close a union between France and 
Scotland, the king of the one country 
being also the king of the other, that 
French power would give the popish 
clergy paramount influence in Scotland, 
and enable them to extirpate the Refor- 
mation by force. 

[1557.] But while the queen-regent 
and the prelates were concocting this 
deep scheme, the Scottish protestants be- 
came anxious for the return of Knox 
from Geneva. A letter was accordingly 
sent to him in March 1557, signed by the 
Earl of Glencairn, and Lords Erskine, 
Lorn, and James Stewart, inviting him 
in their own name, and in that of their 
brethren, to return to Scotland, where he 
would find them all ready to receive him, 
and to jeopard their lives and fortunes in 
the cause of true religion. Having consult- 
ed Calvin and his other friends at Geneva, 
and been by them advised to comply 
with the request, Knox prepared to take 

* Knox, Historie, p. 94. 



33 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP II. 



wha: he expected to be a final farewell of 
Geneva, and then proceeded on his jour- 
ney through France to Dieppe. When 
he arrived at Dieppe, he received letters 
from Scotland of a tenor so discoura- 
ging as to cause him to delay his farther 
journey till he should receive additional 
information as to the real state of matters 
in his native country. While at Dieppe 
he wrote a letter to the nobility by whom 
he had been invited, upbraiding them 
sharply for their timidity and fickleness 
of purpose. Being unwilling to abandon 
the enterprise, he continued to reside at 
Dieppe for several months, expecting a 
more favourable answer from Scotland ; 
and employing his time in writing some 
very long and able letters of a public 
character, in particular, one against the 
erroneous tenets of the Anabaptists, and 
another to the Scottish nobility on their 
duties in general, and on the question of 
resistance to supreme rulers. Not re- 
ceiving such answers, and so directly as 
he wished, he returned again to Geneva 
in the beginning of the year 1558. 

In the meantime matters were rapidly 
maturing in Scotland. Notwithstanding 
the discouraging letters which Knox had 
received at Dieppe, the chief of the no- 
bility who invited him were still prepared 
to stand by their invitation ; and, in fact, 
renewed it, in a letter sent to Geneva by 
a special messenger. And although the 
return of Knox was delayed, yet his let- 
ters from Dieppe seemed to have little 
less influence than his presence might 
have had. The lords and chief gentry, 
devoted to the reforming interests, re- 
solved to meet at Edinburgh, and, by a 
general consultation, to determine what 
was now best for them to do. They 
came to the noble resolution that they 
would persevere in their defence of the 
reformed religion ; and, that they might 
have the confidence and strength of con- 
firmed union, they resolved to frame a 
common bond or covenant, engaging 
them to mutual support in defence of each 
other and of the gospel.* This very re- 
markable document, which has been com- 
monly called The First Covenant, was 
subscribed at Edinburgh, on the 3d of 
December 1557 ; and on account of its 
great importance, both in its own time, 
and as setting the example of similar 

* The Fitst Covenant, 3d December 1557. 



covenants, we shall present it to the reader 
entire, merely modernizing the spelling. 

"We, perceiving how Satan, in his 
members the antichrists of our time, cru- 
elly doth rage, seeking to downthrow 
and destroy the evangel of Christ and his 
congregation, ought, according to our 
bounden duty, to strive in our master's 
cause, even unto the death, being- certain 
of the victory in him: the which, our 
duty being well considered, we do prom- 
ise before the Majesty of God and his 
congregation, That we, by his grace, 
shall with all diligence continually apply 
our whole power, substance, and our very 
lives, to maintain, set forward, and estab- 
lish the most blessed Word of God, and 
his congregation J and shall labour at our 
possibility to have faithful ministers, 
purely and truly to minister Christ's 
evangel and sacraments to his people. 
We shall maintain them, nourish them, 
and defend them, the whole congregation 
of Christ, and every member thereof, at 
our whole powers, and wairmg [expend- 
ing] of our lives against Satan and all 
wicked power that does intend tyranny 
and trouble against the foresaid congre- 
gation. Unto the which holy word and 
congregation we do join us ; and also do 
renounce and forsake the congregation of 
Satan, with all the superstitions, abomi- 
nations and idolatry thereof. And more- 
over shall declare ourselves manifestly 
enemies thereto, by this our faithful 
promise before God, testified to his con- 
gregation, by our subscription at these 
presents. At Edinburgh the 3d day of 
December 1557 years. God called to 
witness."* 

This bond, or covenant, was subscribed 
by the Earls of Argyle, Glencairn, and 
Morton, Archibald, lord of Lorn, John 
Erskine of Dun, and a great number of 
other distinguished men among the lesser 
baron's and influential country gentle- 
men. From the repeated recurrence of 
the word congregation in this document, 
the chief subscribers were after this called 
Lords of the Congregation ; and the peo- 
ple who adhered to them were called the 
Congfreg-ation. 

Though they had thus both ascer- 
tained and confirmed their strength, the 
Lords of the Congregation were desirous 
to act in the most temperate manner, and 

* Knox, Historie, p. 101. 



A. D. 1358.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



39 



not to provoke an actual conflict, unless 
it could not possibly be avoided. They 
resolved, therefore, to rest satisfied with 
requesting the queen-regent to cause all 
country curates and pastors to perform 
the services of religion in the English 
language ; consenting that the reformed 
preachers should teach in private houses 
only, till .permission should be obtained 
for them to preach in public. This peti- 
tion was presented to the queen-regent by 
Sir James Sandilands. To this she re- 
turned a plausible answer, promising to 
grant the prayer of the petition as far as 
might be practicable, and, in the mean- 
time, granting protection to the Protes- 
tant preachers till some uniform arrange- 
ment might be established by parliament, 
provided there should be no public meet- 
ings held in Edinburgh and Leith. In 
consequence of this interim arrangement, 
the chief Protestant preachers were re- 
ceived into the houses of the Lords of the 
Congregation, and restricted their teach- 
ing in a great measure to the households 
where they resided. 

[1558.] The popish clergy being now 
unable to wreak their vengeance on the 
chief Protestant preachers, determined to 
show no mercy to any whom they could 
get within their power. There was an 
aged priest, named Walter Mill, who 
had been accused of heresy in the days 
of Cardinal Beaton, but had contrived to 
escape at that time from his murderous 
hands. Mill had continued to live in 
comparative concealment, for several 
years, occasionally preaching in public, 
but more commonly in private, in differ- 
ent quarters of the kingdom. Being 
lately discovered by one of the arch- 
bishop's spies, he was seized and brought 
to trial at St. Andrews. The venerable 
man, bowed down with the weight of 
years, for he was upwards of four-score, 
defended himself on the day of his trial 
with great spirit and ability. He was, 
nevertheless, condemned to be burned at 
the stake ; but so great was the compas- 
sion felt for him, and such the horror 
awakened by this barbarous outrage of 
all that man holds sacred in the hoary 
head of drooping human nature, that no 
person could be got to aid in the execu- 
tion of the sentence, till the archbishop 
commanded one of his own domestics to 
perpetrate the crime. On the 28th of 



April 1558, Mill expired amidst the 
flames, uttering these words, " As for me, 
I am fourscore and two years old, and 
cannot live long by course of nature j 
but a hundred better shall rise out of the 
ashes of my bones. I trust in God, I 
shall be the last that shall suffer death in 
Scotland for this cause."* 

This barbarous deed stirred the heart 
of the reforming party in Scotland, like 
the sound of a trumpet. The people of 
St. Andrews raised a great pile of stones 
on the spot where he w T as burned, to 
commemorate his martyrdom. The 
Lords of the Congregation complained 
to the queen-regent against the unpar- 
alleled barbarity of the bishops. And 
the Protestant preachers availing them- 
selves of the ferment throughout the 
kingdom, broke through the restraints to 
which they had submitted for the sake of 
peace, and began to preach with increased 
fervour and publicity. But the measures 
of the queen-regent were not yet matured, 
and therefore she renewed her deep dis- 
simulation. 

She declared to the Protestant lords 
that she was not guilty of the death 
of Walter Mill, who, being a priest, be- 
longed properly to the jurisdiction of the 
Church. She engaged to do every thing 
in her power to procure redress in a 
legal form from parliament ; and suc- 
ceeded in deceiving the Lords of the Con- 
gregation, whom she could not venture 
openly to offend till she had procured 
their aid in accomplishing her own deep 
scheme. 

In the parliament which met in Octo- 
ber 1558, she contrived to balance the 
bishops, the party headed by Arran, and 
the Lords of the Congregation, against 
each other, in such a manner as to pro- 
cure the consent of all that the crown 
matrimonial should be given to Francis, 
who would thereby be king of both 
France and Scotland. In the same par- 
liament, previous to the completion of this 
arrangement, the Lords of the Congrega- 
tion were prepared to present a petition 
seeking the redress of the grievances in 
religious matters of which they had pre- 
viously complained ; but the wily regent 
contrived to induce them to withhold 
it for the present,, and to content them- 
selves with publicly reading such a pro- 

* Knox, p. 122;. Spotswood, pp. 95-97. 



40 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. II. 



test as should completely reserve their 
right to have the subject re-introduced 
when another opportunity should occur. 
To the protest the queen-regent answered 
verbally, that she would remember what 
was protested, and put order afterwards 
to all that was in controversy. With this 
promise the Protestant lords were satis- 
fied, and their suspicions lulled asleep. 
But having now gained her object in se- 
curing the crown-matrimonial to the Dau- 
phin of France, she gave private assur- 
ance of support to the archbishop of St. 
Andrews, and consulted with him how 
most thoroughly and speedily to suppress 
the Reformation. 

Dr. Robertson* has stated very clearly 
and convincingly the deep and daring 
scheme of the princes of the house of 
Lorraine, brothers of the queen-regent 
of Scotland, with which that able and 
unscrupulous princess was fully ac- 
quainted, and which formed in truth the 
leading principle of all her own political 
machinations. It was to the following 
effect : The formation of a league be- 
tween France and Spain for the utter de- 
struction of the Reformation throughout 
Europe ; and as England was the most 
powerful Protestant kingdom, and Eliz- 
abeth was now its sovereign, it was ne- 
cessary that she should be dethroned, 
and the crown bestowed on a popish 
monarch. As Mary, the young queen 
of Scotland, was the nearest heir to the 
English crown, it was thought that the 
best method of accomplishing their design 
would be, by suppressing the Reforma- 
tion in Scotland, establishing the French 
and popish influence in that country, and 
through it assailing Elizabeth. It was 
essential to the complete arrangement of 
this gigantic scheme that the crown-mat- 
rimonial of Scotland should be secured to 
the Dauphin of France, Mary's husband ; 
and for this reason did the queen-regent 
employ all her artifice to blind and cajole 
the Lords of the Congregation, and to 
induce them to consent to recognise 
Francis and Mary as king and queen of 
Scotland, distinctly promising that she 
would then, supported by the authority 
of the kingly name, make such arrange- 
ments as should protect their preachers 
and themselves from the malice and ha- 

• Robertson's History of Scotland. 



tred of the bishops, and promote the re- 
formation of religion.* 

Having now accomplished her pur- 
pose, the queen-regent prepared to throw 
aside the mask which she had so long 
worn. Accordingly, in the end of De- 
cember * 558, with her concurrence, the 
preachers of the reformed doctrines were 
summoned to appear at St. Andrews, be- 
fore the archbishop, on the 2d day of 
February following, to answer for their 
conduct in usurping the sacred office, 
and disseminating heretical doctrines. 
Upon this, a deputation of the Protest 
ants waited on the queen-regent, and en- 
deavoured to dissuade her from permit- 
ting the adoption of such violent meas- 
ures ; declaring, that after what had re- 
cently taken place in the instance of the 
martyr Mill, they were determined to at- 
tend and see justice done to their preach- 
ers, and that, if the prosecution went on, 
there would be such a number present to 
witness it as had been rarely seen in 
Scotland. This declaration so far alarmed 
the regent, that she caused the trial to be 
postponed ; at the same time summoning 
a convention of the nobility, to be held 
at Edinburgh on the 7th of March, 1559, 
to advise upon the most proper measures 
for settling the religious differences by 
which the nation had been so long agi- 
tated ; and, that these matters might be 
fully discussed, the primate, at her re- 
quest called a provincial council of the 
clergy, to meet in the same place on the 
1st of March. 

[1559.] The convention of nobility 
and council of clergy met at the time ap- 
pointed, and the Protestants having also 
assembled at Edinburgh, appointed com- 
missioners to lay their representations 
before each of these bodies. To the 
council of clergy they gave in certain 
preliminary articles of reformation, in 
which they craved that the religious ser- 
vice should be performed in the native 
tongue ; that such as were unfit for the 
pastoral office should be removed from 
their benefices ; that, in future, bishops 
should be admitted with the assent of the 
barons of the diocese, and parish priests 
with the assent of the parishioners ; and 
that measures should be adopted for pre- 

* Knrx, Historie, p. 110; Spotswood, p. 120 ; M'Crie'a 
Life of Knox. 



A. D. 1559 ] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



4! 



venting immoral and ignorant persons 
from being employed in ecclesiastical 
functions, It deserves to be noticed, that 
there was another paper laid before the 
council, drawn up by persons attached to 
the Romish Church, also " craving re- 
dress for several grievances complained 
of in the ecclesiastical administration of 
Scotland." This latter paper, indicating 
the existence of a reforming party within 
the Romish Church itself, gave serious 
alarm to the council, and increased their 
determination to adopt strong and deci- 
sive measures at once. They accord- 
ingly ratified, in the strongest terms, all 
the controverted doctrines ; ordered strict 
inquiry to be made after all such as ab- 
sented themselves from the celebration of 
mass ; and threatened with excommuni- 
cation all who should disseminate or ad- 
here to the doctrine of the Reformation. 
A secret treaty, it appears, had been 
framed between the clergy and the queen- 
regent, in which they engaged to raise a 
large sum of money to enable her to 
levy and maintain forces wherewith to 
overthrow and suppress the reformers. 

The Protestant party becoming aware 
of this secret treaty, and perceiving the 
turn that matters were now taking, broke 
off the negociations in which they had 
been engaged, and left Edinburgh. 
They were no sooner gone than a pro- 
clamation was made at the market-cross 
by order of the queen-regent, " prohibit- 
ing any person from preaching or ad- 
ministering the sacraments without au- 
thority from the bishops ; and command- 
ing all the subjects to prepare to cele- 
brate the ensuing feast of Easter, ac- 
cording to the rules of the Catholic 
Church." This proclamation the Pro- 
testants regarded as equivalent to a de- 
claration of direct hostility against them 
and their religious belief; and perceived 
that they must either now take their 
stand, or prepare to abandon all that they 
held most sacred. They did not hesitate, 
but disregarded the proclamation, neg- 
lecting the superstitious and idolatrous 
rites of Popery, and worshipping God 
according to the directions contained in 
His own Word, and the light of con- 
science. The queen-regent had now ad- 
vanced too far to retract ; and accord- 
ingly, Paul Methven, John Christison, 
William Harlaw, and John Willock 
6 



were summoned to stand trial before the 
Justiciary Court at Stirling, on the 10th 
of May 1550, for disregarding the pro- 
clamation, teaching heresy, and exciting 
seditions and tumults among the people. 

Being reluctant to proceed to extremi- 
ties, the Protestants sent the Earl of 
Glencairn and Sir Hugh Campbell of 
London to wait on the queen, and re- 
monstrate against these violent proceed- 
ings ; but she haughtily replied, that 
" maugre [in spite of] their hearts, and 
all that would take part with them, 
these ministers should be banished Scot- 
land, though they preached as soundly 
as ever St. Paul did." The deputation 
reminded her of the promises she had 
repeatedly made to protect them, to 
which she unblushingly replied, that " it 
became not subjects to burden their 
princes with promises, farther than they 
pleased to keep them." Roused, rather 
than intimidated, by this language, they 
answered, that if she violated the en- 
gagements she had come under to her 
subjects, they would regard themselves as 
absolved from their allegiance to her. 
This bold and resolute answer caused 
her to pause and resume her tone of 
simulated mildness, and at length she 
promised to suspend the trial of the 
preachers, and take the whole affair into 
serious consideration. 

That very night, according to Spots- 
wood, after the departure of the deputa- 
tion, the queen received information that 
the town of Perth had embraced the re- 
formed doctrines. Enraged to find all 
matters going so contrary to her wishes, 
she sent for Lord Ruthven, provost of 
that town, and commanded him to go im- 
mediately to suppress these innovations. 
To this he answered, that " he could 
make their persons and their goods sub- 
ject to her, but had no power over their 
minds and consciences." She furiously 
exclaimed, that " he was too ma 'apert to 
give her such an answer, and she would 
make both him and them repent it." In 
the same spirit of revenge, she broke 
the promise she had given to Glen- 
cairn and Loudon, ordered the processes 
against the preachers to go on, and sum- 
moned them peremptorily to stand their 
trial at Stirling on the appointed day. 

Affairs now swept rapidly forward to 
the crisis that had been long inevitable. 



42 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. U 



The Protestant nobility and gentlemen 
determined to accompany their preachers 
to Stirling on the day appointed. The 
townsmen of Dundee, and those of Mon- 
trose, together with the chief inhabitants 
of Angus and Mearns, assembled at 
Perth ; but before proceeding to Stirling, 
it was judged expedient to send Erskine 
of Dun before them, to assure the queen 
of their peaceful dispositions, and that 
their only object was to join with their 
preachers in making a public confession 
of their faith, and to aid them in their 
just defence. The wily queen again re- 
sorted to dissimulation ; and succeeded in 
persuading Erskine to remain at Stirling, 
and to write to the assembled Protestants 
at Perth, requesting them to return to 
their houses, and promising that the trial 
should not proceed against the ministers. 
Some, confiding in the queen-regent's 
promise, did return to their homes ; but 
a considerable number, remembering her 
previous acts of treachery, remained at 
Perth, till they should see the issue. At 
this very important juncture the Protest- 
ant party received an accession of strength 
in the opportune arrival of John Knox 
in Scotland. 

It has been already stated that he had 
returned to Geneva, after the discourag- 
ing letters which he received at Dieppe. 
But when he received a fresh invitation 
from the Lords of the Congregation, and 
farther learned in what extremities his 
Scottish reforming brethren were placed, 
he at once determined to hasten to his 
native country, and devote his life to the 
great and sacred cause of the Scottish 
Reformation. He was refused permis- 
sion to journey through England ; but 
taking shipping at Dieppe, he sailed to 
Leith, where he landed the 2d of May 
1559. 

Nothing can more strikingly prove 
the importance of this timely arrival of 
the gre; t Scottish reformer, than the con- 
sterna f , .on it excited in the hearts of his 
antagonists. The day for the trial of the 
preachers was close at hand, and their 
enemies were busily engaged in com- 
pleting their treacherous plots against 
the lives of those devoted men. For se- 
veral days the provincial council of the 
clergy had been sitting in the monastery 
of the Grayfriars ; and on the morning 



of the 3d of May, they had again met 
and resumed their deliberations. While 
they were thus engaged, on a sudden one 
of the fraternity entered the monastery, 
and rushed into the presence of the coun- 
cil, breathless with haste, and pale with 
terror, exclaiming in broken words — - 
" John Knox ! John Knox is come ! he 
is come! he slept last night in Edin- 
burgh !" The council was panic-struck. 
In dumb dismay they contemplated the 
ruin of all the plans which they had 
given their gold and stained their souls 
with guilt to fabricate. At once stunned 
and terrified, they ceased to deliberate, 
broke up the council, and dispersed in 
great haste and confusion. 

A messenger was instantly sent to the 
queen-regent with the unwelcome infor- 
mation ; and within a few days Knox 
was proclaimed an outlaw and a rebel, 
in virtue of the sentence formerly pro- 
nounced against him by the clergy. He 
staid but one day in Edinburgh ; and be- 
ing resolved to cast himself at once into 
the heart of the conflict, and to share the 
dangers of his brethren, he hurried to 
Dundee, and joined those who were pre- 
paring to proceed to the trial at Stirling. 
With them he hastened to Perth, where 
the main adherents of the Reformation 
were by this time assembled, waiting the 
result of the negotiations between the 
queen-regent and Erskine of Dun, of 
which mention has been already made. 

The queen, as already stated, had 
promised, to Erskine that the trial of the 
preachers should be postponed ; but when 
the day of trial came, they were sum- 
moned, and, not appearing, they were 
outlawed, and all persons were prohib- 
ited, " under pain of rebellion, to assist, 
comfort, receive, or maintain them in any 
sort." At the same time, the gentlemen 
who had given security for their appear- 
ance were fined. Indignant at this act 
of gross deceit and injury, and apprehen- 
sive of personal danger, Erskine con- 
trived to escape from Stirling unobserved, 
and hastened to Perth with the intelli- 
gence of what had taken place. An 
event immediately followed the return of 
Erskine to Perth, which has often been 
grievously misrepresented, to the preju- 
dice of the reformers, very unjustly, by 
the favourers of Prelacy; and as Dr. 



A. D. 1559.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



43 



M'Crie has given a very full account of 
it in his Life of Knox, we extract the 
passage. 

' ; It happened that, on the same day on 
which the news came of the queen's 
treacherous conduct at Stirling, Knox, 
who remained at Perth, preached a ser- 
mon, in which he exposed the idolatry of 
the mass and of image-worship. The 
audience had quietly dismissed, and a 
few idle persons only loitered in the 
church, when an imprudent priest, wish- 
ing to try the disposition of the people, or 
to show his contempt of the doctrine 
which had just been delivered, uncovered 
a rich altar-piece, decorated with images, 
and prepared to celebrate mass. A boy, 
having uttered some expressions of disap- 
probation, was struck by the priest. He 
retaliated by throwing a stone at the 
aggressor, which, falling on the altar- 
piece, broke one of the images. This 
operated as a signal upon the people 
present, who had sympathised with the 
boy ; and in course of a few minutes, the 
altar, images, and all the ornaments of the 
church, were torn down and trampled 
under foot. The noise soon collected a 
mob, which, finding no emplovment in 
the church, flew, by a sudden and irre- 
sistible impulse, upon the monasteries ; 
and although the magistrates of the town 
and the preachers assembled as soon as 
they heard of the riot, yet neither the per- 
suasions of the one, nor the authority of 
the other, could restrain the fury of the 
people, until the houses of the gray and 
black friars, with the costly edifice of the 
Carthusian monks, were laid in ruins. 
None of the gentlemen or sober part of 
the congregation were concerned in this 
unpremeditated tumult; it was wholly 
confined to the lowest of the inhabitants, 
or, as Knox designs them, ' the rascal 
multitude.' If this disorderly conduct 
must be traced to a remote cause, we can 
impute it only to the wanton and dishon- 
ourable perfidy of the queen-regent. 

u In fact, nothing could be more fa- 
vourable to the designs of the regent than 
this riot. By her recent conduct she had 
forfeited the confidence of the Protes- 
tants, and even exposed herself in the 
eyes of the sober and moderate of her 
own party. This occurrence afforded 
her an opportunity of turning the public 
indignation from herself, and directing it 



against the Protestants. She did not 
fail to improve it with her usual address. 
She magnified the accidental tumult into 
a dangerous and designed rebellion. 
Having called the nobility to Stirling, 
she, in her interviews with them, insisted 
upon such topics as were best calculated 
to persuade the parties into which they 
were divided. In conversing with the 
Catholics, she dwelt upon the sacrilegious 
overthrow of those venerable structures 
which their ancestors had dedicated to 
the service of God. To the Protestants 
who had not joined their brethren at 
Perth, she complained of the destruction 
of the charter-house, which was a royal 
foundation ; and, protesting that she had 
no intention of offering violence to their 
consciences, promised to protect them, 
provided they would assist her in pun- 
ishing those who had been guilty of this 
violation of public order. Having in- 
flamed the minds of both parties, she col- 
lected an army from the adjacent coun- 
tries, and advanced to Perth, threatening 
to lay waste the town with fire and sword, 
and to inflict the most exemplary ven- 
geance on all who had been instrumental 
in producing the riot."* 

A considerable body of French troops 
strengthened the queen's army, and in- 
creased the danger of the Protestants, 
who were also weakened by the retreat 
of many of their own party, confiding 
in the previous pacific declarations of the 
queen. But messengers had been sent 
by the reformers from Perth, requesting 
their friends to come to their defence 
with all possible expedition : and so read- 
ily were these entreaties responded to, 
that before the queen's army had reached 
Perth, the reformers were enabled to as- 
sume an attitude of self-defence suffi- 
ciently imposing to cause the queen to 
propose overtures of accommodation. 
I The promptitude of the Earl of Glen- 
cairn, on this emergency, deserves par- 
ticular mention. In an almost incredible 
short space of time, he assembled about 
two thousand five hundred men, and 
marched from Ayrshire to Perth, bring- 
ing this large reinforcement to his breth- 
ren there, while they were treating with 
the queen-regent. 

The queen employed the Earl of Ar- 
gyle and Lord James Stewart to treat 

• M'Crie's Life of Knox, pp, 159, 160. 



44 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. II. 



with the Lords of the Congregation at 
Perth ; and an agreement was entered 
into, in which it was stipulated, that the 
town should be left open to the queen ; 
that none of the inhabitants should be 
called in question for what had taken 
place ; that the French should not enter 
the town ; and that, when the queen re- 
tired, there should be no garrison left in 
it. To these terms the reformers agreed ; 
at the same time stating, that they did not 
expect the queen to keep faith with them 
any longer than till she obtained the 
power to break it with safety to herself; 
and Argyle and Stewart, declaring that 
if she should violate the treaty, they 
would leave her, and openly take part 
with their brethren, to whom they con- 
sidered themselves bound by the most 
sacred ties. Before quitting Perth, the 
Lords of the Congregation framed and 
subscribed another bond pledging them 
to mutual support and defence in the 
cause of religion, or any cause dependent 
thereupon, by whatsoever pretext it might 
be coloured and concealed. This has 
been generally called The Second Cove- 
nant. It was subscribed in the name of 
the whole Congregation, by the Earls of 
Argyle and Glencairn, Lord James Stew- 
art, the Lords Boyd and Ochiltree, and 
Matthew Campbell of Terringland, on 
the 3 1st of May 1559.* 

A very short time was sufficient to 
prove how much reason the Protestants 
had to distrust the most solemn promises 
of the queen-regent. No sooner had she 
obtained complete possession of the town 
of Perth than she began to violate her 
engagement, treating the inhabitants with 
the greatest violence, changing their 
magistrates forcibly, and substituting 
creatures of her own, exacting oppressive 
fines from some, and conniving at the 
murder of others who had been friendly 
to the reformers, and, upon her depart- 
ure, leaving a garrison in the town, con- 
trary to the express stipulations of the 
treaty. Argyle and Lord James Stewart 
remonstrated strongly against such con- 
duct, and were answered, that " she Avas 
not bound to keep promises made to her- 
etics ; and that she would make little 
conscience to take from all that sect their 
lives and inheritance, if she might do it 
with so honest an excuse "! These no- 

' Knox, p. 138. t Knox, p. 130 ; Spotswocd, p. 133. 



blemen feeling their own honour impli* 
cated, forsook her, and went to the Con- 
gregation, resolving never again to place 
any confidence in her promises. 

The Lords of the Congregation now 
resolved to temporize and negotiate no 
longer, but to take immediate steps for 
abolishing the idolatrous and superstitious 
rites of Popery, and setting up the re- 
formed worship in all places to which 
their authority or influence extended. 
And as Lord James Stewart was prior 
of St. Andrews, and had now cordially 
and entirely joined with the reformers, 
he gave an authoritative invitation to 
John Knox, to meet him in that city on 
a certain day, and to preach publicly in 
the Abbey Church. Knox, who had 
been preaching in several places along 
the east coast of Fife, hastened to com- 
ply with this invitation, and on the 9th 
of June arrived at St. Andrews. The 
archbishop, hearing of this design to 
storm Popery in its stronghold, hastily 
collected an armed force, and having at 
their head hurried to St. Andrews, sent 
information to Knox, that if he appeared 
in the pulpit, he would give orders to fire 
upon him. 

The juncture was one of an extremely- 
critical nature. The Lords of the Con- 
gregation were but slenderly accompa- 
nied ; the disposition of the townsmen 
was in a great measure uncertain ; and 
the queen-regent had advanced to Falk- 
land, about twelve miles distant, at the 
head of a considerable army, consisting 
chiefly of the French troops, who were 
thoroughly devoted to her interests, and 
as thoroughly hostile to the Reformation. 
Argyle and Lord James Stewart were 
alarmed at the dangerous aspect of affairs, 
and yet reluctant to abandon their inten- 
tion. They felt that to be baffled at the 
very outset of their great enterprise would 
be a severe if not a fatal discouragement ; 
and yet they were unwilling to put the 
life of Knox, as well as their own lives, 
in such imminent peril. In this perplex- 
ity they sent for Knox himself, to have 
his own judgment in this emergency. 
That judgment was one becoming him 
" who never feared the face of man." 
Reminding them that he had been first 
called to preach the gospel in that very 
town, — reft from it by the tyranny of 
France, at the procurement of the 



A. D. 1559.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



45 



bishops, — that now the opportunity was 
presented to him, for which he had long- 
ed, and prayed, and hoped, — he entreated 
them not to hinder him from once more 
preaching in St. Andrews. " As for the 
fear of danger that may come to me, let 
no man be solicitous ; for my life is in 
the custody of Him whose glory I seek. 
I desire the hand and weapon of no man 
to defend me. I only crave audience • 
which, if it be denied here unto me at 
this time, I must seek farther where I 
may have it." 

The dauntless courage of the great re- 
former communicated itself to the lords. 
Like him, they ceased to think of danger, 
when the call was that of sacred duty ; 
and next day, the 16th of June, Knox ap- 
peared in the pulpit, and preached to a 
numerous audience, including the arch- 
bishop, many of the inferior clergy, and 
the scowling bands of armed retainers 
prepared for the assassination of the fear- 
less preacher. But the hand of God was 
with him, restraining the fury of the ad- 
versary, and moulding anew the melted 
hearts of the people. The subject of his 
discourse was, our Saviour's ejecting the 
profane traffickers from the temple of 
Jerusalem ; which he applied to the duty 
incumbent on all Christians, according 
to their different stations, to remove the 
corruptions of the Papacy, and purify the 
Church. On the three following days 
he preached in the same place, and on 
similar subjects ; and such was the effect 
of his doctrine, that the magistracy and 
the inhabitants agreed to set up the re- 
formed worship in the town ; and imme- 
diately stripped the church of images and 
pictures, and demolished the monasteries. 

The archbishop of St. Andrews hast- 
ened to the queen-regent with this dire 
information. Being apprised, at the 
same time, that the lords at St. Andrews 
were accompanied by a small retinue, 
she resolved to surprise them before their 
friends could come to their support, and 
gave orders to prepare to march on Cu- 
par. But the Protestants in the adjacent 
counties, being aware of the danger of 
their friends, hastened to their aid with 
such celerity, and in such numbers, that 
they were able to anticipate the queen's 
movements, and take up a position con- 
fronting her army on Cupar-moor. The 
resolute aspect of the Protestant army 



again appalled the queen ; and dreading 
a disastrous defeat, should she risk a bat- 
tle, she proposed a suspension of hostili- 
ties. The Protestant lords had now re- 
ceived too many proofs of her duplicity 
to be again circumvented by mere pro- 
mises. They, therefore, stipulated that 
the French troops should be removed out 
of Fifeshire ; and that commissioners 
should, within ten days, be sent to St. 
Andrews, for the purpose of settling all 
differences between her and the Congre- 
gation. The troops were removed ; but 
no commissioners were sent. The Lords 
of the Congregation determined, there- 
fore, to adopt more decisive measures, 
and to redress by their own efforts those 
grievances which they could not get 
otherwise remedied. 

Mustering once more their strength, 
they advanced to Perth, and expelled the 
garrison left there by the queen. Thence 
by a rapid movement they proceeded to 
Stirling, seized upon it, and continuing 
their march, took possession of Edin- 
burgh itself; the queen-regent, as they 
approached, retiring with her forces to 
Dunbar. In the meantime the dread of 
the direct and immediate vengeance of 
the popish clergy being removed, the 
rest of the kingdom quickly followed the 
example of Perth and St. Andrews, in 
abolishing the popish worship ; and in 
the course of a few weeks, " at Crail, at 
Cupar, at Lindors, at Stirling, at Linlith- 
gow, at Edinburgh, and at Glasgow, the 
houses of the monks were overthrown, 
and all the instruments of idolatry des- 
troyed."* 

On their arrival at Edinburgh the 
Lords of the Congregation sent deputies 
to Dunbar, to assure the queen that they 
had no intention of throwing off their al- 
legiance, and to induce her to accede to 
reasonable terms of accommodation. 
One preliminary point was agreed upon, 
— that the sentence of outlawry against 
the ministers should be rescinded, and 
that they should be allowed to preach 
publicly to those who chose to hear 
them. Knox was chosen by the people 
of Edinburgh to be their minister, on the 
7th of July, and immediately began his 
labours among them. But the wiles of 
the queen were not yet exhausted. She 
prolonged the negotiations till she learned 

* M'Crie's Life of Knox, p. 166 



46 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP H. 



that the greater part of the Protestant 
forces had returned to their homes, and 
then advanced suddenly with her army 
to Edinburgh. Leith having declared 
for the regent, and the castle of Edin- 
burgh being under the command of 
Lord Erskine, who was unfavourable to 
the Protestants, they felt that they could 
not defend the town, and agreed to 
evacuate it, on condition that the inhabi- 
tants should be left at liberty to use that 
form of worship which they should pre- 
fer. The lords then retired to Stirling, 
taking with them John Knox, and leav- 
ing Willock in his place, who continued 
to preach in St. Giles' Church after the 
arrival of the regent. 

The King of France dying about this 
time was succeeded by Mary's husband, 
and thus the crowns of France and Scot- 
land seemed to be united, and the deep 
scheme of the princes of Lorraine on the 
point of being realized. Letters were 
sent by the new king and queen to Lord 
James Stewart, for the purpose of detach- 
ing him, if possible, from the Protestant 
party ; but he remained firm to his faith 
and covenant engagement. At the same 
time, an additional supply of money and 
troops were sent from France to the 
queen-regent to enable her to crush and 
exterminate the Reformation in Scotland. 
The hopes of the regent began to revive ; 
and she commenced fortifying Leith, 
both as commanding strength in an im- 
portant position, and a port through 
which she might readily at all times re- 
ceive supplies from France into the very 
heart of the country. But though these 
matters were favourable to the queen-re- 
gent, there were others of a counter- 
balancing character. The Earl of Ar- 
ran, son to the former regent, the Duke 
of Chatelherault, returned at this time 
from France, having narrowly escaped 
imprisonment on account of having ex- 
pressed himself favourable to the Protes- 
tant doctrines. After having held an 
interview with the Protestant lords at 
Stirling, this young nobleman went to 
Hamilton to his father, and succeeded in 
prevailing on him to quit the party of 
the queen-regent, and join the Lords of 
the Congregation. 

The accession of the Hamiltons to the 
Protestant party gave a new turn to af- 
fairs. The queen-regent immediately 



put in practice all her diplomatic arts to 
detach the Hamiltons from the Congre- 
gation, if possible, or to sow jealousy and 
cause dissension among them. Failing 
in these endeavours, she issued declara- 
tions to the public, in which she strove 
to fix the charge of rebellion upon the 
Congregation generally, and, in particu- 
lar, accused Lord James Stewart and the 
Duke of Chatelherault of aiming several- 
ly at the crown. These insidious de- 
clarations were met by counter-declara- 
tions, in which the accused parties vindi- 
cated themselves from these charges, and 
exposed the course of treachery and 
cruelty by which her conduct had been 
all along :Laiacterised. This war of 
diplomacy, however, was not likely to 
lead to any satisfactory result ; and the 
Protestant lords began to /repare for 
more decisive measures. They as- 
sembled in Edinburgh on the 21st of 
October 1559, in such numbers as to 
form a convention of the estates of the 
kingdom, and entered upon a formal de- 
liberation what ought to be done to res- 
cue the country from such a state of 
civil dissension, and especially from the 
lawless outrages committed by the 
French troops in the queen-regent's 
army. 

In this convention of estates both Knox 
and Willock were requested to state their 
sentiments respecting the duty of subjects 
to their rulers in cases of oppression. 
Willock held that the power of rulers 
was limited both by reason and by Scrip- 
ture, and that they might be deprived of 
it upon valid grounds ; implying that he 
thought the conduct of the queen-regent 
had passed these limits, and given to her 
subjects these valid grounds. Knox as- 
sented to Willock's opinions, and added, 
that the assembly might, with safe con- 
sciences, act upon it, provided they at- 
tended to the three following points : — 
" First, that they did not suffer the mis- 
conduct of the queen-regent to alienate 
their affections from their due allegiance 
to their sovereigns, Francis and Mary; 
second, that they were not actuated in 
the measure by private hatred or envy 
of the queen-dowager, but by regard for 
the safety of the commonwealth ; and, 
third, that any sentence which they might 
at this time pronounce should not pre- 
clude her readmission to office, if she 



A. D. 1559.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



47 



afterwards discovered sorrow for her 
conduct, and a disposition to submit to 
the advice of the estates of the realm. 
After this, the whole assembly, having 
severally delivered their opinions, did, by 
a solemn deed, suspend the queen-dowa- 
ger from her authority as regent of the 
kingdom, until the meeting of a free par- 
liament ; and, at the same time, elected a 
council for the management of public 
affairs during this interval. 

The conduct of Knox and Willock, in 
giving their opinions on this very import- 
ant matter, has been very often and very 
severely censured. But those who have 
done so have in general displayed either 
an anxious desire to avail themselves of 
any opportunity of blackening the char- 
acter and aspersing the motives of the 
Scottish reformer, or so little acquaintance 
with the great principles of civil and re- 
ligious liberty, as to render their opinion 
of very slight value. Genuine Chris- 
tianity, instead of impairing the worth 
of man's natural and civil rights and 
privileges, gives to them an infinitely 
increased importance, as the rights and 
privileges of the freemen of' the Lord ; 
rendering it absolutely impossible for a 
true Christian either to enslave others or 
to submit to be himself enslaved. And 
let it be ever most gratefully remembered, 
that to the Reformation we owe that true 
civilization which not only strikes off the 
fetters from the body, but cultivates also 
the mind, — which not only liberates men 
from civil, mental, and moral thraldom, 
but also, at the same time, elevating them 
in the scale of existence, renders them 
worthy to be free. The mind of Knox 
was too deeply imbued with these great 
principles, and his heart too fearless, for 
him to hesitate in giving a frank avowal 
of his sentiments, be the danger and the 
obloquy thereby to be encountered what 
they might ; and yet, let it be observed, 
that while he vindicated the right of sub- 
jects to protect themselves against unlaw- 
ful despotism, both in this and in other 
instances, he carefully guarded against 
the opposite extreme, of encouraging sub- 
jects wantonly to violate the allegiance 
due to their sovereigns. But instead of 
farther attempting to vindicate Knox from 
the aspersions cast upon him by writers 
of a servile character, let us direct the at- 
tention of the reader to a noble passage 



in M : Crie's Life of Knox, where the 
principles of civil and religious liberty 
are explained and defended with great 
eloquence of language and power of 
reasoning.* 

This act, suspending the commission 
of the queen-regent, was proclaimed in all 
the chief towns throughout the kingdom, 
and intimated formally to the regent her- 
self, summoning her at the same time to 
dismiss the French troops from Leith, 
and yield the town. To this declaration 
and summons, an answer, charging the 
Protestants with rebellion, and uttering a 
bold defiance of their power, was re- 
turned ; and hostilities immediately be- 
gan. But the success of the ^rotestant 
lords and their army was not equal to 
their hopes and the goodness of their 
cause. There arose, in fact, a division 
among them, of a kind to which such 
enterprises as they were engaged in must 
always be exposed. The very essence 
of the contest was of a strictly religious 
character, and had been begun by men 
whose sole object it was to rescue the 
pure and undefiled Christianity of the 
Bible from the gross corruptions of Po- 
pery. But many had now joined the 
early reformers from a variety of motives, 
apart from those of religion ; and even 
those in whom religious motives predom- 
inated still retained so great an admix- 
ture of selfish and worldly policy, as to 
embarrass extremely the conduct of those 
with whom they professed to act. A 
double policy must always be an unsafe 
one. And, perhaps, there is nothing 
which has ever done more evil to man 
than the debasing intermixture of worldly 
motives in matters of a purely religious 
and sacred character. But on this subject 
we shall not further dwell at present, as 
it will repeatedly meet us hereafter, and 
in circumstances fitted to display its na- 
ture and bearing more clearly. 

The accession of the Hamiltons and 
their adherents appeared to strengthen 
the Protestants very much ; yet the divi- 
sions which almost immediately sprung 
up proved more detrimental to their cause 
than their increase of numbers was bene- 
ficial. And as the Duke of Chatelhe- 
rault, being the man of greatest rank 
among them, was placed nominally at 
their head, his timid and vacillating 

' M'Crie's Life of Knox, pp. 1S3-192. 



43 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. II 



character diffused its contagion among 
them, and rendered their councils unde- 
cided and their conduct irresolute. They 
failed in some encounters with the 
French ; and fresh supplies arriving at 
Leith, they became so discouraged as to 
abandon the siege, and retreat to Stirling, 
in a state of great dejection. They were 
also deficient in money to pay and sup- 
port their forces, many of whom were of 
a mercenary character, regarding little 
on which side they fought, provided they 
obtained pay, and were occasionally gra- 
tified with pillage. Upon the retreat of 
the Lords of the Congregation, the French 
issued from Leith, took possession of 
Edinburgh, with the exception of the 
castle, which Lord Erskine continued to 
hold in a kind of armed neutrality, ad- 
vanced to Stirling, pillaging the country 
as they went, and crossed into Fifeshire, 
skirting the coast, and continuing their 
ravages as they proceeded towards St. 
Andrews.* 

In this extremity the Protestants found 
it necessary to apply more pressingly to 
Queen Elizabeth for aid from England. 
This had indeed been done some months 
before, when they became convinced that 
hostilities must ensue ; and the inter- 
course with England had been conducted 
chiefly by Knox and Henry Balnaves of 
Hallhill, on the Scottish side, and Cecil 
on the English. Knox apprized Cecil 
of the great popish league, devised by 
the princes of Lorraine, for the suppres- 
sion of the Reformation throughout Eu- 
rope, to which the dethronement of Eliz- 
abeth was essential ; and suggested a 

3 DO 

great counter-league of Protestant pow- 
ers, of which Elizabeth should be the 
head. Cecil could appreciate the scheme ; 
but it was not so easy to induce Eliza- 
beth to engage in it, requiring, as it ne- 
cessarily did, great and immediate sacri- 
fices and exertions for a remote, and 
what might appear a contingent, good. 
Assistance in money was sent, but with 
a sparing hand ; and part of it was in- 
tercepted, and fell into the possession of 
the queen-regent. But now, when the 
Protestant cause appeared to be sinking 
in Scotland, in consequence of the direct 
aid received by the queen-regent from 
France, the English cojrt perceived the 
necessity of sending an army to the as- 

* Knox, Spotawood, Buchanan. 



sistance of the Congregation. A short 
time before the Protestants retired from 
Edinburgh, they were joined by Wil- 
liam Maitland of Lethington, one of the 
ablest statesmen of his time, who had 
previously been secretary to the queen- 
regent. Upon his arrival, Knox, who 
had no relish for the intrigues of mere 
politicians, immediately relinquished the 
direct management of all diplomatic mat- 
ters to Lethington, expressing great satis- 
faction at being relieved from duties so 
uncongenial to his mind. Lethington was 
sent to England to endeavour to procure 
assistance ; and it was finally resolved 
that an English force should be sent to 
Scotland to co-operate with the Protest- 
ant lords in expelling the French troops 
out of the kingdom. A contract to that 
effect was concluded at Berwick, between 
the Duke of Norfolk and the Scottish 
commissioners, on the 27th of February 
1560.* 

[1560.] The war now assumed a more 
determined aspect. The French troops, 
being aware of the approach of the Eng- 
lish, returned to Leith, and prepared to 
defend it to the last extremities. Before 
the arrival of the English forces, the 
queen-regent was allowed by Lord Er- 
skine to enter into Edinburgh castle; 
thus withdrawing herself from being per- 
sonally exposed to the dangers and hor- 
rors of a war which she herself had 
caused. Several sharp encounters took 
place between the besiegers and the be- 
sieged ; but as the English fleet had the 
command of the sea, no supplies could 
be transmitted from France to the garri- 
son of Leith, which was daily becoming 
weaker. The French court employed 
every art of policy to induce Elizabeth to 
abandon the support of the Protestant 
lords, and almost succeeded. But being 
at length convinced that England's own 
security and best interests were involved 
in the support of Scotland, she gave 
orders to prosecute the siege with the 
utmost vigour. The resolution of Eliza- 
beth convinced the Court of France that 
it was in vain to prolong the contest. A 
treaty was therefore proposed between 
France and England, the basis of which 
was, that the troops of both countries 
should be withdrawn from Scotland, 
and ambassadors were appointed to meet 

* Knox, Spotawood 



A. D. 1560.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



49 



in Edinburgh, to complete its arrange- 
ment and ratification. 

While the ambassadors were on their 
way to Scotland, the queen-regent, who 
had been for some time declining in 
health, became seriously ill ; and, send- 
ing for some of the chief Lords of the 
Congregation, expressed her regret at the 
sufferings which the kingdom had en- 
dured. She also sent for John Willock, 
and conferred with him for some time on 
religious matters; but, after his depar- 
ture, received extreme unction, according 
to the rites of the Romish Church, and 
expired, on the 9th Knox says, Spots- 
wood says the 10th, of June 1560.* 

On the 16th of June the ambassadors 
arrived in Edinburgh, and began their 
negotiations. The death of the late queen- 
dowager had removed one of the main ob- 
stacles to peace ; and the troubled state of 
political matters in France tended to 
make the ambassadors of that country 
more disposed to pacification than they 
might otherwise have been. It proceeded, 
however, with the usual tardiness of state 
diplomacy, and was signed on the 7th of 
July 1560. By this treaty it was pro- 
vided, that the French troops should be 
immediately removed from Scotland ; that 
an amnesty should be granted to all who 
had been engaged in the late resistance 
to the queen-regent; that the principal 
grievances of which they complained in 
the civil administration should be re- 
dressed ; that a free parliament should be 
held in the month of August next, to set- 
tle the' other affairs of the kingdom ; and 
that, during the absence of their sover- 
eigns, the government should be admin- 
istered by a council of twelve, all natives 
of the kingdom, to be partly chosen by 
Francis and Mary, and partly by the es- 
tates of the nation. On the 16th July the 
French army embarked at Leith, and the 
English troops began their march to their 
own country ; and on the 19th the Con- 
gregation assembled in St. Giles's Church, 
to return public thanks to God for the 
restoration of peace, and for the success 
which had crowned their exertions. 

The parliament, which had met for- 
mally during the presence of the ambas- 
sadors on the 1 0th of July, adjourned 
until the 1st day of August, according to 
the treaty, both dates being specified in 

" Knox, Spotawood. 

7 



the records of its acts. When the cir- 
cumstances in which they were assem- 
bled, and the affairs on which they were 
called to deliberate, are taken into con- 
sideration, this must be regarded as the 
most important meeting of the estates of 
the kingdom that had ever been held in 
Scotland. It engrossed the attention of 
the nation, and the eyes of Europe were 
fixed on its proceedings. Although a 
great concourse of people resorted to Ed- 
inburgh on that occasion, yet no tumult 
or disturbance of the public peace occur- 
red. Many of the lords spiritual and 
temporal who were attached to Popery 
absented themselves; but the chief pa- 
trons of the old religion, as the archbishop 
of St. Andrews, and the bishops of Dum- 
blane and Dunkeld, countenanced the 
Assembly by their presence, and were 
allowed to act with freedom as lords of 
parliament. 

" The all-important business of reli- 
gion was introduced by a petition pre- 
sented by a number of Protestants of dif- 
ferent ranks ; in which, after rehearsing 
their former endeavours to procure the re- 
moval of the corruptions which had in- 
fected the Church, they requested parlia- 
ment to use the power which Providence 
had now put into their hands for effecting 
this great and urgent work. They craved 
three things in general ; that the anti- 
christian doctrine maintained in the 
Popish Church should be discarded ; that 
means should be used to restore purity of 
worship and primitive discipline ; and 
that the ecclesiastical revenues, which had 
been engrossed by a corrupt and indolent 
hierarchy, should be applied to the sup- 
port of a pious and active ministry, to the 
promotion of learning, and to the relief 
of the poor. They declared', that they 
were ready to substantiate the justice of 
all their demands, and, in particular, to 
prove that those who arrogated to them- 
selves the name of clergy were destitute 
of all right to be accounted ministers of 
religion ; and that, from the tyranny 
which they had. exercised, and their vas- 
salage to the court of Rome, they could 
not be safely tolerated, and far less in- 
trusted with power, in a reformed com/ 
mon wealth."* _ / 

The attentive reader will mark,- in ti 

* M'Crie's Life of Knox, pp. 200, 201 ; Knox, pp. # 

238. 



50 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. II 



preceding outline of this petition, the 
statement of certain great principles 
which he will have occasion subsequently 
to trace in active operation. He will 
mark the request, not only for purity of 
worship, but also for primitive discipline, 
— a point of vital importance in any 
Church, but one which worldly-minded 
men will always hate and oppose. He 
will mark, also, that while our Scottish 
reformers still wished ecclesiastical reve- 
nues to be devoted to ecclesiastical, and 
not civil purposes, they did so, not for the 
sake of their own aggrandizement, but 
purely for the public good, purposing a 
threefold division and application of them, 
— one-third for the support of colleges 
and schools, one-third for the support of 
the poor, and the remaining third for the 
support of the ministers of religion. No 
other national Church ever exhibited a 
spirit at once so generous and self-deny- 
ing, and so wisely and nobly zealous in 
devising large and liberal schemes for 
promoting the welfare of the kingdom. 
But such schemes were far too generous 
to find favour in the sight of the avari- 
cious nobility and gentry, and far too en- 
lightened to be adequately understood, 
either by the men of that age, or even yet, 
of our own. Unfortunately for the public 
welfare, in all ages and countries, men of 
the world, judging others by themselves, 
cannot understand, and will not believe, 
the self-denying and generous spirit of 
true religion, and therefore always regard 
with jealousy every proposal made by 
the servants of Christ ; and even the more 
manifestly self-denying and generous it 
is, the more suspicious are they that it 
must contain some peculiarly deep de- 
sign. The applicability of these remarks 
will soon be made evident. 

When this petition was laid before par- 
liament, it soon became apparent that it 
went much farther than many of the poli- 
ticians were disposed to permit. Mait- 
land of Lethington had previously said, 
in reference to the discourses which 
Knox had preached from the book of 
Haggai, "We may now forget ourselves, 
and bear the barrow to build the house 
of God." This scoffing comment showed 
plainly enough w T hat were his sentiments ; 
md there were but too many ready to 
incur with and support him. In answer 

v he first topics of the petition, the par- 



liament required the reformed ministers 
to lay before them a summary of doctrine 
which they could prove to be consonant 
with the Scriptures, and which they de- 
sired to have established. The following 
ministers were appointed to perform the 
task: — John Winram, John Spots wood. 
John Willock, John Douglas, John Row, 
and John Knox; and in the course of 
four days, they presented a Confession of 
Faith as the product of their joint labours, 
and an expression of their unanimous 
judgment. It agreed with the Confes- 
sions which had been published by other 
reformed Churches. In the statement of 
doctrinal tenets it is very clear and dis- 
tinct, and eminently evangelical ; but 
though a very valuable and excellent 
summary of Christian faith, it is perhaps 
more coloured with the circumstances of 
the times than is necessary, and in some 
respects less specific and decided than is 
desirable. For an admirable outline of 
it the reader may consult M'Crie's Life 
of Knox ; from which work we extract 
the following condensed account of its 
ratification. 

" The Confession was first read before 
the Lords of Articles, and afterwards 
before the whole parliament. The Pro- 
testant ministers attended in the house to 
defend it, if attacked, and to give satis- 
faction to the members respecting any 
point which might appear dubious. Those 
who had objections to it were formally 
required to state them. And the farther 
consideration of it was adjourned to a 
subsequent day, that none might pretend 
that an undue advantage had been taken 
of him, or that a matter of such impor- 
tance had been concluded precipitately. 
On the 17th of August the parliament 
resumed the subject, and previous to the 
vote, the Confession was again read, ar- 
ticle by article. The Earl of Athole, 
and Lords Somerville and Borthwick, 
were the only persons of the temporal 
estate who voted in the negative, assign- 
ing this as their reason, ' We will believe 
as our forefathers believed.' ' The bish- 
ops spake nothing.' After the vote es- 
tablishing the Confession of Faith, the 
Earl Marischal rose, and declared, that 
the silence of the clergy had confirmed 
him in his belief of the protestant doc- 
trine ; and he protested that if any of the 
ecclesiastical estate should afterwards op- 



A. D. 1560.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



51 



pose the doctrine which had just been 
received, they should be entitled to no 
credit, seeing, after full knowledge of it, 
and ample time for deliberation, they 
had allowed it to pass without the small- 
est opposition or contradiction. On the 
24th of August, the parliament abolished 
the papal jurisdiction, prohibited, under 
certain penalties the celebration of mass, 
and rescinded all the laws formerly made 
m support of the Roman Catholic Church, 
and against the Reformed faith."* 

With these acts Sir James Sandilands 
of Torphichen was sent to France, in 
order to obtain, if possible, their ratifica- 
tion by the king and queen. This, how- 
ever, they refused to give, trusting to the 
possibility of yet restoring the Romish 
Church in Scotland ; but as their hostil- 
ity was known, their refusal gave little 
disturbance to the reformers, by whom 
indeed it seems to have been expected. 
As in the treaty of Edinburgh it had 
been expressly agreed that, in the parlia- 
ment which was to be held in August, 
the religious matters in dispute should be 
considered and grievances redressed, the 
reformers held themselves entitled to re- 
gard all the decisions of that parliament 
as in reality ratified by anticipation ; and 
accordingly their next care was to devise 
what steps should now be taken for the 
complete diffusion and establishment of 
the Reformation throughout the kingdom. 

Previous to the meeting of parliament, 
and during the calm which intervened 
between the treaty of Edinburgh and the 
later period, a temporary arrangement 
had been made, by which the chief of 
the reformed ministers were appointed to 
reside in the most populous and impor- 
tant towns. John Knox was appointed 
to Edinburgh ; Christopher Goodman 
(who had been Knox's colleague at Ge- 
neva, and had of late come to Scotland) 
was appointed to St. Andrews ; Adam 
Heriot to Aberdeen ; John Row to Perth ; 
Paul Methven to Jedburgh ; William 
Christison to Dundee ; David Ferguson 
to Dumferline ; and David Lindsay to 
Leith. But as the country parts of the 
kingdom were at least equally in need of 
ministers and instruction, and there were 
not yet any thing like a sufficient num- 
ber of reformed ministers to supply the 

* M'Crie's Life of Knox, p. 203 ; see also Knox p. 
263 ; Spotswood, p. 150 . Calderwood, p. 14. 



urgent necessities of the case, another 
expedient was devised. It was resolved 
to divide the counties into departments, 
and appoint one of the Protestant party 
to take the general charge of religious 
matters throughout each of these depart- 
ments, and to bear the name of Superin- 
tendents, as indicative of the general 
charge which they were to take of the 
interests of religion in their respective 
districts. These superintendents were, 
John Spotswod for the Lothians ; John 
Winram for Fife ; John Willock for 
Glasgow ; John Erskine of Dun for 
Angus and Mearns ; and John Carsewell 
for Argyie.* It was intended by the re- 
formers to have divided Scotland into ten 
districts, and to have appointed a super- 
intendent for each ; but the difficulty of 
obtaining suitable persons prevented the 
appointment of any more than the above- 
named five. 

From the fact of the appointment of 
these superintendents, Episcopalian wri- 
ters have striven to represent the Scottish 
reformers as favourable to diocesan Pre- 
lacy. The utter absurdity of this notion 
has been demonstrated so conclusively by 
many authors, that we need not expend 
our time in its refutation ; it is enough to 
refer to Calderwood, Stevenson, and 
M-Crie, or to the First Book of Disci- 
pline, in which it manifestly appears that 
the superintendents had no one thing in 
common with prelates, except the charge 
of religious matters in an extensive dis- 
trict, — a charge by the one class of men 
laboriously executed, and by the other 
made a source of honour and emolument ; 
thus, even in this apparent similarity, 
proving their inherent and essential dif- 
ference. It may be added, that not only 
was there no essential difference between 
the ordination of the superintendent and 
the minister, but Erskine of Dun filled 
the office of a superintendent before he 
was ordained at all ; and farther, that 
when it was proposed to make the bishop 
of Galloway superintendent over Gallo- 
way, the proposal was rejected, lest the 
appointment of one who had been a 
bishop should give some colour to the 
idea that the office was Prelacy under a 
different name.f 

Soon after the parliament had finished 

' Knox, p. 236 ; Spotswood, p. 149. 

t Knox, Historie, p. 263; Calderwood, p. 32. 



52 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. [CHAP. III. 



its labours and been dissolved, the 
reformed ministers and the leading Pro- 
testants determined to meet and deliber- 
ate respecting the measures to be next 
adopted. On the 20th day of December 
1560, they met accordingly, in Edin- 
burgh, " To consult upon those things 
which are to forward God's glory, and 
the weil of his Kirk, in this realme." 
And this was the first meeting of the 
First General Assembly of the Church 
of Scotland."* 

We have thus briefly traced the pro- 
gress of the Reformation in Scotland, 
from its first scarcely perceptible begin- 
ning, struggling against the opposition of 
powerful, treacherous, and merciless an- 
tagonists, until, " strong only in the Lord 
and in the power of His might," it sur- 
mounted all obstacles, and the ministers 
and elders of the Church of Scotland 
convened and held their General Assem- 
bly, in the name and by the sole au- 
thority of Him by whom they had been 
so mightily upheld, and whom alone they 
recognized as Head and King of the 
Church of Scotland. We have seen how 
long the early Church of Scotland, the 
Culdees, resisted the encroachments and 
the corruptions of Prelacy and Popery ; 
with what difficulty these adherents of 
primitive Christianity were overborne ; 
how pertinaciously the people of Scot- 
land clung to their early belief; and how 
readily the tenets of Wickliffe and other 
early reformers were received in those 
districts where the Culdee system had 
most prevailed. The dying declarations 
of the Scottish martyrs have called forth 
our admiration, and touched our sympa- 
thies ; and we have traced the steady un- 
swerving course of the undaunted Knox, 
as he bore right onward to the accom- 
plishment of his one great aim, — the es- 
tablishment of the blessed gospel of 
Christ in his native land. And we must 
have traced the course of these great 
events with unperceiving eye indeed, if 
we have not marked the hand of Prov- 
idence guiding them all in a most pecu- 
liar manner. Even circumstances the 
most seemingly adverse were so over- 
ruled as to contribute to the purity and 
completeness of the Scottish Reforma- 
tion. The alternating direct hostility 
and alien intrigues of the court and the 

• Booke of the Universall Kirk of Scotland. 



civil rulers, preventing the vitiating influ- 
ence of worldly policy from interfering 
with and warping the views of our re 
formers, who were thus not only left, 
but even constrained, to follow the" guid- 
ance of the sacred Word of God alone ; 
while in almost every other country, 
England for example, the Reformation 
was either biassed in its course, or ar- 
rested at that stage of its progress in 
which worldly statesmen conceived it 
could be rendered more subservient to 
their own designs. But this, which is 
the glory and excellency of the Church 
of Scotland, we shall find to have been 
the cause of nearly all the perils where- 
with she has been encompassed, and the 
sufferings through which she has passed, 
from the Reformation to the present day. 



CHAPTER III. 

FROM THE FIRST GENERAL ASSEMLLY, IN 1560, 
TO THE YEAR 1592, AND THE GREAT CHAR- 
TER OF THE CHURCH. 

First Book of Discipline — Opposition of the Nobility to 
its Regulations — Queen Mary's Return to Scotland — 
Contests respecting the Mass, and respecting the 
Liberty of the Assembly, and the Patrimony of the 
Church— Proceedings against the Popish Bishops — 
Trial of Knox for convening the Ministers— Defence 
by Knox of the Freedom of the Pulpit — Marriage of 
the Queen toDarnley — Patronaee— Death ofRizzio — 
First National Fast— Murder of Darnley — Marriage ot 
the Queen to Bothwell— Flight of Bothwell, and 
Mary's Imprisonment — Act of Parliament 1567, re. 
cognising the Church — Powers and Jurisdiction of 
the Church, and its Condition at this time— The Re- 
gent Murray — his Assassination — The Regent Morton 
— Attempts for the Restoration of Prelacy — Conven- 
tion of Leith, 1572— Tulchan Bishops— Death of John 
Knox — Continued Struggles of the Church against 
the Tulchan Bishops — Andrew Melville comes to 
Scotland — Commission to draw up a System of 
Ecclesiastical Polity and Jurisdiction — Patrick Adam- 
son — Opposition of Melville— Morton resigns the 
Regency, and King James assumes the Government 
— The Second Book of Discipline— Conference re* 
specting it — Its Ratification evaded— Condemnation 
of Episcopacy by the Assembly —Erection of Pres- 
byteries, and Engrossment of the Second Book of 
Discipline in the Records of the Assembly— First 
National Covenant subscribed by the King— Robert 
Montgomery^-Proceedings of the Church in his case 
— The Raid of Ruthven — Proceedings of the King 
against Melville— The Black Acts of 1534— Sufferings 
of the Church— Change of Measures for the better — 
Act of Annexation — Alarm on account of the Span- 
ish Armada— The King sails to Norway — Peaceful 
State of the Church and Kingdom— The King re- 
turns and eulogizes the Church — Collision between 
the Court of Session and the Church— Act of Parlia- 
ment of 1592, called the Great Charter of the Church 
of Scotland. 

The act of the Scottish parliament, pas- 
sed on the 24th August 1560, in accord- 
ance with the petition of the Scottish re- 
formers, abrogated and annulled the pa 



A. D. 1560.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



58 



pal jurisdiction, and all authority flowing 
therefrom ; but it enacted no ecclesias- 
tical jurisdiction whatever in its stead. 
This it left the reformed Church to de- 
termine upon and effect by its own in- 
trinsic powers. And this is a fact of the 
utmost importance, which cannot be too 
well known and kept in remembrance. 
It is, indeed, one of the distinctive char- 
acteristics of the Church of Scotland, 
that it owes its origin, its form, its juris- 
diction, and its discipline, to no earthly 
power. And when the ministers and 
eJders of the Church of Scotland resolved 
to meet in a General Assembly, to delib- 
erate on matters which might tend to the 
promotion of God's glory and the wel- 
fare of the Church, they did so in virtue 
of the authority which they believed the 
Lord Jesus Christ had given to His 
Church. The parliament which abol- 
ished the papal jurisdiction made not the 
slightest mention of a General Assembly. 
In that time of comparatively simple and 
honest faith, even statesmen seem instinc- 
tively to have perceived", that to interfere 
in matters of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, 
so as to appoint ecclesiastical tribunals, 
specify their nature, and assign their 
limits, was not within their province. It 
had been well for the kingdom if states- 
men of succeeding times, certainly not 
their superiors in talent and in judgment, 
had been wise enough to follow their 
example. 

The first meeting of the General 
Assembly of the Church of Scotland was 
held, as has been already stated, on the 
20th of December 1560. The number 
that convened was but small, — it con- 
sisted of forty members, only six of whom 
were ministers : but they were men of 
great abilities, of deep piety, and of emi- 
nent personal worth, fitted and qualified 
by their Creator for the work which he 
had given them to do. The very next 
step which was taken proved both their 
qualifications and their zeal. It was very 
clearly seen by the reformers, that the 
power of discipline was essential to the 
well-being of a Church, since without it 
purity could not be maintained, either 
among the people or the ministers them- 
selves. They determined, therefore, to 
draw up a book in which there should be 
a complete system of ecclesiastical gov- 
ernment ; and the same eminent men by 



whom the Confession of Faith had been 
composed were appointed to undertake 
the new and scarcely less important task. 
This, indeed, they had been previously 
desired to do by the privy council, as ap- 
pears from the preamble of their produc- 
tion. They applied themselves to their 
task in the same spirit as before, having 
respect, indeed, to the circumstances and 
the exigencies of the time, but looking to 
Divine direction and authority alone. 
" They took not their example," says 
Row, " from any Kirk in the world ; no, 
not from Geneva but their plan from 
the sacred Scriptures. Having arranged 
the subject under different heads, they 
divided these among them ; and, after 
they had finished theii several parts, they 
met together and examined them with 
great attention, spending much time in 
reading and meditation on the subject, 
and in earnest prayers for Divine direc- 
tion. When they had drawn up the 
whole in form, they laid it before the Gen- 
eral Assembly, by whom it was approved, 
after they had caused some of its articles 
to be abridged. At the close of the brief 
records of the first General Assembly, 
there is an intimation that the next meet- 
ing was to be held on the 15th day 
of January following ;* but no record ap- 
pears to have been kept of that meeting ; 
yet, as we find the Book of Discipline re- 
ferred to in the next meeting of May the 
same year, we may conclude that it was 
in January that it was approved and rati- 
fied by the Assembly. It was also sub- 
mitted to the privy council ; but although 
many of the members highly approved 
of the plan, it was keenly opposed by 
others. " Every thing," says Knox, 
" that repugned to their corrupt affec- 
tions was termed, in their mockery, 1 de- 
vout imaginations.' The cause we have 
before declared : some were licentious, 
some had greedily gripped the posses- 
sions of the Church, and others thought 
that they would not lack their part of 
Christ's coat."f This points out clearly 
enough the cause of the opposition made 
to the Book of Discipline, — partly aver- 
sion to the strict discipline which it ap- 
pointed to be exercised against vice ; and 
partly from reluctance to comply with its 
requisition for the appropriation of the 

" Booke of the TTniversall Kirk, p. 5, 
t Knox, p. 256. 



54 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. Ill, 



revenues of the Popish Church to the 
support of the new religious and literary- 
establishments. But though not formally 
ratified by the privy council, it was sub- 
scribed by the greater part of the nobility 
and barons, members of the council, and 
thereby virtually ratified. The docu- 
ment deserves to be recorded : — 

" At Edinburgh, 17th January 1561. 

" We, who have subscribed these pres- 
ents, having advised with the articles 
herein specified, as is above mentioned, 
from the beginning of this book, think 
the same good, and conform to God's 
Word in all points, — conform to the notes 
and additions hereto eiked ; and promise 
to set the same forward to the uttermost 
of our powers. Providing that the 
bishops, abbots, priors, and other prelates 
and beneficed men which else have ad- 
joined themselves to us, bruik [enjoy] 
the revenues of their benefices during 
their lifetimes j they sustaining and up- 
holding the ministry and ministers, as 
herein is specified, for the preaching of 
the Word, and ministering of the sacra- 
ments." 

To this, — termed by several writers 
" An act of the secret council," which in- 
deed it was, being subscribed by a large 
majority, — there were affixed the names 
of the Duke of Chatelherault, the Earls 
of Arran, Argyle, Glencairn, Rothes, 
Marischal, Monteith, and Morton, Lords 
James Stewart, Boyd, Yester, Ochiltree, 
Lindsay, Sanquhar, St. John of Torphi- 
chen, the Master of Maxwell, the Master 
of Lindsay, Drumlanrig, Lochinvar, 
Garlies, Balgarnie, Cunninghamhead, 
Alexander Gordon, bishop of Galloway, 
Alexander Campbell, dean of Murray, 
and others of less note. 

As the Book of Discipline contains the 
deliberate opinions of the Scottish reform- 
ers respecting what they regarded as the 
fundamental principles of the Church 
which they were labouring to establish 
in Scotland, it seems necessary to give a 
brief abstract of those principles, that the 
reader may the better know what the 
Church of Scotland, from its beginning, 
has either been or striven to be. 

The ordinary and permanent office- 
bearers of the Church were of four kinds: 
the minister or pastor, to whom the 
preaching of the gospel and administra- 
tion of the sacraments belonged ; the 



doctor or teacher, whose province it was 
to interpret Scripture and confute errors, 
including those who taught theology in 
schools and universities ; the ruling elder, 
who assisted the minister in exercising 
ecclesiastical discipline and government ; 
and the deacon, who had the special 
charge of the revenues of the Church 
and the poor. To these permanent office- 
bearers there were added two others, of 
a temporary character. It has been 
already stated, that, in the arrangement 
entered into previous to the first General 
Assembly, there were only twelve re- 
formed ministers to preach the gospel 
throughout the whole kingdom ; and 
that, to accomplish the utmost possible 
amount of duty by so small a number, 
seven were placed in the chief towns, 
and large country districts were assigned 
to each of the remaining five. These 
five were called superintendents ; and 
their duty was, to travel from place to 
place throughout their districts, for the 
purpose of preaching, planting churches, 
and inspecting the conduct of the coun- 
try ministers, where there were any, 
and of another temporary class of men 
termed Exhorters and Readers. This 
latter class consisted of the most pious 
persons that could be found, who, having 
received a common education, were able 
to read to their more ignorant neigh- 
bours, though not qualified for the minis- 
try. When the readers were found to 
have discharged their duty well, and to 
have increased in their own knowledge, 
they were encouraged to add a few plain 
exhortations to the reading of the Scrip- 
tures ; and then they were termed Ex- 
horters. If they still continued to im- 
prove, they might finally be admitted to 
the ministry. To search out, employ, 
and watch over the conduct of such men, 
giving them instruction from time to time, 
was the chief duty of the superintendent, 
from which, indeed, he derived his name, 
so naturally expressive of his duty, — • 
a duty the very nature of which shows it 
to have been temporary, and intended to 
expire whenever the necessities which 
called it into being should have been re- 
moved by a sufficiency of qualified min- 
isters. 

No person was allowed to preach, or 
to administer the sacraments, till he was 
regularly called to his emp'^yment 



A. D. 1561.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



55 



u Ordinary vocation [calling] consisteth 
in election, examination, and admission." 
u It appertain eth to the people, and to 
every several congregation, to elect their 
minister." " For altogether this is to be 
avoided, that any man be violently in- 
truded or thrust in upon any congrega- 
tion ; but this liberty, with all care, must 
be reserved to every several church, to 
have their votes and suffrages in election' 
of their ministers." The examination 
was appointed to take place " in open 
assembly, and before the congregation," 
to satisfy the church as to his soundness 
in the faith ; his " gifts, utterance, and 
knowledge ;" his willingness to under- 
take the charge ; the purity of his mo- 
tives ; and his resolution to discharge the 
duties of his office with diligence and 
fidelity. Admission then took place by 
the person being solemnly set apart by 
prayer, at first without imposition of 
hands, which, however, was afterwards 
appointed to be done. Superintendents 
were admitted in the same way as other 
ministers, were tried by the same church 
courts, liable to the same censures, and 
might be deposed for the same crimes. 

The affairs of each congregation were 
managed by the minister, elders, and 
deacons, who constituted the kirk-session, 
which met regularly once a week, and 
t oftener if business required. There was 
also a meeting, called the weekly exer- 
cise, or prophesying, held in every con- 
siderable town, consisting of the ministers, 
exhorters, and educated men in the vicini- 
ty, for expounding the Scriptures. This 
was afterwards converted into the pres- 
bytery, or classical assembly. The su- 
perintendent met with the ministers and 
delegated ^lders of his district twice a- 
year, in the provincial Synod, which took 
cognizance of ecclesiastical affairs within 
its bounds. And the General Assembly, 
which was composed of ministers and 
elders commissioned from the different 
parts of the kingdom, met twice, some- 
times thrice, in a year, and attended to the 
interests of the National Church. 

Public worship was attended to in such 
a manner, as to show the estimation in 
which it was held by our reformers. On 
Sabbath days the people assembled twice 
for public worship ; and, the better to in- 
struct the ignorant, catechising was sub- 
stituted for preaching in the afternoon. 



In towns a sermon was regularly preach- 
ed on one day of the week besides the 
Sabbath: and on almost every day the 
people had an opportunity of hearing 
public prayers and the reading of the 
Scriptures. Baptism was never dispensed 
unless it was accompanied with preach- 
ing or catechising. The Lord's Supper 
was administered four times a-year in 
towns ; the sign of the cross in baptizing, 
and kneeling at the Lord's table, were 
forbidden ; and anniversary holidays were 
abolished. 

Education was very justly regarded as 
of the utmost importance, and deserving 
every possible encouragement. It was 
stated as imperatively necessary, that 
there should be a school in every parish, 
for the instruction of youth in the princi- 
ples of religion, grammar, and the Latin 
tongue ; and it was farther proposed, that 
a college should be erected in every " no- 
table town," in which logic and rhetoric 
should be taught, along with the learned 
languages. It was even suggested that 
parents should not be permitted to neg- 
lect the education of their children ; but 
that the nobility and gentry should be 
obliged to do so at their own expense ; and 
that a fund should be provided for the 
education of the children of the poor, 
who discovered talents and aptitude for 
learning. 

To carry these important measures 
into effect, permanent funds were requi- 
site ; and for these they naturally looked 
to the patrimony of the Church. The 
hierarchy had been abolished, and the 
popish clergy excluded from all religious 
services, by the alterations which the par- 
liament had introduced ; and Waalever 
provision it was proper to allot for dis- 
missed incumbents during life, it was un- 
reasonable that they should continue to 
enjoy those emoluments which we:e at- 
tached to offices for which they had. been 
found totally unfit. No successors could 
be appointed to them ; and there was not 
any individual or class of men in me na- 
tion, who could justly claim a title to the 
rents of their benefices. The compilers 
of the Book of Discipline, therefore, pro 
posed that the patrimony of the Church 
should be appropriated, in the first in- 
stance, to the support of the new ecclesi- 
astical establishment. Under this desig- 
nation they included the ministry) the 



50 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. III. 



schools, and the poor. For the ministers 
they required, that such " honest pro- 
vision" should be made as would give 
" neither occasion of solicitude, neither 
yet of insolencie and wantonnesse." The 
stipends of ministers were to be collected 
by the deacons from the tithes ; but all 
illegal exactions were to be previously 
abolished, and measures taken to relieve 
the cultivators of the ground from the 
oppressive manner in which the tithes 
had been gathered by the clergy, or by 
those to whom they had farmed them. 
The revenues of bishoprics, and of cathe- 
dral and collegiate churches, with the 
rents arising from the endowments of 
monasteries and other religious founda- 
tions, were to be divided, and appropri- 
ated to the support of the universities, or 
of the churches within their bounds. 

The reformers were well aware of the 
necessity of establishing and maintaining 
a systematic course of discipline. u As 
no commonwealth can flourish or long 
endure without good laws, and sharp exe- 
cution of the same, so neither can the 
Kirk of God be brought to purity, neither 
yet be retained in the same, without the 
order of ecclesiastical discipline, which 
stands in reproving and correcting of the 
faults which the civil sword either doth 
neglect or may not punish."* " To dis- 
cipline must all the estates, within the 
realm be subject, as well as the rulers as 
they that are ruled ; yea, and the preach- 
ers themselves, as well as the poorest 
within the Kirk." These quotations may 
alone serve to show, that there was no- 
thing in which the Scottish reformers ap- 
proached nearer to the primitive Church, 
than in the rigorous and impartial exer- 
cise of ecclesiastical discipline, the relaxa- 
tion of which, under the papacy, they 
justly regarded as one great cause of the 
universal corruption of religion. " In 
some instances they might carry their 
rigour against offenders to an extreme, 
but it was a virtuous extreme, compared 
with the dangerous laxity, or rather total 
disuse, of discipline which has gradually 
crept into almost all the churches that re- 
tain the name of reformed ; even as the 
scrupulous delicacy with which our fore- 
fathers shunned the society of those who 
had transgressed the rules of morality, is 
to be preferred to modern manners, by 

• First Book of Discipline, chap. ix. 1 



which the vicious obtain easy admission 
into the company of the virtuous."* 

There is one almost casual expression 
in that part of the Book of discipline 
which treats of Church censures, of too 
much importance to be passed by with- 
out notice, tending, a° it does, to throw a 
flood of light on the character of the age, 
and to vindicate the reformers from one 
of the heaviest of the accusations brought 
against them, — " correcting of the faults 
which either the civil sword doth neglect 
or may not punish." Every person at 
all acquainted with the history of tnose 
times will see the deep meaning of these 
very pregnant words. Rent as the king- 
dom had long been into feudal factions 
there was scarcely anything in it deserv- 
ing the name of public justice. Every 
ambitious nobleman was ready to defend 
the most notorious criminals, for. the pur- 
pose of strengthening his " following," 
by the accession of fierce, lawless, and 
unscrupulous adherents. Impartiality 
in the administration of justice, and the 
suppression of crime, neither did exist, 
nor was possible in such a state of mat- 
ters ; and the popish clergy, being them- 
selves as licentious and unjust as either 
people or nobles, were not disposed to at- 
tempt enacting or enforcing laws by 
which they might themselves be con- 
demned and punished. There was, 
therefore, an absolute necessity that the 
reformed Church of Scotland should 
take decided measures, not only for the 
teaching of truth, but also for the sup- 
pression of vice and immorality, as far 
as its authority could possibly reach, and 
much farther than in a better state of 
society would have been either neces- 
sary or desirable. Yet, even when im- 
pelled by these urgent considerations, 
the Church of Scotland never attempted 
to dictate in civil matters, nor even called 
upon the secular authorities to inflict 
civil penalties for the purpose of enforc- 
ing discipline purely ecclesiastical. That 
the Church called upon the parliament 
to suppress idolatry, and to abolish the 
papal jurisdiction in the kingdom, is ad- 
mitted ; but this cannot justly be regard- 
ed as any thing more than the public 
voice of the Church calling upon the 
civil magistrate to do his own duty in 
his own province, as idolatry is a viola* 

• M'Crie's Life of Knox, p. 251. 



A. D. 1561.] 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



57 



tion of natural religion, and even of 
reason itself, and the papal jurisdiction 
involves the national crime of allegiance 
to a foreign secular power, which no 
well-governed country can safely tolerate. 
A slight apparent confusion between the 
secular and the ecclesiastical jurisdictions 
arose from the fact that the parliament, 
or the magistracy of particular burghs, 
had enacted punishments of a corporal 
kind, against certain crimes which were 
ordinarily tried in the church courts ; 
but the infliction, as well as the enacting 
of them, pertained to the civil magis- 
trate.* 

Such were the fundamental principles, 
and the chief points of the government 
and discipline of the Church of Scotland 
as stated in the Book of Discipline, 
drawn up by John Knox and the most 
eminent of the Scottish reformers ; ap- 
proved by the General Assembly ; and 
subscribed by the majority of the nobles, 
and inferior barons, and gentry, com- 
posing the privy council of the kingdom. 
Had it obtained the complete sanction of 
the civil government, and its principles 
and arrangements thereby been brought 
into full operation, many, if not all of the 
calamities which speedily fell upon the 
kingdom, might have been averted. 
But statesmen had not then learned, 
neither indeed have they yet, the impor- 
tant difference between principles, which 
have in them the energy of imperishable 
vital powers, and external arrangements, 
which are either the results of the opera- 
tion of principles, or are the mere mounds 
by which short-sighted men attempt to 
modify and restrain the aspect and 
growth of the internal agency, which 
they understand not, but wish to coerce 
Arrangements may be altered almost at 
will; but principles, when once fully 
stated, can never be destroyed. They 
may be repressed, fettered, turned awry 
in their operations ; but they continue to 
operate powerfully even when unseen, 
causing convulsion after convulsion as 
they rend asunder and throw off the un- 
comforting external moulds into which 
they have been forced ; and must inevit- 
ably continue thus to act, till they obtain 
a free and unconstrained developement, 
congenial to their own nature. The 
principles stated in the First Confession 

* Baillie'e Vindication, p. 17. 

8 



of Faith, and the First Book of Discip- 
line, of the Church of Scotland, were 
disliked, opposed, repressed, and turned 
aside by the worldly-wise statesmen of 
that day, as they have often been in sub- 
sequent times ; but they took up their 
abiding residence in the mind and heart 
of Scotland, — in the deliberate judgment 
and conviction of its intellect, and the 
fervent regard of its affection ; and the 
struggle then begun will continue, till, 
sooner or later, they be completely 
realized. 

It has been already stated, that the 
Protestant nobility readily enough con- 
sented to the suppression of the papal 
jurisdiction, and the public sanctioning 
of the reformed doctrines, especially as 
these measures w r ere understood to imply 
a prospective confiscation of the exorbi- 
tant wealth of the Romish clergy. But 
they were by no means equally satisfied 
with the remaining main propositions of 
the reformers, — the regulations of dis- 
cipline, and especially the appropriation 
of the patrimony of the suppressed 
Church to the purposes, ministerial, edu- 
cational, and charitable, of the new eccle- 
siastical establishment. They had for 
some time cast a covetous eye on the rich 
revenues of the popish clergy. Some of 
them had seized upon church lands, or 
retained the tithes in their own hands. 
Others had taken long leases of them 
from the clergy for small sums of money, 
and were anxious to have these private 
bargains legalized. From this arose 
one great cause of their aversion to have 
the Book of Discipline ratified, lest they 
should be obliged to surrender the spoil 
they had unjustly obtained. The plan 
of the Church was, they said, a " devout 
imagination," a mere visionary scheme, 
which showed indeed the goodness of 
their intentions, but which it was impos- 
sible to carry into practical effect. In 
short, they determined to retain by force 
the greater part of the Church revenues, 
thus fraudfully seized upon, for their own 
advantage. 

Several public events of great impor- 
tance occurred about this time, by which 
the affairs of the Church were not a little 
influenced, and which, therefore, must be 
briefly stated. Francis, the young king 
of France, and in virtue of the matrimo 
nial crown as husband of Mary, king of 



58 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. ID. 



Scotland also, died in December 15G0. 
Mary immediately lost all power at the 
French court, and indicated her willing- 
ness to return to Scotland. Her natural 
brother, Lord James Stewart, was sent by 
the Scottish parliament to France, in the 
expectation that he might induce her to 
be favourable to the reformed Church ; 
and Lcsly, afterwards bishop of Ross, 
was deputed by the Romish party to pro- 
mote their interests. Mary manifested 
no disposition to favour the Reforma- 
tion ; but seemed disposed to place much 
confidence in the political sagacity of her 
brother, endeavouring, at the same time, 
to draw him aside from his adherence to 
the reformed Church, in which she was 
partially successful. 

Previous to the return of Mary, the 
second General Assembly was held at 
Edinburgh, on the 27th of May 1561. 
Its proceedings were chiefly directed to 
the object of obtaining a specific ratifi- 
cation of certain topics contained in the 
Book of Discipline, respecting the sup- 
pression of idolatry, and the providing of 
maintenance for the reformed preachers, 
which the privy council thought proper 
to grant. 

On the 10th of August, in the same 
year, Queen Mary landed at Leith, and 
was conducted to Holyrood-house, in the 
midst of great demonstrations of joy at 
her safe arrival, by a people predisposed 
to the most devoted loyalty, provided their 
allegiance to an earthly sovereign was 
not strained to the violation of the infi- 
nitely higher allegiance which they owed 
to the King of kings. There was but 
too much certainty, that they would soon 
be put to choose whether they would 
violate their conscience or offend their 
queen. Mary had unfortunately been 
trained up from her infancy in a blind 
attachment to the tenets and observances 
of Popery ; and, before she left France, 
her uncles of the house of Guise or Lor- 
raine had used every means to strengthen 
this prejudice, and to inspire her with 
hatred to the religion which had been 
embraced by her people. She was 
taught that it would be the glory of her 
reign to bring back her kingdom to its 
former obedience to the papal sway, and 
to co-operate with the popish princes on 
the Continent in extirpating heresy. To 
this was added as a strong inducement, 



that they would not only support her in 
chastising her rebellious subjects, but 
would assist her also to prosecute her 
claims to the English crown Mary 
brought with her to Scotland these pre- 
possessions and schemes ; and she ad- 
hered to them throughout her life with 
the most determined pertinacity. She 
did, indeed, temporise for a time, as the 
Protestants were in the possession of all 
power in the kingdom ; but she resolved 
to withhold her ratification of the late 
proceedings, and to embrace the first fav- 
ourable opportunity to overturn them, 
and re-establish the ancient system.* 

The Protestants, on the other hand, 
remembering well the deep dissimulation 
of her mother, and aware of the fierce 
bigotry of the Guisan family, were jea- 
lous of their young queen, and had 
strictly prohibited the deputies sent to 
France from promising her more than 
the private exercise of her religion, — if, 
indeed, even that could be tolerated. Be- 
tween such conflicting principles and 
aims, it was impossible but that a col- 
lision should speedily ensue. Nor was 
occasion long wanting for the exhibition 
of that hostility which was so deeply 
entertained by both parties. As if to 
seize the earliest opportunity of proving 
her attachment to her own faith, Mary 
gave orders for the celebration of a sol- 
emn mass in the chapel of Holyrood- 
house, on the first Sabbath after her ar- 
rival. This service, it will be remem- 
bered, had been prohibited by an aci oi 
the late parliament, and had not beeh 
publicly performed since the conclusion 
of the civil war. This most unwise 
step of the queen gave such offence to 
the people, that it was with me utmost 
difficulty they were prevented from 
breaking into an open tumult, and mriict- 
ing punishment on the perpetrators of 
what they regarded as a direct violation 
at once of the laws of God and of the 
nation. An act of the pnvy council 
was framed, prohibiting all innovations 
in the religion found by the queen on 
her arrival ; but, at the same time, pro- 
hibiting all tumultuary interference with 
the French attendants "for any cause 
whatsoever," by which they were rro- 
tected in their religious usages, despite 
the known hostility of her Protestant 

' See M'Crie'a Life of Knox, note UU. 



A. D. 1561 ] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



59 



subjects. Against this act of council the 
Earl of Arran alone of the nobility pro- 
tested briefly ; but a more full and for- 
mal protest was made by the Protestant 
ministers. John Knox took occasion to 
deliver his mind fully and openly on the 
subject in a sermon preached by him on 
the following Sabbath ; in which he de- 
clared, " That one mass was more fear- 
ful unto him than if ten thousand armed 
enemies were landed in any part of the 
realm, of purpose to suppress the whole 
religion : for, said he, in our God there 
is strength to resist and confound multi- 
tudes, if we unfeignedly depend upon 
Him, of which we have had experience ; 
but when we join hands with idolatry, it 
is no doubt but both God's presence and 
defence will leave us ; and what shall 
then become of us ?* 

Let the Christian reader note well the 
reasoning on which Knox founds his 
dread of the mass ; and let him put to 
himself this question, and ponder well 
what answer must De returned to it: — 
" Can religion be reformed really and 
successfully without the direct aid of 
God, and can it be defended in any other 
manner ?" The man of the world may 
imagine that it can ; but he will not pro- 
duce one instance that it ever was. 
Neither will it be possible to produce 
one instance of a great and real refor- 
mation of religion taking place, without 
the chief human agents being themselves 
fully persuaded that they are enjoying 
the direct aid of God, and, in the strength 
of that belief, proceeding confidently for- 
ward with measures the success of which, 
according to every merely human calcu- 
lation, is absolutely hopeless. For the 
same reason they will be found rejecting 
those schemes which human prudence 
and political sagacity would most recom- 
mend ; and expressing their dread of no- 
thing so much as of the unhallowed in- 
termixture of worldly wisdom in their 
sacred welfare, especially when that in- 
termixture involves the crime of conniv- 
ing at what they believe to be direct or 
implicit violation of the laws of Him 
who alone can give the victory. For 
they well know, that as their enterprise 
can be brought to a successful issue 
through the aid of God alone, so, what- 
ever has the tendency to cause Him to 

• Knox, p. 287. 



withdraw that aid, — whether by direct 
violation of His commandments, or by 
such temporizing conduct as implies dis- 
trust of His all-sufficient support, — must 
lead infallibly to their own punishment, 
in the overthrow of their undertaking, 
or the indefinite postponement of its suc- 
cess. So thought and believed John 
Knox ; and hence his dread of one per- 
mitted mass, as tending to cause God to 
withdraw his support, and to leave them 
to the punishment which their faithless 
and temporizing devices had deserved. 
Such opinions and rules of action, we 
well know, are termed fanatical by sages 
and the learned, by the philosophers and 
statesmen of the world ; but the Christian 
knows their truth, and the reflecting his- 
torian may learn and mark their reality 
and their value. We shall have repeated 
occasion to trace them, and to note their 
importance, in our subsequent pages. 

The report of Knox's animadver- 
sions upon her conduct was speedily 
conveyed to the queen. She seems to 
have resolved to try the possible amount 
of that personal influence with him which 
she had found so effectual with a great 
number of the Protestant lords ; of 
whom it was customary to say, that they 
came to court very zealous defenders of 
the true religion, but, after a few days' 
residence there, the fire-edge wore off 
them, and they became as temperate as the 
rest. If such were her expectations, she 
was completely disappointed ; and find- 
ing that she had now to deal with a man 
who could neither be flattered nor over- 
awed, she seems to have ever afterwards 
regarded him with mingled feelings of 
respect, terror, and hatred. Knox had, 
on his part, made it his study to avail 
himself of such an opportunity to discov- 
er the real character of the queen ; and 
when some of his friends asked his opin- 
ion of her, he answered, " If there be 
not in her a proud mind, a crafty wit, 
and an indurate heart against God and 
his truth, my judgment faileth me."* 
Few will now deny that his judgment 
proved to be but too accurate. The esti- 
mate which he formed of the queen's 
character, and the coldness which he 
perceived spreading among the Protest- 
ant lords, had no other effect upon him 
than to make him the more watchful 

• Knox, p. 292. 



60 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. m. 



over public procedure, and the more de- 
termined in the defence of the Church. 

A meeting of the General Assembly 
was held in December, the same year, 
1561, of which the Booke of the Univer- 
sal! Kirk gives no account, probably be- 
cause its time was spent in disputations, 
without producing any direct result. 
These disputations, however, have been 
recorded bv Knox himself; and a brief 
account of them is necessary, as showing 
the altered sentiments of some of the 
Protestant lords. A considerable num- 
ber of them at first absented themselves 
from the meeting of the Assembly ; and 
when reproved, they retorted by disput- 
ing the propriety of such conventions 
without her majesty's pleasure. Mait- 
land of Lethington, now made secretary 
of state, took upon him to encounter the 
reasoning of Knox. " Take from us 
the liberty of assemblies, and take from us 
the gospel," said the reformer. " If the 
liberty of the Church must depend upon 
her allowance or disallowance, we shall 
want not only assemblies, but the preach- 
ing of the gospel." It was then proposed 
that the Book of Discipline should be 
ratified by the queen ; but this was 
pointedly opposed by the secretary. 
" How many of those that subscribed 
that book will be subject to it ?" said he 
scoffing! y. It was answered, " All the 
godly." "Will the Duke?" said Leth- 
ington. " If he will not," replied Lord 
Ochiltree, " I wish that his name were 
scraped, not only out of that .book, but 
also out of our number and company ; for 
to what end shall men subscribe, and 
never mind to keep word of that which 
they promise?" Lethington answered, 
that many subscribed it, in fide parentum, 
as children are baptized. Knox replied, 
that " the scoff was as untrue as it was 
unbecoming ; for the book was publicly 
read, and its different heads discussed, 
for a number of days, and no man was 
required to subscribe what he did not 
understand." u Stand content," said one 
of the courtiers : a that book will not be 
obtained." " Let God," replied Knox, 
"require the injury which the common- 
wealth shall sustain, at the hands of those 
who hinder it." 

Another subject which caused keen 
and protracted altercation between Knox 
and the court party, was their manage- 



ment in settling the provision for the 
ministers of the Church. Hitherto they 
had lived chiefly on the benevolence of 
their hearers, and many of them had 
scarcely the means of subsistence , but 
repeated complaints having obliged the 
privy council to take up the affair, they 
came at last to a determination, that the 
ecclesiastical revenues should be divided 
into three parts ; that two of these should 
be given to the ejected popish clergy, 
and that the third part should be divided 
between the court and the protestant 
ministry ! Well might Knox exclaim, 
when he heard of this disgraceful ar- 
rangement, "If the end of this order, 
pretended to be taken for the sustentation 
of the ministers, be happy, my judgment 
fails me ! I see two parts freely given 
to the devil, and the third part must be 
divided betwixt God and the devil." 
Even the lords of the privy council seem 
to have felt that their own nefarious deed 
was little better than a mockery ; for 
when the scheme \Ms proposed among 
them, the Earl of Huntly, himself a 
popish nobleman, addressed the others 
jestingly, by " Good morrow, my lords 
of the two parts."* The privy councii 
appointed certain persons to fix the sums 
which were to be appropriated to the 
court and to the ministry, and also the 
particular salaries which were to be al- 
lotted to individual ministers, according 
to the circumstances in which they were 
placed. The officers for this purpose 
composed a board under the privy coun- 
cil, which was called the " Court of 
Modification." The persons thus ap- 
pointed to "modify the stipends," were 
disposed to gratify the queen, and her 
demands were readily answered ; while 
the sums allotted to the ministers were 
as ill paid as they were inadequate. 
Lethington again displayed his sneering 
and bitter nature, asserting that " if the 
ministers were sustained, the queen 
would not get, at the year's end, to buy 
her a pair of new shoes." " To these 
dumb dogs the bishops," answered Knox, 
" ten thousand was not enough ; but to 
the servants of Christ, that painfully 
preach the Gospel, an hundred merksf 
must suffice ! How can that be sus- 
tained ?" 

The preceding particulars have been 

* Knox, pp. 29C-300. t 100 rnerks Scots =£5, lis. 1 3-4d. 



A. D. 1562.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



61 



the more exactly related, because, slight 
as they may seem, they indicate very 
correctly the main grounds of the hos- 
tility which began to arise between the 
Protestant nobility and the ministers, and 
also serve to point out the course which 
that hostility was likely soon to take, and, 
in fact, did take. The more that the 
nobility became accustomed to the loose 
manners prevalent in a court formed, as 
far as possible, on the model of the licen- 
tious court of France, the less were they 
inclined to conform themselves to the 
strict and pure morality of the Book of 
Discipline. And naving given two-thirds 
of the patrimony of the Church to the 
popish clergy during the remainder of 
their lives, they had rendered it impossi- 
ble to comply with the scheme for sup- 
porting the poor and endowing schools 
and colleges. The dilapidated state of 
the crown revenues had long rendered 
the Scottish monarchs in a great meas- 
ure dependent on the gifts which they re- 
ceived at times from the wealthiest of the 
nobility, but more generally from the 
dignitaries of the Church. Had a por- 
tion of these two-thirds of the Church re- 
venues been devoted to the maintenance 
of the crown, it might have been a wise 
and a just method of employing them, 
and lightening the public burdens of the 
country ; but nothing could be more un- 
just than to leave them in the possession 
of such unworthy persons, and then to 
rob the laborious preachers of the gospel, 
and give the pillage of their stinted al- 
lowance to the queen. There is reason 
to believe, that when the queen consent- 
ed to this arrangement, she anticipated 
the overthrow of the reformed Church, 
and the re-establishment of the popish ; 
and, in that case, she expected to retain 
the entire third in her own hands, in ad- 
dition to what benefactions she might re- 
ceive from the popish clergy. Although 
this expectation was never realized, the 
arrangement gave rise to another evil, 
which might have been, and perhaps 
was foreseen. The two-thirds were se- 
cured to the ejected clergy during their 
lives ; but upon their deaths, how was 
this large revenue to be bestowed? It 
might revert to the Church, and then the 
scheme of the Book of Discipline might 
be accomplished. This ought to have 
been the case ; but some of the more fore- 



casting nobles had a very different 
scheme in view. If they could construct 
a kind of pseudo-prelacy, they might in- 
duce some creatures of their own to ac- 
cept the title, while they should them- 
selves, in the ame of those mercenary 
sycophants, draw and enjoy the revenues. 
This device seems to have been concoc- 
ted between Lord Erskine, afterwards 
Earl of Mar, and the Earl of Morton. 

[1562.] The next General Assembly 
met in June 1562. In it several matters 
of importance were transacted, tending 
to the completion of the judicatorial ar- 
rangements of the Church ; such as the 
appointment of the method of trying, and, 
if necessary, censuring, superintendents, 
ministers, and elders ; authority to ex- 
communicate the " inobedient and it 
was added, that " the magistrate, subject 
to the rule of Christ, be not exeemed 
from the same punishment, being found 
guilty and inobedient."* It is observa- 
ble also, that in this Assembly the formal 
style of supreme authority was used — 
" The haill Kirk appoints and decerns." 

The only matters of public importance 
which occurred during the early part of 
that year were, the elevation of Lord 
James Stewart to the earldom of Murray ; 
by which title he is henceforth to be 
known ; and the rebellious enterprise of 
the Marquis of Huntly, in which he fell 
in battle. The death of Huntly weaken- 
ed the popish party, and seemed to con- 
firm the influence of the Earl of Murray ; 
but the infamous Earl of Both well, about 
the same time began that course of daring 
intrigues which ended in the ruin of the 
queen, and his own miserable death in a 
Danish prison. 

During the course of the summer of 
that year, in consequence of the paucity 
of ministers and superintendents, John 
Knox was sent as a visitor, to preach and 
plant churches in Galloway, and George 
Hay in Ayrshire. Returning through 
the latter district, Knox held a public dis- 
putation with the Abbot of Crassaguel. 
who had been induced to attempt the de- 
fence of Popery in that manner. About 
the same time John Craig was appointed 
colleague to John Knox in Edinburgh, 
who was now beginning to sink beneath 
the intensity of his labours, which he had 
so long endured. 

* Booke of the Universall Kirk, p. 10. 



62 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. III. 



Another meeting of the General As- 
sembly took place in December, the 
same year, in which it continued steadily 
to advance in the course of reformation, 
and of what might be not inaptly termed 
self-construction. As many of the for- 
mer parish priests continued to reside in 
their parishes, and, without any formal 
abjuration of Popery, pretended to act as 
parish ministers, the Assembly, to remedy 
this evil, prohibited from serving in the 
ministry all who had not satisfied the 
Church of their soundness in the faith, 
and had not been examined and approv- 
ed by the superintendent ; and it was 
added, " This act to have strength as 
well against them that are called bishops, 
as others." The same Assembly erected 
provincial synods, to meet regularly 
twice a-year, with power to translate as 
well as to appoint ministers. A commis- 
sion was also nominated to treat with the 
lords of the privy council, for the pur- 
pose of coming to an understanding as to 
the jurisdiction of the Church, manifestly 
with the view of averting the danger of 
any collision arising between two co- 
ordinate jurisdictions, the separate pro- 
vinces of which had not been defined and 
settled by mutual agreement.* So early 
did the Church of Scotland anticipate 
that danger, all the while proceeding in 
the exercise of that jurisdiction which 
belonged to its sacred character and in- 
herent powers. 

[1563.] In the spring of the year 
1563, an event occurred which had 
nearly hastened a direct conflict between 
the popish and the reformed parties 
earlier than the temporizing policy of 
the queen would have wished. The 
knowledge of her favour, and the per- 
ceived disagreement between the Pro- 
testant lords and the ministers, gave such 
encouragement to the popish party, that 
many of them openly celebrated mass at 
Easter. It will be recollected that this 
had been prohibited by the parliament of 
1560, on pain of very severe penalties, 
amounting even to death for the third of- 
fence. The Protestants, highly incensed 
at this open violation of the law, resolved 
to enforce it themselves, without farther 
application to the queen, and even in 
disregard of her threatened displeasure. 
The queen at first endeavoured to induce 

* Booke of the Universall Kirk, pp. 12, 13. 



Knox himself to mitigate the zeal of the 
western gentlemen ; but, foiled in this 
attempt by his firmness, she promised to 
cause summon the offenders, and see 
justice done. Knox seems almost to 
have believed her for once serious. He 
gave a favourable report of her inten- 
tions, and this tended to allay the jealousy 
and indignation of the public mind. 

Mary seemed now on the point of re- 
alizing the fruits of her deep and crafty 
policy. And, in order the more com- 
pletely to lull the Protestants into secu- 
rity, she., on the 19th of May, caused the 
archbishop of St. Andrews, and a num- 
ber of the principal Papists, to be ar- 
raigned before the Lord Justice-General, 
for transgressing the laws ; and they, 
aware probably of her politic design, 
having come in her majesty's will, were 
committed to ward. The Protestants in 
general were highly delighted with this 
instance of justice and impartial-seeming 
administration of the laws of the queen ; 
and began to entertain sanguine expec- 
tations that she would now ratify the re- 
formed religion, and perhaps conform to 
it herself. Following up her scheme, shs 
convoked a parliament, which met on tht 
21st of May. When Knox urged the 
Protestant lords to procure from the 
queen in this Parliament the complete 
ratification of the reformed Church, they 
declined, referring to the present more 
favourable conduct of the queen, and the 
inexpediency of urging such matters so 
rapidly forward as to incur the hazard of 
giving her offence, and thereby renewing 
her former hostility. The altercation be- 
tween Knox and the Earl of Murray on 
this subject became so hot, that it caused 
a total suspension of all friendly inter- 
course between them, which lasted for 
nearly two years, greatly to the injury of 
the Protestant cause. So far had the 
crafty policy of the queen prevailed with 
the nobility, that instead of demanding 
the ratification of the treaty of Edin- 
burgh, and the establishment of the Pro- 
testant Church, they consented to receive 
an act of oblivion, securing indemnity 
to thosft who had been engaged in the 
late civil war. The very mode of its 
enactment virtually implied the invalidity 
of the treaty in which it had been em- 
bodied ; for the Protestant lords, on their 
bended knees, supplicated as a boon from 



A. D. 1563.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



63 



their sovereign, what they had formerly 
won with their swords, and repeatedly 
demanded as their right. 

John Knox publicly and severely rep- 
rehended the conduct of the Protestant 
lords : and, adverting to the report of the 
queens marriage, which was then preva- 
lent, predicted the consequences which 
would ensue, if ever the nobility con- 
sented that their sovereign should marry 
a Papist. For this boldness, he was sum- 
moned to appear before the queen in 
council, and a very sharp altercation en- 
sued between them, in which Knox de- 
fended himself with unshaken firmness, 
alike unmoved by her threatenings or her 
tears. She was persuaded, however, by 
the lords of the council, to abandon the 
idea of a prosecution. " And so," says 
Knox, " that storm quieted in appear- 
ance, but never in the heart." 

The storm in the heart had soon an- 
other opportunity of bursting forth. Du- 
ring the residence of the queen at Stir- 
ling, in the month of August, the domes- 
tics whom she had left behind her in Ho- 
lyrood-house celebrated the popish wor- 
ship with greater publicity than had been 
usual, even when she was present. This 
gave great offence to the inhabitants of 
Edinburgh ; and a slight popular tumult, 
not attended with injury, or even danger 
to any one, ensued. Reports, extremely 
exaggerated, were carried to the queen, 
who declared her determination not to 
return to Edinburgh until this riot was 
punished ; and commanded two of the 
Protestants to be indicted to stand trial 
for the offence said to be committed. 
Dreading an intention to proceed to ex- 
tremities against these men, and that their 
condemnation would be a preparative to 
some hostile attempt against their reli- 
gion, the Protestants in Edinburgh re- 
solved that Knox, agreeably to a com- 
mission which he had received from the 
Church, should write a circular letter 
to the principal gentlemen of the re- 
formed faith, informing them of the cir- 
cumstances, and requesting their pre- 
sence on the day of trial. It will be re- 
collected, that a similar course of proce- 
dure had been repeatedly adopted by the 
reformers in their previous contests with 
the queen-regent, so that it was com- 
pletely accordant with the usage of the 
Church and nation. He wrote the letter 



according to their request ; but a copy of 
it falling into the hands of Sinclair, bishop 
of Ross, and president of the Court of 
Session, was by him transmitted to the 
queen at Stirling. She communicated it 
to her privy council, who, to her great 
satisfaction, pronounced it treasonable. 
This was what the queen had long 
wished ; and she accordingly gave or- 
ders that an extraordinary meeting of 
councillors, assisted by other noblemen, 
should be held at Edinburgh, to try the 
cause ; and the reformer was summoned 
to appear before this convention. 

Previous to the day of trial, great in- 
fluence was used in private to persuade 
him to acknowledge that he had commit- 
ted a fault, and to throw himself on the 
queen's mercy. This neither the en- 
treaties of friends nor the threats of ene- 
mies could prevail upon him to do. On 
the day of trial, the public mind was ex- 
cited to an intense degree of anxiety. 
The cause of the Reformation appeared 
to depend on the issue ; and both parties 
regarded it with the most tremulous and 
eager interest. Secretary Lethington took 
the disreputable office of accuser ; but 
was repeatedly and unbecomingly inter- 
rupted by the queen herself, when she 
thought he was not prosecuting the mat- 
ter with sufficient point and force. Knox 
defended himself with such skill and 
ability as to refute every accusation 
brought against him. The main charge 
was that of illegally convoking the 
queen's lieges, and charging herself with 
cruelty. This charge he met and an- 
swered, so as completely to bafflle both 
the sophistry of Lethington, and the an- 
gry vehemence of the queen. At length 
he was ordered to retire for that night ; 
and the judgment of the council was ta- 
ken respecting his conduct. 

All of them, with the exception of the 
immediate dependents of the court, gave 
it as their opinion that he had not been 
guility of any breach of the laws. The 
secretary, who had assured the queen of 
his condemnation, was enraged at this 
decision. He brought her majesty, who 
had previously retired, again into the 
room, and proceeded to call the votes a 
second time. This attempt to overawe 
them incensed the nobility. "What!" 
said they, " shall the laird of Lethington 
have power to control us ? or shall the 



64 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP III. 



presence of a woman cause us to offend 
God, and to condemn an innocent man, 
against our consciences?" They then 
repeated the vote which they had already 
given, absolving Knox from all offence, 
and, at the same time, praising his modest 
appearance, and the judicious manner in 
which he had conducted his defence.* 

The effects of this trial were various 
and extensive. The Protestant part of 
the community were justly indignant at 
the attempt made upon Knox, and 
alarmed with the proof thereby given of 
the queen's determined hostility. On 
the other hand, the queen could not con- 
trol her indignation at the reformer's 
escape ; and the effects of her resentment 
fell upon those who had voted for his ex- 
culpation, or failed to procure his con- 
viction. 4The Earl of Murray lost her 
confidence ; and even Lethington sunk 
in her favour. They attempted to in- 
duce Knox to soothe her by a voluntary 
submission ; but to this he would not 
consent. They next attempted to weaken 
his influence among his brethren of the 
ministry, representing to them that Knox 
exercised a despotic and popish authority 
in the Church, inconsistent with their 
freedom and equality. 

These secret machinations were met 
by Knox with his usual open and manly 
intrepidity of character. At the meeting 
of the General Assembly in December 
of the same year, he refused to take part 
in the public deliberations of the Church, 
till an inquiry should be made into his 
conduct in writing the late circular let- 
ter, and it should be declared whether he 
had gone beyond the commission with 
.vhich he had been intrusted. The court 
party endeavoured to prevent the discus- 
sion of this question ; but it was taken up, 
and the Assembly decided, by a great 
majority, that he had been charged with 
such a commission, and that in the ad- 
vertisement which he had lately given he 
had not exceeded his powers. 

In the preceding Assembly, held in 
June, one of the most important princi- 
ples of our existing system of church 
government was established. It was 
" statute and ordained," that any person 
thinking himself aggrieved by the sen- 
tence of the kirk-session should have 

• Knox, pp. 333-343 : M'Crie's Life of Knox, pp. 
264-209. 



liberty to appeal to the Synod, and, if ne- 
cessary, from the Synod to the General 
Assembly, " from which it shall not be 
lawful to the said party to appeal." 
There were also various other regula- 
tions framed for the perfecting of the ju- 
dicatorial powers and arrangements of 
the Church. 

It has been already stated, that in the 
December meeting of Assembly, John 
Knox was vindicated from the accusation 
of having convoked the Protestant min- 
isters and elders on his own authority 
alone. By the same Assembly John 
Willock was appointed moderator, or 
president, "to prevent confusion in rea- 
soning." He was the first moderator of 
the Church of Scotland. This Assembly 
also passed an act, expressing their con- 
sent, " that for their own parts, tenants, 
and occupiers of the ground should have 
their own teinds or tithes upon composi- 
tion ;" — a most important arrangement 
for setting free agricultural industry, pre- 
venting harsh and vexatious exactions, 
and removing one great cause of strife 
between the Church and the people. 
This act is another clear proof of the 
wise and enlightened views of the Scot- 
tish reformers, who were in almost every 
respect very far in advance of their age. 
It may be mentioned also, that non-resi- 
dence was prohibited, and one minister 
suspended, by this Assembly. 

[1564.] The year 1564 was not sig- 
nalized by any events of peculiar impor- 
tance ; but the hostility between the Pro- 
testant ministers and the courtiers con- 
tinued unabated. In the month of June 
a conference was held between the prin- 
cipal statesmen and the ministers of the 
Church, respecting the liberty demanded 
and exercised by the latter of animadvert- 
ing freely in the pulpit on every topic 
which concerned the purity of public 
morals and the welfare of religion. In 
an elaborate debate with Lethington, 
Knox defended the leading points of his 
conduct and doctrine on this subject, 
which had given offence to the court. 
" This debate," says Principal Robert- 
son, " admirably displays the talents and 
character of both the disputants ; the 
acuteness of the former, embellished with 
learning, but prone to subtlety ; the vig- 
orous understanding of the latter, delight- 
ing in bold sentiments, and superior to 



A. D. 1565.] 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



65 



all fear."* The reader who wishes to 
peruse a full statement of this debate may 
turn to Knox's History of the Reforma- 
tion in Scotland, or to the account of it 
given in Dr. M'Crie's Life of the re- 
former.! 

An Assembly was held in June, in 
which a committee was appointed to 
u reason and confer anent the causes of 
the whole Kirk and jurisdiction thereof," 
and to report to next Assembly. Per- 
mission to go to foreign parts was refused 
to a minister applying for it, and he was 
u ordained " not to leave his congrega- 
tion. The sentence of suspension was 
taken off from another, and he was re- 
stored to his ministry. Another minis- 
ter was deposed for contumacy. Thus 
did the Church proceed, completing its 
arrangements, asserting its authority, and 
carrying its decrees into actual execution, 
irrespective of tne frowns or smiles of 
parliaments and courts. 

The Assembly met again in Decem- 
ber the same year, and directed seven ar- 
ticles respecting the prohibition of the 
mass, the provision of the ministry, the 
reparation of kirks, &c, to be presented 
to the privy council and the queen, re- 
quiring an answer to each of the particu- 
lars. The rest of its time was occupied 
with matters of discipline. 

[1565.] The year 1565 began with 
events at first apparently of little moment, 
yet containing the germs of what proved 
to be the cause of great individual and 
national calamity. Towards the close 
of the preceding year, Matthew Stewart, 
earl of Lennox, after an exile of twenty 
years, obtained permission to return to 
Scotland, and was soon afterwards fol- 
lowed by his son, Henry Stewart, Lord 
Darnley. It will be remembered by 
those who are acquainted with Scottish 
history, that Lennox, besides being him- 
self of royal extraction, had received from 
Henry VIII. in marriage, his own niece, 
the Lady Margaret Douglas, uterine sis- 
ter of James V. of Scotland. 

Darnley was thus the nearest heir to 
both the English and the Scottish crowns, 
failing any direct heirs from the two 
reigning queens, Elizabeth and Mary. 
There was, therefore, at least a political 
convenience m a union between him and 

* Robertson's Hist, of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 109. 
t Knox's Hist. pp. 343-366 ; M'Crie, pp. 273-283. 

9 



Mary, as likely to preclude any competi- 
tion for the crown of either country. 

It does not appear, however, that Mary 
was swayed by such considerations, but 
by the sudden and strong passion which 
she conceived for the young nobleman 
himself, almost at the first interview be- 
tween them. Some of the deeper poli- 
ticians had, it appears, anticipated as 
much ; and, in particular, Lethington had 
exerted himself to procure permission 
from Elizabeth for the return of Lennox 
and Darnley to Scotland ; aware, as he 
himself declared, that he was thereby 
likely to incur the direct hostility of the 
powerful house of Hamilton, whose 
hopes of succession to the Scottish throne 
would be thwarted. The Protestant 
lords, those of them at least whom court 
influence had not succeeded in corrupting, 
were from the first dissatisfied with the 
queen's regard to Darnley, and opposed 
to her marriage. Darnley, had not, in- 
deed, exhibited any peculiar regard for 
any religion ; but so far as he had indi- 
cated his predilections, he appeared to be 
inclined to Popery. Every endeavour 
was made by the queen to procure the 
consent of the nobility to her marriage 
with Darnley. She even promised to 
grant the royal sanction to the legal es- 
tablishment of the Protestant religion, 
which had been hitherto evaded, as 
soon as a parliament could be conveni- 
ently assembled. On this condition, she 
procured the consent of the greater part 
of the nobles ; but the Earl of Murray 
continued to refuse, nor could either the 
entreaties or the threatenings of the 
queen move him to consent to a measure 
which his better judgment strongly con- 
demned. 

The queen, finding herself thus oppos- 
ed, resolved upon the ruin of Murray. 
For this purpose she recalled his per- 
sonal enemy, the notorious Bothwell, to 
court, and restored the Huntly family to 
their forfeited estates and titles. Having 
thus strengthened her party, Mary hast- 
ened her marriage with such precipita- 
tion as to. anticipate any opposition ; and 
on the 19th of July 1565, the nuptials 
were solemnized, and Darnley proclaim- 
ed king, without the consent of the es- 
tates of the kingdom. As Murray had 
refused his consent to the marriage, Darn- 
ley was determined to revenge this oppo- 



6G 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. III. 



sition, and during his brief period of in- 
fluence over the queen, prevailed on her 
to summon the earl to court. Aware of 
his danger, Murray refused to come, and 
was immediately proclaimed an outlaw. 
He prepared to defend himself : and was 
joined by the Hamiltons, the Earls of 
Argyle. Glencairn, and Rothes, Lords 
Boyd and Ochiltree, and several inferior 
barons. The queen allowed them no 
time to consolidate their strength ; but 
hastily levying an army, advanced against 
them, herself leading on her troops with 
masculine spirit and energy, and pursu- 
ing them from place to place till they 
took refuge in England. 

D-D 

While these events were in progress, 
the General Assembly met in Edinburgh 
on the 25th of June. This was before 
the queen's marriage, and while she was 
busied in those artifices by which she 
hoped to accomplish her purpose. De- 
sirous to secure support from any quarter 
so long as difficulties were apprehended, 
she had for a time endeavoured to concili- 
ate the Protestant ministers, and had ap- 
pointed a conference at Perth, in addi- 
tion to her promises to call a parliament 
and ratify the establishment of the re- 
formed Church. Trusting a little to these 
favourable appearances, the Assembly 
drew up six articles for her majesty's 
consideration, desiring her to ratify and 
approve them in the parliament about to 
be held. These articles were of the same 
genera] tenor as those which had been 
repeatedly presented before ; though they 
were perhaps somewhat more fully stated, 
in expectation, probably, of a ratification, 
which would require minute and specific 
detail in legal form. The queen, who 
had no intention of calling a parliament, 
evaded an immediate answer, and con- 
tinued to encourage their expectations till 
after her marriage to Darnley. This 
took place, it will be remembered, on the 
19th of July. At length, on the 21st of 
August, an answer was returned, suffi- 
ciently unfavourable. To put an end to 
all their hopes of her own conversion, 
she plainly declared that " her- majesty 
neither will nor may leave the religion 
wherein she has been nourished and 
brought up." Her answer to the second 
article must be stated more fully, as it has 
frequently been strangely misrepresented 



and misconstrued in subsequent times, 
and especially of late. 

The article itself was to the following 
effect : — " That provision be made for the 
sustentation of the ministers, as well for 
the time present as for the time to come ; 
that such persons as are presented to the 
ministry may have their livings assigned 
to them ; that vacant benefices may be 
dispensed to qualified and learned per- 
sons, able to preach God's Word; that 
no bisho- ~ic, abbacy, &c., having many 
kirks annexed thereto, may be disponed 
to any one man." 

To this the queen answered as follows: 
— " That her majesty thinks it noway 
reasonable that she should defraud her- 
self of so great a part of the patrimony of 
her crown, as to put the patronages of 
benefices forth of her own hands ; for her 
own necessities in bearing of her great 
and common charges will require the re- 
tention of a good part in her own hands." 

When the Assembly met in December 
the same year, the queen's answers were 
taken into consideration, and the replies 
of the Assembly ordered to be again trans- 
mitted to her majesty. The reply to the 
second article was as follows : — " It is 
not our meaning that her majesty, or any 
other patron within this realm, should be 
defrauded of their just patronages. But 
we mean, whensoever her majesty, or 
any other patron, does present any per- 
son to a benefice, that the person present- 
ed should be tried and examined by the 
judgment of learned men of the Kirk, 
such as are presently the superintendents 
appointed thereto: and as the presenta- 
tion of benefices pertains to the patron, so 
ought the collation thereof, by law and 
reason, appertain to the Kirk : of the 
which collation the Kirk should not be 
defrauded, more than the patrons of their 
presentation ; for otherwise it shall be 
lesum [lawful] to the patrons absolutely 
to present whomsoever they please, with- 
out trial or examination : What then shall 
abide in the Kirk of God but ignorance 
without all order? As to the second point, 
concerning the retention of a good part of 
the benefice in her majesty's own hands, 
this point abhors so far from good con- 
science, as well of God's law as from the 
public order of our common laws. How- 
soever the retention of patronages of 



A. D. 1566.] HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



57 



benefices may appertain to herself, the 
retention thereof in her own hands un- 
disponed to qualified persons, is both un- 
godly, and also contrary to all public or- 
der, and brings no small confusion to the 
poor souls of the common people, who by 
these means should be instructed of their 
salvation."* 

It must, we think, be evident to every 
unprejudiced and intelligent person, that 
the queen's answer contained a sophism 
of that kind which consists in evasively 
substituting one thing for another, con- 
founding the distinction between them, 
and reasoning from the substituted topic, 
as if it were the real one. The article 
of the petition requested that provision be 
made for the sustentation of the ministers. 
The queen makes the topic of patronage 
the chief point of her answer, yet so as 
to exhibit her intention to avail herself of 
the patronage for the purpose of retaining 
the benefice. It will be remembered that 
there were only about two hundred strictly 
lay patronages at the time of the Reform- 
ation. With these, viewing them as de- 
pendent upon and guarded by civil enact- 
ments, the Church did not take it upon 
herself, of her own authority, to interfere, 
however much disposed to condemn them, 
as contrary to the principles and rules of 
Scripture. This was well known to the 
person by whom the queen's answer was 
framed, probably Lethington ; and for 
this reason they were put prominently 
forward in the answer. But in the reply 
of the Church the two topics are sepa- 
rated, — the lay patronages left as they 
were, and the unprincipled and injurious 
retention of the fruits of the benefice 
pointed out and condemned. The iniqui- 
tous nature of the claim might be placed 
in a still stronger light, when it is remem- 
bered, that .two-thirds of the patrimony 
of the Church had already been either 
allowed to the rejected clergy, or seized 
upon by the rapacious nobility ; and now 
the queen, under pretence of her right to 
certain patronages, unblushingly pro- 
posed to retain the fruits of the benefices 
in her own hands. Those who think to 
defend patronage by referring to such a 
transaction, must be either unacquainted 
with its true nature themselves, or must 
calculate largely on the ignorance of the 
public. 

* Booke of the Universall Kirk, pp, 34-37. 



In the same Assembly the following 
question was proposed : " What order 
ought to be used against such as oppress 
children !" The Assembly's answer 
was, — "As concerning punishment, the 
civil magistrate ought therein to discern. 
As touching the slander, the offenders 
ought to be secluded from participation 
in the sacraments till they have satisfied 
the Kirk, as they shall be commanded." 
In this clear answer the respective provin- 
ces of the civil and the ecclesiastical judi- 
catories are distinctly specified. 

[1566.] The year 1566 was pregnant 
with events of a dark and disastrous char- 
acter. A decree had been passed by the 
Council of Trent for the extirpation of the 
Protestant name ; and the popish princes 
had combined for carrying it into execu- 
tion. In the beginning of February, 
a messenger arrived from the cardinal of 
Lorraine, Mary's uncle, with a copy of 
that infamous combination known in his- 
tory as the League of Bayonne, and 
Mary did not hesitate to set her name to 
the bloody bond. She seems to have 
considered herself now possessed of suffi- 
cient power to proceed to those extremi- 
ties which, there is too much reason to 
believe, she had always contemplated. 
Darnley had professed himself a convert 
to Popery, and several of the noblemen 
had followed his example. Murray and 
the chief of the Protestant lords were in 
exile ; and to render their return impos- 
sible, Mary summoned them to appear 
before a parliament which was appointed 
to meet on the 12th of March. The 
Lords of the Articles were chosen ac- 
cording to the queen's pleasure ; the 
popish ecclesiastics were restored to their 
place in parliament ; and the altars to be 
erected in St. Giles's Church, for the cel- 
ebration of the Romish worship, were 
already prepared. 

But the hand of Providence arrested 
these guilty machinations. Many of the 
Protestant lords, who had hitherto sup- 
ported the queen's measures against their 
former confederates, began to take aiarm, 
some from disappointed ambition, and 
some from better feelings and worthier 
motives. The League of Bayonne, and* 
the queen's accession to it, was not un- 
known to them : and they could not hope 
long to escape the fate to which all adhe- 
rents of the Protestant religion were 



68 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. Ill 



thereby destined, if they did not anticipate 
the danger. They knew also, that Riz- 
zio, the queen's private secretary, an Ital- 
ian by birth, was in the confidence of the 
Continental princes, and the secret man- 
ager of their dark intrigues. This per- 
son had been for some time treated with 
an undue degree of confidential regard 
by the queen, and the jealousy of the 
king had been excited against him. The 
nobility formed a secret combination to 
seize upon Rizzio, and put him to an 
open and ignominious death ; and avail- 
ing themselves of Darnley's jealousy, 
they obtained the accession- of both him 
and his father to the plot. It is unneces- 
sary to state the details, which are famil- 
iar to all. Rizzio was assassinated ; the 
popish councillors fled from the palace ; 
the exiled lords returned out of England ; 
and the queen's prospects of accomplish- 
ing her designs being entirely frustrated, 
the parliament was prorogued, without 
accomplishing any of the objects for 
which it had been assembled. It may be 
mentioned, in passing, that Mr. Tytler 
takes the credit, as he probably regards 
it, of having discovered that John Knox 
was one of those who were engaged in 
the conspiracy for the assassination of 
Rizzio.* Certainly so grave a charge, 
and so improbable, was never brought 
forward and maintained on evidence so 
slender, nay, so absolutely incredible. 
Its utter groundlessness has been demon- 
strated by the Rev. Thomas M'Crie, son 
of the historian of Knox ; and the calum- 
nious accusation deserves no farther no- 
tice.! 

The wrath of the queen against the 
murderers of Rizzio was so extreme, that 
it burned out, for a time, all other wrath. 
The exiled lords, Murray, Glencairn, 
Ochiltree, and others, were forgiven, or 
passed over, though not restored to fa- 
vour as before. But although the Glueen 
managed to detach her weak husband 
from the confederacy, and thus broke it 
asunder, she never forgave him, nor 
showed him the least regard. She had 
dried her tears that she might " study re- 
venge," as she herself declared ; and in 
the daring and unprincipled Earl of 
Bothwell sfcie found a fitting instrument. 

* Tytler's Hist, of Scotland, ol. vii. p. 25 and 427. 
t See Mr. M'Crie's Historical Sketches, Appendix, 
and note in Appendix. 



Her condition retarded for a time the 
prosecution of her designs ; and on the 
19th of June she gave birth to a prince, 
afterwards James VI. of Scotland and I. 
of England. 

Little of importance was transacted in 
the Assembly which met in June, with 
the exception of an act appointing a na- 
tional fast, which was the first instance of 
the kind since the Reformation. The act 
was as follows : — " The haill Assembly, 
in respect of the perils and dangers where- 
with the Kirk of God is assaulted, and 
that by mighty enemies, considered a 
general fast to be published throughout 
this realm in all kirks reformed." 

In the December meeting of Assembly, 
permission was granted to John Knox to 
visit England ; and a letter was addressed 
by the Assembly to the English Church, 
for the purpose of endeavouring to allay 
the contentions then raging respecting 
the forms, ceremonies, and dresses, which 
the high prelatic party wished to impose 
upon their more simple-minded brethren. 
In this apparently trivial cause of conten- 
tion, it may be remarked, lay the germs 
of the division of the Church of England 
into two great parties, the High Church- 
men and the Puritans, and, more re- 
motely, of the great civil war of next 
century. This Assembly also " Ordained 
a humble supplication to be made to the 
Lords of the Secret Council, anent the 
commission of jurisdiction supposed 
granted to the bishop of St. Andrews, to 
the effect that their Honours stay the 
same, in respect that these causes, for the 
most part judged by his usurped author- 
ity, pertain to the true Kirk." Thus did 
the General Assembly not only define 
and assert, but vigilantly defend its pro- 
per jurisdiction. 

[1567.] The public affairs of the year 
1567 seemed the bursting of the black 
thunder-cloud which had hung its bale- 
ful gloom over the greater part of the 
preceding year. The weak, rash, and 
vindictive Darnley had become an object 
of utter abhorrence to the ill-fated, 
haughty, and revengeful queen. Hei 
own too manifest predilection for Both- 
well encouraged that licentious and aspir- 
ing man to proceed to the perpetration of 
a crime of the blackest dye, by which he 
trusted to reach the summit of his ambi- 
I tion. Darnley, despised, dispirited, and 



A. D. 1567 ] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



69 



suffering under disease, was decoyed to 
Edinburgh, lodged in a solitary dwelling 
at the Kirk of Field, and murdered on the 
morning of the 10th of February, the 
house in which he lay being blown up 
with gunpowder. Bothwell was accused 
of the crime ; but his own ill-got power, 
and the favour of the queen, screened the 
murderer from justice. 

The marriage of Mary to the infamous 
Bothwell completed at once her crimes 
and her ruin. After an abortive attempt 
by Bothwell to obtain possession of the 
infant prince, the nobility formed a con- 
federacy to avenge the king's death, and 
protect their infant sovereign. The per- 
petration of some deed of great enormity 
seems frequently to paralyze the criminal. 
Mary's energy of character appeared to 
have forsaken her immediately after the 
murder of Darnley. No longer could 
she, by either force or guile, conquer or 
circumvent her antagonists. Her troops 
would not fight for her and her blood- 
stained paramour ; Bothwell fled, and 
Mary was committed to Lochleven Cas- 
tle. Her subsequent escape from Loch- 
leven, — the rallying of the Hamiltons 
and their adherents round her standard, 
— her defeat, flight to England, pro- 
tracted imprisonment, and melancholy 
death, — are all well known to the read- 
ers of Scottish history, and need not far- 
ther occupy our pages. 

During these troubled and guilty times 
the Assembly met in June, as usual, and 
soon after adjourned to July. At the 
latter meeting, the confederate lords spe- 
cified a number of articles highly favour- 
able to the Church, which they expressed 
their intention to have granted" at the next 
lawful parliament that should be held. 

Before the next meeting of Assembly, 
in December, the regency had been con- 
ferred on the Earl of Murray, who had 
returned from France, and was thus 
raised to the head of the government. 
On the 15th of December parliament met. 
John Knox preached at the opening of 
parliament, and exhorted them to begin 
with the affairs of religion, in which case 
they would find better success in their 
other business. The parliament ratified 
all the acts which had been passed in 
1560, in favour of the Protestant religion 
and against Popery. Several new stat- 
utes of a similar kind were added. It 



was provided, that no prince should after- 
wards be admitted to the exercise of au- 
thority in the kingdom, without taking an 
oath to maintain the Protestant religion ; 
and that none but Protestants should be 
admitted to any office, with the exception 
of those that were hereditary, or held for 
life. It was ordained, that the examina- 
tion and admission of ministers be only 
in the power of the Church, reserving 
the presentation of lay patronages to the 
ancient patrons. The ecclesiastical juris- 
diction exercised by the Assemblies of 
the Church was formally ratified, and 
commissioners appointed to define more 
exactly the causes which came within 
the sphere of their judgment. The thirds 
of benefices were appointed to be paid at 
first-hand to collectors nominated by the 
Church, who, after paying the stipends 
of the ministers, were to account to *he 
Exchequer for the surplus. And ihe 
funds of provostries, prebendaries, and 
chaplainries, were appropriated to main- 
tain bursars in colleges.* 

No difference of tone or manner ap- 
pears in the proceedings of the General 
Assembly, which met on December the 
25th, a few days subsequent to the meet 
ing of that parliament by which its exist- 
ence and jurisdiction were legally recog- 
nised and ratified. It went calmly and 
steadily forward in the prosecution of 
those sacred duties which owed neither 
their existence, their validity, nor their 
continuation, to any earthly power. 
Commissioners were appointed to co- 
operate with " six persons of parliament, 
or secret council," nominated by the re- 
gent, " for such affairs as pertain to the 
Kirk, and jurisdiction thereof." " Adam, 
called bishop of Orkney," was deprived 
of all " function of the ministry," for 
marrying the queen to Bothwell. John 
Craig was commanded to give in a writ- 
ten statement of his conduct in proclaim- 
ing- the banns of marriage between the 
queen and Bothwell ; from which state- 
ment it appeared that he had acted in a 
manner to deserve not only acquittal, but 
approbation. The Countess of Argyle 
submitted to the discipline and censure 
of the Church, "for having given her 
assistance and presence to the baptizing 
of the king in a papistical manner." 

The reformed Church was now le- 

* Act Pari. Scot. III., pp. 14-25. See also Appendix. 



70 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. III. 



gaily recognised as the only National 
Church, — not, it will be observed, created 
by statute ; not deriving its existence 
from acts of parliament, as has been 
strangely and perversely, if not igno- 
rantly asserted ; but distinctly and spe- 
cifically recognised as pre-existent, and 
the powers and jurisdiction which it had 
already been exercising, in virtue of the 
sacred character and authority derived 
from its Divine Head and King, merely 
ratified and confirmed, so as to place it 
in a state of safety from the open assaults 
and persecutions of any human power. 
It has been thought necessary to be some- 
what minute in tracing the rise of the 
Church of Scotland, and the manner in 
which it exercised its ecclesiastical powers 
previous to its recognition by parliament, 
for the purpose of showing that .those 
powers are wholly and purely self-origi- 
nated, and not one of them created and 
conferred by statute law. While still 
struggling against direct persecution, or 
the secret stratagems of insidious foes, 
the General Assembly of the Church of 
Scotland rose into personal and active 
being, — put forth supreme legislative 
powers in regard to the constitution and 
government of the Church, — sanctioned 
the office of elder on the authority of the 
sacred Scriptures, — gave existence and 
powers to kirk-sessions, — appointed the 
important though temporary office of su- 
perintendents and visitors, — erected pro- 
vincial synods, — and inflicted on offend- 
ers of all ranks, according to their offence 
and its distinctive judgments, the discipli- 
nary and executive sentences of suspen- 
sion, deposition, and excommunication. 
And is it now to be asserted that the 
Church of Scotland is the " creature of 
the state L" — the creature of a hostile 
power, which would have crushed it in 
its infancy, had that been possible! — or 
that the Church of Scotland lost her in- 
herent powers by means of the very en- 
actments which gratefully recognised and 
sanctioned them ! Such assertions mere 
lawyers may utter and pretend to believe ; 
but the common sense and right feelings 
of mankind in general will ever reject 
them with indignant scorn ; and the true 
Christian will do as did his venerated 
ancestors, — reject and resist them with 
uncompromising firmness and unyield- 



ing fortitude, while he pities and prays 
for his blind and self-willed antagonists. 

The limits to which we purpose re- 
stricting ourselves in this work will not 
permit us to enter into details of a very 
minute character; but one or two state- 
ments may be made, calculated to interest 
the reader. It has been stated that the 
first General Assembly, in 15G0, con- 
tained but forty members, only six of 
whom were ministers ; and that there 
were no more than twelve Protestant 
ministers at that time in Scotland. When 
the Assembly met on the 20th of Decem- 
ber 1567, exactly seven years afterwards, 
the Church of Scotland could number 
two hundred, and fifty-two ministers, four 
hundred and sixty-seven readers, and one 
hundred and fifty-four exhorters. How 
mighty the increase in so short a period ! 
And yet these seven years had beer 
spent in an incessant struggle against z 
hostile government, bent on the destruc- 
tion of the Church by every artifice that 
craft and malice could suggest. And 
while the Church was thus waxing 
stronger and stronger in spite of all op- 
position, its internal progress in improve- 
ment of doctrine and discipline was not 
less rapid, steady, and decided, than its 
manifest external increase. Offenders 
of every kind and degree were compell- 
ed to yield obedience to its sacred author- 
ity : noblemen and ladies of the highest 
rank submitted to its disciplinary cen- 
sures ; lordly prelates were constrained 
to bow their unmitred heads before its 
rebuke; over the refractory members of 
its own body, — over one even of its early 
champions, Paul Methven, — its power 
was extended in the impartial administra- 
tion of even-handed.spiritual justice ; and 
even the stormy tumults of a fierce and 
turbulent populace were often quelled 
and hushed into peace and silence at the 
utterance of its calm and grave command. 
Whence comes that invincible and all- 
controlling energy ? How were these 
wondrous deeds achieved ? May we 
not answer in the solemn words of the 
inspired prophet, — " Not by might, nor 
by power, but by my Spirit, saith the 
Lord of Hosts." That there must have 
been a marvellous amount of the divine 
influence accompanying all the exertions 
of the Church of Scotland, when tho 



A. D. 1569.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



71 



walls of her temple were thus built in 
troublous times, we cannot, and we do 
not doubt : for nothing else could have 
given to means so inadequate a triumph 
so complete. And let it be well marked 
and understood, that there is perhaps no 
clearer proof of the presence of the Spirit 
of God in the movements of a Church, 
than when that Church pursues unswerv- 
ingly the course marked out by the prin- 
ciples of the Word of God, refusing to be 
turned aside by all the motives which 
human prudence, apparent expediency, 
and worldly policy can suggest; and no 
surer evidence that she has begun to for- 
sake God, and to be by Him forsaken, 
than when she begins to mould her 
measures into conformity with the crook- 
ed and selfish schemes so natural to the 
guileful heart and darkened mind of 
fallen and sinful man. 

[1568.] Although the mind of the com- 
munity was intensely occupied with the 
contentions which arose between the par- 
tizans of Mary and the adherents of the 
regent, the affairs of religion were not 
neglected. The Assembly held its usual 
meetings, and continued to watch over 
the religious welfare of the kingdom 
with Undiminished vigilance. Proceed- 
ing with the completion of their ecclesi- 
astical arrangements, they passed an act 
in July, regulating the constitution of 
Assemblies, and prescribing who the 
members were to be, and how they were 
to be elected. An act was passed also 
for the suppression of a book entitled the 
Fall of the Roman Kirk, in which the 
king was named as the " Supreme Head 
of the primitive Kirk." By this it was 
emphatically proved that the Church of 
Scotland would own no earthly Head. 
The Assembly renewed its applications 
to the civil powers for a better distribu- 
tion of the patrimony of the Church, and 
a more adequate support to the minister : 
but although Murray was personally dis- 
posed to grant the request, his political 
power was not sufficiently confirmed to 
enable him to act according to his own 
inclination. He returned answers couch- 
ed in the most favourable terms; but there 
were too many of his own supporters 
among those who had seized upon the 
property of the Church, for him to ven- 
ture to dispossess the spoliators of their 
ill-got gains. The utmost that he could 



accomplish was, to cause a more regular 
and faithful payment of the third part of 
the ancient Church revenues, and to pre- 
vent any new encroachments from being 
made upon them. 

[1569 ] It is neither our province nor 
our inclination to trace civil affairs, or to 
intermingle more of them in this work 
than may be necessary for the right 
understanding of the affairs of the 
Church. The civil matters of chief im- 
portance which occurred during this pe- 
riod were those which arose out of the 
struggle between Murraj and the parti- 
zans of Mary, headed by the Hamilton 
family. Lethington joined the queen's 
party, and became the very soul of all 
their measures. Not only did he plan 
and conduct the intrigues with the Duke 
of Norfolk, but he even contrived to 
seduce Kirkaldy of Grange from his long 
friendship with Murray. The firm, pru- 
dent, and vigorous conduct of the regent 
enabled him for a time to make head 
against all open adversaries ; and he 
steadily refused to protect himself from 
the danger of assassination, by cutting off 
such persons as were strongly suspected 
of plotting against his life. The noble 
magnanimity of his nature would not per- 
mit him to resort to such a method for 
preserving a life more valuable to his 
country than it seemed to be to himself. 
In vain was he' repeatedly warned to be 
on his guard. It seemed to be his 
maxim, that it was better to die than to 
live haunted by suspicious fears. And 
notwithstanding the almost incessant con- 
flicts with the opposite faction in which 
he was engaged, he reformed abuses, 
maintained public order, and administer- 
ed justice with steady and impartial hand, 
so as to earn from his grateful country 
the honourable appellation of the Good 
Regent. 

No transactions of any peculiar im- 
portance took place in the Assembly in 
this year. It may, however, be stated, 
that the Assembly renewed, in urgent 
terms, the expression of their earnest de- 
sire, " that the jurisdiction of the Kirk 
may be separated from that; which is 
civil." To this the Church was- impelled 
by the conviction, that the drawing of 
a clear and definite line of distinction be- 
tween the jurisdiction of the Church and 
the civil magistrate was essentially neces- 



72 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. IIL 



sary for securing the purity of the 
Church and the peace of the community ; 
and while the ecclesiastical courts were 
anxious to prevent encroachments upon 
their own sacred province, they were 
equally desirous to avoid the accusation, 
or even the suspicion, of being disposed 
to interfere with matters purely secular. 
The often-repeated and earnest request of 
the Church to have the boundaries be- 
tween the civil and the ecclesiastical 
jurisdictions distinctly marked out, ought 
to vindicate her from the charge of grasp- 
ing at powers not naturally within her 
sphere. 

[1570.] The year 1570 was ushered in 
by an event pregnant with disaster to the 
kingdom and the Church of Scotland. 
The Regent Murray had hitherto baffled 
every attempt to overthrow his power by 
direct hostility ; and, as invariably hap- 
pens, the failure of every successive at- 
tempt to shake his influence served but to 
give it additional firmness and solidity. 
Despairing of success by open force, his 
enemies became the more resolved to 
employ the hand of the private assassin. 
A fitting instrument was soon found for 
the perpetration of the bloody crime. 
Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, a nephew 
of the archbishop of St. Andrews, whose 
life Murray had spared after the battle of 
Langside, undertook the murder of the 
man who had restored him to life and 
liberty. With cool, deliberate determi- 
nation, he followed the regent from place 
to place, till he found an opportunity as 
Murray was passing slowly through a 
narrow and crowded street in Linlith- 
gow ; and, taking his stand at the 
window of a room carefully prepared for 
concealment, shot his victim through the 
body with a musket-ball, on the 23d day 
of January 1570. The murderer fled to 
Hamilton, where he was received with 
great applause by the base instigator of 
his crime.* The wound proved mortal 
in the course of a few hours ; but it de- 
serves to be recorded, that while the 
friends of the dying regent, standing 
around his bed, were lamenting that 
he had spared the life of his murderer, 
he replied, that nothing should ever 
make him regret having done a deed of 
mercy. 

* Spotswood, p. 233 ; Calderwood MSS. ; Banna- 
lyne's Journal, p. 4; Buchanan. 



So died the Good Regent Murray, a 
man of great natural ability, thoroughly 
tried in many an adverse scene, of un- 
impeachable integrity, a skilful warrior, 
a wise statesman, an upright judge, and 
an impartial ruler. The chief aspect of 
his private character was that frank and 
open manliness which suspects no evil 
because it entertains none ; and a deep 
and earnest personal piety imparted a 
sacred grace to all the virtues which 
adorned him as a man and a Christian. 
During the short period of his regency 
he gave to the world one of the brightest 
examples ever yet recorded in its annals, 
of that rare and truly glorious character, 
a Christian Statesman.* 

The death of the Regent Murray was 
not only lamented by the Church to 
which he had been a protector, if not a 
benefactor, but was soon regretted by all 
parties as a national calamity. Several 
months elapsed before a successor in the 
regency could be appointed, in conse- 
quence of the nearly-balanced power of 
the contending parties. At length the 
choice fell upon the Earl of Lennox, not 
so much on account of his personal fitness 
for the arduous duties of that high 
station, as because of his relationship to 
the young king, whose grandfather he 
was. It soon appeared that Lennox was 
deficient in the abilities necessary for 
swaying the government of a nation so 
rent by faction as Scotland at that time 
was ; one party supporting the young 
king and the regency, the other contend- 
ing for the restoration of the queen. 
The whole kingdom was devastated by 
fierce and relentless civil wars ; the two 
contending parties being so equally 
matched, that neither could acquire a 
decided superiority over its antagonist. 
The Church lent its influence to the sup- 
port of the king's party and the regency, 
but was unable to mitigate to any extent 
the fury of the civil broils by which the 
kingdom was distracted. 

Little of importance was transacted in 
the meetings of Assembly in this year, 
the distressed state of the country en- 
grossing the attention of all classes. It 
may, however, be noticed, that the hos- 
tility of the queen's faction was so great 

* For a strikingly accurate and able view of the 
character of Murray, see M'Crie's Life of Knox, pp. 
307-309. 



A. D. 1571.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



73 



against Knox, that his own congrega- 
tion prevailed on him to leave Edin- 
burgh, the castle being in the possession 
of his enemies, and to retire to St. An- 
drews. While residing in the latter 
town, he was engaged in some contro- 
versy with Robert and Archibald Ham- 
ilton, partly in vindicating his own char- 
acter from calumnious aspersions, partly 
in defending the liberty of the pulpit from 
the attempt of one of the professors to 
subject it to the judgment of the uni- 
versity. 

[1571.] In the Assembly which met 
in March 1571, there were six articles 
stated respecting the jurisdiction of the 
Church, to be proposed to the regent and 
the privy council, for their approbation. 
The chief of these were,— that the Church 
nave the judgment of true and false doc- 
trine. — of election, examination, and ad- 
mission to the ministry, — and of all mat- 
ters concerning the discipline of the 
Church, — with the power to enforce its 
own decisions by admonition, deposition, 
and excommunication. It ought to be 
observed, that the Church did not ask the 
civil power to grant her jurisdiction in 
these matters, for she had exercised it in 
them all previous to her recognition in 
1567 ; but merely that she should meet 
no obstruction in the exercise of her own 
inherent and essential powers. 

But a storm was at hand, by which the 
Church of Scotland was to be severely 
tried. Reference has been repeatedly 
made to the avaricious conduct of the no- 
bility, in seizing upon the revenues of 
the Church, and keeping the ministers in 
poverty. It will be remembered also, 
that the popish prelates had been allowed 
to retain two-thirds of the revenues of the 
larger benefices during their lifetime, 
although they were no longer recognised 
as any part of the National Church. 
Several of these larger benefices had be- 
gun to become vacant by the death or the 
forfeiture of the incumbents, and it was 
necessary to determine in what manner 
they were to be disposed of. Had the 
uniform request of the Church been at- 
tended to, this would not have been a 
matter of any difficulty : she had always 
required that they should be divided, and 
applied to the support of the religious and 
literary establishments. Willingly would 
the nobility have seized these large bene- 
10 



flees as they became vacant, and appro- 
priated them to themselves without scru- 
ple, could they have done so without a 
violation of all law and reason too gla- 
ring for even these unscrupulous men. 
To have secularized them at once was a 
measure for which they were not pre- 
pared ; and. indeed, they must have been 
well aware, that to do so would only be 
to throw another element of strife into the 
seething whirlpool of contention with 
which the country was agitated. The 
Earl of Morton found means to solve this 
difficulty. Upon the death of Hamilton^ 
archbishop of St. Andrews, Morton ob- 
tained a grant empowering him to dis- 
pose of the archbishopric and its reve- 
nues. As it was unseemly for him to 
hold a benefice which the law declared 
to be ecclesiastical, while his avarice 
stimulated him not to let the golden prize 
elude his grasp, he devised the scheme 
of appointing to the archbishopric a min- 
ister with whom he had entered into a 
previous arrangement, that while his 
nominee held the title, he should enjoy 
the principal part of the revenues. In 
pursuance of this scheme, Morton nomi- 
nated John Douglas, rector of the Uni- 
versity of St. Andrews, to the archbishop- 
ric. This nefarious transaction set the 
example to the nobility, who perceiving 
how it might be imitated for their own 
private and selfish ends, supported Mor- 
ton, and prepared to render it systematic 
and universal. 

The danger to the interests of religion 
certain to arise out of this selfish and cor- 
rupt scheme, did not escape the penetra- 
ting eye of Knox, by whom, indeed, it 
had been previously suspected. He was 
at that time at St. Andrews, too weak in 
bodily health to be able to attend a meet- 
ing of Assembly, which was to be held 
at Stirling in August 1571, in conse- 
quence of the dangerous state of Edin- 
burgh, the castle being still in possession 
of the queen's party. In a letter to this 
Assembly, he warned them of the nature 
of the struggle in which they were about 
to engage, the certainty that it would be 
severe and protracted, and the necessity 
of courage, perseverance, and the most 
strenuous exertions in so good a cause.* 
The Assembly gave in their remonstran- 
ces to a parliament which met in Stirling 

* Booke of the Universal! Kirk, p. 12S. 



74 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. HI 



in the end of August, especially protest- 
ing against Douglas taking a seat in par- 
liament and voting, on pain of excommu- 
nication. Morton, on the other hand, 
whose influence was paramount in par- 
liament, commanded him to vote, as arch- 
bishop of St. Andrews, on pain of trea- 
son.* The commissioners of the Church 
presented also the articles respecting the 
jurisdiction of the Church, which had 
been previously agreed upon by the As- 
sembly. 

While the parliament was sitting at 
Stirling, a bold attempt was made by the 
queen's party to end the war by one blow. 
A considerable body of men marched 
under night with great speed and secrecy 
to Stirling, entered the town before any 
alarm was given, assailed the houses in 
which the nobility were lodged, seized 
on them, and on the regent himself, and 
endeavoured to carry them off prisoners 
to Edinburgh. But their progress had 
been ■ retarded by the vigorous defence 
made by the Earl of Morton, who beat 
back the assailants till the house was set 
on fire, and thereby gave time to the Earl 
of Mar to hasten from the castle to the 
rescue of the regent and the nobility. 
Finding themselves baffled in their at- 
tempt, the assailants fled ; but the regent 
was killed by command of Lord Claude 
Hamilton, in revenge for the death of the 
archbishop of St. Andrews. This disas- 
trous event took place on the 3d of Sep- 
tember ; and on the 5th, the Earl of Mar 
was appointed regent. This change in 
the regency was productive of no advan- 
tage to the Church ; for though Mar was 
not disposed to tyrannize himself, he had 
several years before laid hold of a large 
portion of church property, which he was 
not inclined to relinquish, and he was, 
besides, very much under the influence 
of the Earl of Morton, whose feelings 
were decidedly hostile to the Church, as 
he had sufficiently indicated only a few 
days before, when he told the commis- 
sioners of the Church, that " he would 
lay their pride, and put order to them."f 

The Earl of Mar, however, was not 
disposed to press forward these innova- 
tions with so high a hand as Morton 
would have done. Morton procured from 

* Calderwood, p. 48 ; Bannatyne's Memorials, p. 1S3. 
t Calderwood, p. 43. 



him letters prohibiting the collectors of 
tithes in St. Andrews from raising the 
money, because they had refused to be- 
stow the sums raised on his creature 
Douglas ; but Erskine of Dun having 
written a very strong remonstrance to the 
regent against such proceedings, this 
direct aggression was recalled. In this 
letter Erskine manifests a very clear per- 
ception of the essential distinction be- 
tween the civil and ecclesiastical juris- 
dictions. " There is," says he, " a spirit- 
ual jurisdiction and power, which God 
has given unto his Kirk, and to them 
that bear office therein j and there is a 
temporal jurisdiction and power given of 
God to kings and civil magistrates. Both 
the powers are of God, and most agree 
to the fortifying one of the other, if they 
be right used. But when the corruption 
of man enters in, confounding the offices, 
usurping to himself what he pleases, no- 
thing regarding the good order appointed 
of God, then confusion follows in all es- 
tates. The Kirk of God should fortify 
all lawful power and authority that per- 
tains to the civil magistrate, because it is 
the ordinance of God. But if he pass the 
bounds of his office, and enter within the 
sanctuary of the Lord, meddling with 
such things as appertain to the ministers 
of God's Kirk, then the servants of God 
should withstand his unjust enterprise, 
for so are they commanded of God."* 

This clear and strong assertion of the 
distinction between the respective juris- 
diction of the courts civil and spiritual, is 
of double importance, both as showing 
the sentiments of such a man as John 
Erskine of Dun, whose chief failing was 
a tendency to yield disputed matters for 
the sake of peace ; and also as proving 
beyond all question what were the views 
on that vital point of the Church of Scot- 
land in the days of the first reformers. 
It may be added, that in the same letter 
Erskine " lamented from his very heart 
the great disorder used in Stirling at the 
last parliament, in creating bishops, pla- 
cing them, and giving them vote in par- 
liament as bishops, in despite of the Kirk, 
and high contempt of God, the Kirk op- 
posing herself against that disorder :" so 
little favour did the idea of Protestant 
bishops find in the opinion of our re- 

" Bannatyne's Mem., pp. 197-204; Calderwood, p. 48, 



A. D. 1573.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



To 



forming ancestors. Even Dr. Cook terms 
this measure " plainly subversive of ec- 
clesiastical right ;"* although that rever- 
end and learned historian appears to re- 
gard the subversion of ecclesiastical right 
as consisting in this measure being 
" adopted without the concurrence of the 
Church, and even in express opposition 
to it ;" whereas, he seems to insinuate, 
to have first corrupted the Church, and 
then changed its constitution, would have 
been no such subversion. The regent 
appears to have been of the same opin- 
ion ; for he changed his measures so far 
as to recall the letters which had drawn 
forth Erskine's remonstrance ; and wrote 
an explanatory letter, in which he com- 
plains that his intentions were misunder- 
stood, and that " the fault of the whole 
stands in this, that the policy of the Kirk 
of Scotland is not perfect, nor any solid 
conference among godly men, that are 
well willed and of judgment, how the 
same may be helped."! 

It would appear that the regent's influ- 
ence had prevailed upon Erskine to yield 
farther than his own principles would 
have sanctioned. A convention of min- 
isters had been appointed to confer with 
the privy council, on the 6th of Decem- 
ber. This was postponed, in conse- 
quence of Erskine's letter to the regent ; 
but another was soon afterwards appoint- 
ed to meet in Leith, for the same purpose. 

[1572.] On the 12th of January 1572, 
the regent convened the superintendents 
and certain ministers at Leith, to consult 
on the best method of allaying the dis- 
sension which had arisen between the 
court and the Church. This convention 
imprudently and wrongfully assumed to 
itself the powers of a General Assembly ; 
and, advancing in its erroneous course, 
devolved the whole business on a few of 
its members, authorising them to meet 
with such persons as should be appointed 
by the privy council, and agreeing to 
ratify A-hatever they might determine, 
agreeably to their instructions. A joint 
committee was accordingly formed of six 
of the privy council and six ministers, 
who proceeded with strange and reck- 
less haste in the arrangement of matters 
of such great national importance. :{: 

* Cook's History of the Church of Scotland, vol. i. 
P 1C9. t Bannatyne's Mem., p. 206. 

T The names of the persons forming this convention 
deserve to be recorded, not to their honour : the Earl 



The convention of Leith agreed that, 
" in consideration of the present time," 
the titles of archbishops and bishops, 
and the bounds of dioceses, should re- 
main as formerly, at least until the king's 
majority, or until the parliament should 
make a different arrangement j that such 
as were admitted to bishoprics should be 
of due age and scriptural qualifications ; 
that they should be chosen by a chapter, 
or assembly of learned ministers ; and 
that they should have no greater juris- 
diction than was already possessed by 
superintendents, but should, like them, 
be subject to the General Assemblies of 
the Church in Spiritual, as they were to 
the King in temporal matters. The 
reader is requested to mark well this lat- 
ter article, subjecting these prelates to 
the authority of the General Assembly. 
It was inserted, doubtless, for the pur- 
pose of inducing the Church to agree the 
more readily to this great innovation ; 
but remaining unrepealed, it proved in 
after years the means by which the 
Church was enabled to overthrow Pre- 
lacy, and restore the original constitution 
of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. 
Arrangements of a similar nature were 
made with regard to abbacies, priories, 
&c. ; so that, while the holder of these 
large benefices were to be admitted to sit 
in parliament, and to be members of the 
College of Justice, as such dignitaries 
had done before the Reformation, they 
were to be admitted after due trial by the 
Church, and still to be amenable to her 
supreme court. This agreement was 
immediately confirmed by the regent and 
council, who engaged to persuade the 
lay patrons of churches to conform to 
such of its regulations as concerned 
them. 

By this strange heterogeneous com- 
pound of Popery, Prelacy, and Presby- 
tery, the avaricious nobility imagined 
they had secured their long-cherished 
design of obtaining for themselves the 
real possession of the wealth of the 
Church, while it was nominally held by 
these mean sycophants : and although 
the true nature of the transaction was 

of Morton. Lord Ruthven. Robert, abbot of Dunferm- 
line, Sir John Bellenden. Mr. James M Gill, and Colin 
Campbell of Glenorchy, of privy council ; John Erskine, 
John Win ram, Andrew Hay, David Lindsay, Robert 
Pont, and John Craisr, ministers. See Spotswood, p. 
260; Calderwood, MSS., vol. ii. p. 310, &c printed 
Calderwood, pp. 50-54. 



76 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP III. 



not suffered to appear in their records, 
the object was well enough understood 
by the country in general, as appears 
from the designation given to the new 
order of bishops. In allusion to a cus- 
tom at that time prevalent in the High- 
lands, of placing a calf's skin stuffed 
with straw, called a tulchan, before cows 
to induce them to give their milk, those 
who were placed in this new prelatic 
order were called tulchan bishops. " The 
bishop," says Calderwood, " had the ti- 
tle, but my lord got the milk or corn- 
mod itie." 

Having thus obtained the apparent 
sanction of the Church to these guileful 
proceedings, the nobility, led by Morton, 
hastened to put them in execution. The 
archbishopric of St. Andrews was con- 
ferred on John Douglas, as had been 
previously attempted ; and he was pub- 
licly installed in his office, his ordination 
being performed by men who were not 
themselves bishops. The Earl of Mor- 
ton had the effrontery to request John 
Knox to inaugurate Douglas ; but he 
positively refused, and pronounced an 
anathema against both the giver and the 
receiver of the bishopric ; and when the 
Assembly met in St. Andrews a few 
weeks afterwards, and the matters agreed 
upon by the convention of Leith came to 
be discussed, Knox opposed himself di- 
rectly and zealously to the making of 
bishops.* Even Patrick Adamson at 
that time was a strenuous opponent of 
Prelacy ; though, as James Melville 
shrewdly conjectures, his zeal may have 
been caused at his disappointment at not 
obtaining one of the new bishopricks. 
" There were," said Adamson, " three 
sorts of bishops : my lord bishop, my 
lord's bishop, and the Lord's bishop. 
My lord bishop was in the papistrie ; 
my lord's bishop is now, when my lord 
gets the benefice, and the bishop serves 
for nothing but to make his title sure ; 
and the Lord's bishop is the true minister 
of the Gospel." f It had been well for 
Adamson if he had always continued to 
maintain and act upon such sound and 
scriptural opinions. 

At the Assembly which met in Perth, 
in August the same year, the convention 
of Leith came again under consideration, 

* Melville's Diary, p. 24. 
t Ibid., p. 25; Calderwood, p, 55. 



and a committee was appointed to ex- 
amine the subject. The report of the 
committee disclaimed the intention of 
giving any countenance to popish super- 
stitions, by tbe titles recognised in the 
convention ; and protested that the heads 
and articles thereat agreed on be receiv- 
ed only as an interim, till farther order 
may be obtained at the hands of the 
king's majesty, regent, and nobility, for 
which they will press as occasion shall 
serve.* To that Assembly John Knox 
sent a letter, in which he took a solemn 
farewell of them, and of all public affairs, 
commending the Church earnestly to the 
protection of God, and imploring the 
divine grace to strengthen them for the 
contest they had still to wage. In a mes- 
sage accompanying that letter he pro- 
posed several topics for their considera- 
tion, to be turned into acts of Assembly 
if approved of; and in these topics may 
be traced the deep and far-seeing pru- 
dence of the great Reformer. He did 
not advise a direct opposition to the 
articles of the convention of Leith, being 
probably but too well aware, that those 
to whom the management of the affairs 
of the Church would now fall, did not 
possess the courage and decision of mind 
requisite for such a struggle ; but he re- 
commended a measure which, if it had 
been adopted and enforced, would have 
defeated the mercenary views of both the 
nobility and their tulchan bishops. But 
though his advice was approved of, the 
courage and energy to carry it into exe- 
cution were not found ; and the articles 
of the ill-omened convention were allow- 
ed for a time to produce their baneful 
consequences, in the corruption of the 
Church, and the enjoyment of their pil- 
lage, by the rapacious nobility. 

The public national affairs of this 
year may be very briefly stated. The 
earl of Mar, who had been elevated to 
the regency upon the death of Lennox, 
was, though not a little of an avaricious 
man, well-disposed and unwilling to ex- 
cite strife, or to see it prolonged. But he 
was overruled by the earl of Morton, 
and thereby brought into collision with 
the Church ; and he was not able either 
to compel the queen's party to submit, or 
to procure a satisfactory termination of 
those dire hostilities by which the king 

* Booke of the Universall Kirk, p. 133. 



A. D. 1574.] HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



77 



dom was devastated. Anxiety of mind is 
said to have contributed greatly to the 
bringing- on of the disease of which he 
died on the 29th of October 1572. Soon 
after his death the earl of Morton suc- 
ceeded to the regency, of which he had 
for some time wanted little but the name. 
On the very day in which Morton was 
appointed regent, the 24th of November, 
John Knox, the Scottish reformer, rested 
from his long and arduous labours ; and 
on the 26th, the newly-elected regent, ac- 
companied by all the nobility at that time 
in Edinburgh, and a great concourse of 
people, attended his funeral. When 
the body was lowered into the grave, the 
regent, himself one of the daring race 
of Douglas, gazing thoughtfully into the 
open sepulchre, gave utterance to what, 
from his lips, was a most emphatic eulo- 
gium, " There lies he who never 

FEARED THE FACE OF MAN." 

The death of Knox at such a juncture 
was a serious calamity to the Church of 
Scotland. Morton knew well that he 
had now men of a different character to 
deal with, — men who might be cajoled, 
and could be daunted. He proceeded, 
therefore, with the execution of his 
schemes more openly and forcibly, and 
also made more use of those intrigues in 
which he was such an adept, than he 
would have attempted to do, bold and 
designing as he was, if he had still had 
to encounter the piercing sagacity and 
dauntless courage of John Knox. In 
like manner, the Assembly felt the want 
of his clear judgment and intrepid spirit 
in its councils. It reeled and staggered 
like a storm-tossed vessel, when the 
pilot's hand has ceased to guide the rud- 
der. There still remained, indeed, a 
number of excellent men, sincerely at- 
tached to the principles upon which the 
Reformation had been established in 
Scotland, and not incapable, in more 
peaceful times, to have defended them. 
But they were comparatively paralyzed 
by their recent loss, by the new difficul- 
ties with which they had to contend, and 
by the combined subtlety and sternness 
of that bold bad man, the regent Morton. 

[1573.] Morton accordingly, advanced 
almost unchecked in his career. To 
this he was incited by an additional 
reason, which now began to influence his 
mind. He had entered into a close cor- 



respondence with queen Elizabeth, and 
guided all his policy according to her 
maxims and example. And perceiving 
how skillfully she contrived to make her 
influence, as head of the Church of Eng- 
land, bend all the bishops into complete 
subserviency to her will, and through 
them, to mould the mind of the nation, 
he was the more confirmed in his deter- 
mination to change the entire constitution 
of the Church of Scotland, till it should 
become as prelatic and as accommodat- 
ing as that of England. This, he had 
sagacity enough to perceive, could be 
done only by rendering it as corrupt and 
worldly as possible ; which, again, 
could be best accomplished by placing 
sycophants and unprincipled men in these 
nominally influential positions which 
he had created and forced upon the 
Church. But, not content with his tul- 
chan bishops, he endeavoured further to 
impoverish the Church, that he might 
thereby both enrich himself, — a matter 
which he never neglected, — and at the 
same time induce its poverty, if not its 
will, to consent to his pernicious mea- 
sures. He contrived to draw into his 
own hands the thirds of benefices, offer- 
ing more sure and ready payment to the 
ministers than had been made previous- 
ly by their own collectors, and promising 
to make the stipend of each minister lo- 
cal, and payable in the parish where he 
laboured. But no sooner had. he obtain- 
ed the thirds into his own hands, than he 
joined two, three, or even four parishes 
together, appointing to them, by means 
of his obedient creatures, the tulchan 
bishops, but one minister, who was ob- 
liged to preach in them by turns. Mor- 
ton paying him as if he had but one 
charge, and retaining the remaining 
stipends for his own purposes. 

Against this nefarious conduct the 
Church continued to remonstrate, but in 
vain. The utmost that the Assembly 
could do was to attempt to control the 
proceedings of the bishops as much as 
was practicable, in virtue of the authority 
over such persons which, even by the 
convention of Leith, they continued to 
possess. 

[1574.] The struggle continued, with 
somewhat of increasing energy on the 
part of the Church, and with at least un- 
diminished determination on that of the 



73 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. III. 



regent The A'ssembly not only asserted 
its supremacy over bishops, but even ex- 
ercised it with unexpected firmness, both 
by a strong remonstrance presented to 
the regent, and by directly censuring the 
bishop of Dunkeld for his improper con- 
duct, — evincing clearly the determination 
of the Church of Scotland to maintain 
and exercise its jurisdiction. It may be 
stated in passing, that the assembly had 
proceeded to take both these steps before 
the influence of Andrew Melville could 
have even begun to be felt, as he did not 
arrive in Scotland till the beginning of 
July, and the assembly by which the 
bishop of Dunkeld was censured met on 
the 7th of August, only a few weeks af- 
ter Melville's arrival, and while he was 
still residing in privacy with his relations. 
The noticing of such a matter will not 
seem too minute to those who are aware 
how much Episcopalians are in the habit 
of ascribing the decided Presbyterian 
form of church government in Scotland 
to the personal inflence of Andrew Mel- 
ville, who had brought, say they, from 
Geneva the opinions of Calvin and Beza, 
and succeeded in infusing them into the 
Scottish ministers, who had previously 
been favourable to a modified prelacy. 
This modified prelacy they pretend to 
find, partly in the superintendents ap- 
pointed by John Knox, and partly in the 
tulchan bishops of the convention of 
Leith, whom they affect to regard as 
merely the natural, but somewhat more 
properly appointed and ordained, succes- 
sors of the superintendents. Our readers 
are, we trust, in the possession of infor- 
mation sufficient to enable them to detect 
at once the fallacy of all such statements, 
and to come to the conclusion unhesita- 
tingly, that the reformed Church of Scot- 
land was from the beginning, and al- 
ways has been, so far as she has been 
enabled to exhibit and act upon her own 
principles, decidedly opposed to Prelacy, 
taking neither her creed, her form of gov- 
ernment, nor her discipline, from any 
other church, but from the word of God 
alone, and in principle, aim, and endeav- 
our, always essentially and determinedly 
Presbyterian. 

Andrew Melville, as has been already 
stated, arrived in Scotland in the begin- 
ning of July 1574. after an absence of 



ten years from his native country. 
Though personally a stranger, his emi- 
nent character as a man of learning and 
talents was well known to his country- 
men. The regent Morton, aware that 
such a man must soon acquire extensive 
influence over the public mind, attempted 
to secure him for an agent in the prose- 
cution of his own designs. For this pur- 
pose he caused some of his own confi- 
dential friends to wait on Melville, and 
propose that he should act as domestic 
instructor to the regent, with a promise 
of advancement to a situation more suited 
to his merits, on the first vacancy that 
might occur. Had Melville acceded to 
this proposal, and fallen into the regent's 
schemes, he might have enabled that 
crafty statesman to rivet securely the fet- 
ters with which he was striving to bind 
the Church, instead of being mightily 
instrumental in wrenching- them asunder. 
But though it does not appear that Mel- 
ville was at that time at all aware of Mor- 
ton's designs, his predilections led him to 
prefer an academical life to that of a 
courtier, and he therefore declined the 
proposal. 

[1575.] The Assembly which met in 
March 1575, went boldly forward in-the 
reforming process begun by its predeces- 
sor of the year before, and passed an act 
requiring the knowledge of Latin in ev- 
ery person appointed to a benefice ; which 
act was intended to oppose the corrupt 
"practice of many of the nobility, who 
were in the habit of appointing ignorant 
persons, servants, and even children, to 
benefices ; such appointments being rea- 
dily ratified by the corrupt and servile 
bishops, regarding it probably as the reg- 
ular discharge of an essential part of 
their tulchan function. A small commit- 
tee was also appointed to confer with the 
regent's commissioners respecting the 
policy and jurisdiction of the Church. 
As this subject had been very fre- 
quently made the topic of application, the 
convention of estates had come to tne 
conclusion that some measure must be 
framed to put an end to the uncertainty 
which prevailed on such matters. Spots- 
wood says that the regent sent to the 
General Assembly to require of them 
whether they would stand to the policy 
agreed to at Leith ; and if not, to desire 



A. D. 1576.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



79 



them to settle upon some form of govern- 
ment at which they would abide.* The 
Assembly was not unwilling to follow up 
this suggestion. They not only ap- 
pointed a committee to confer with the 
parliamentary commissioners, but also 
selected such of their own body as were 
known to have most thoroughly studied 
the subject, directing them to prepare a 
complete outline of ecclesiastical policy 
and discipline, to be submitted to the As- 
sembly for consideration, and, if appro- 
ved of, for ratification. It deserves to be 
remarked, that the regent did not pre- 
sume to appoint commissioners to draw 
up a book of discipline which the Church 
must receive ; but requested them to 
frame, according to their own principles, 
some form of government by which they 
would abide. In this very instance there 
is the most distinct recognition of the in- 
herent right of the Church to act freely 
upon its own principles, in the formation 
of its rules of government and discipline. 

In the Assembly which met in August 
the same year, John Dury, one of the 
ministers of Edinburgh, protested that 
the examination of the conduct of the 
bishops should not prejudge what he and 
other brethren had to object against the 
lawfulness of their name and office. This 
protest led to a discussion, in which An- 
drew Melville took a distinguished part, 
and the discussion brought on a formal 
reasoning on the question, " Have bish- 
ops, as they are now in Scotland, their 
funciion from the Word of God, or not ? 
and ought the chapters appointed for 
electing them to be tolerated in a reformed 
Church'?" To these searching questions, 
answers of a somewhat indefinite charac- 
ter were returned by those whom the As- 
sembly had appointed to confer and re- 
port ; but the very moving of such ques- 
tions was a sufficiently significant indica- 
tion of the opinions held by the Church 
of Scotland. 

In the meantime, Morton, who was well 
aware of the prevalent feelings of the 
Church, and knew also that it was in 
vain to attempt direct compulsion, en- 
deavoured to corrupt the most influential 
ministers, that he might by their means 
mould the Assembly to his mind. To 
gain Andrew Melville was his great ob- 
ject ; and this he tried to do by ofTering 

* Spotswood, p. 276. 



to him the living of Go van, Melville be- 
ing at that time principal of Glasgow 
college. Not succeeding in this attempt, 
he tried a higher bribe, and offered Mel- 
ville the archbishopric of St. Andrews, 
upon the death of Douglas. But all 
bribes were equally ineffectual, and the 
crafty regent thought proper to conceal 
his displeasure. 

[1576.] The question respecting bish- 
ops, which had been raised in the preced- 
ing Assembly, received a tolerably dis- 
tinct answer in that which met in April 
1576. This answer was, " That the name 
of bishop is common to all who are ap- 
pointed to take charge of a particular 
flock, in preaching the Word, adminis- 
tering sacraments, and exercising disci- 
pline with the consent of their elders ; and 
that this is their chief function according 
to the Word of God." And still proceed- 
ing with their important work, a large 
commission was appointed to prosecute 
the formation of a complete and syste- 
matic work on the policy and jurisdiction 
of the Church. Spotswood complains 
piteously, that in these Assemblies, in 
which the office of a bishop, as then ex- 
ercised by the tulchan prelates in Scot- 
land, was called in question, not one of 
six bishops who were present spoke a 
single word in defence of their office. 
They may be forgiven ; some abuses are 
so glaringly indefensible, that even those 
who could tolerate their existence cannot 
muster effrontery enough to defend them. 

Although the regent had failed to bribe 
Melville to aid in his nefarious attempts, 
he found others more accessible to his 
golden persuasives. Patrick Adamson, 
who, on the installation of Douglas, had 
expressed his condemnation of " my lord's 
bishop" so pointedly, had been gained 
over by Morton, and was by him pre- 
sented to the archbishopric of St. An- 
drews. This was stated to the Assembly 
which met in October, and he was re- 
quired to submit himself to trial before 
admission, agreeably to the act which had 
been passed to that effect. Adamson, 
declined on the ground that the regent 
had forbidden him to comply, " in respect 
the said act and ordinance of the Kirk is 
not accorded on." The Assembly pro- 
hibited the chapter from proceeding in 
the matter ; but Morton commanded them 
to proceed, in disregard of the Assem- 



80 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. [CHAP. III. 



bly's prohibition, and gave him admission 
to the archbishopric. 

[1577.] The contest between Morton 
and the Church continued, the regent 
being unwilling to relinquish his favour- 
ite tulchan system, and the Church being 
equally determined to put an end to an 
abuse so manifest and pernicious. At 
the meeting of the Assembly in. April 
1577, Adamson was interdicted from the 
exercise of his prelatic authority, until he 
should be regularly admitted by the 
Church; and a commission was ap- 
pointed to summon him before them, in- 
vestigate his case, and judicially deter- 
mine it. A committee was appointed to 
confer with the regent respecting the dis- 
cipline and jurisdiction of the Church ; 
and those who were engaged in prepar- 
ing the systematic work on those points, 
were required to proceed with their la- 
bours. 

It was probably on this occasion that 
the regent, irritated at the steady opposi- 
tion of the Church, and also at his failure 
to influence Melville by mercenary con- 
siderations, attempted to intimidate and 
overbear him. Morton complained that 
the Church and the kingdom were kept 
in a perpetual state of confusion and strife 
by certain persons, who sought to intro- 
duce their own private conceits and 
foreign laws on points of ecclesiastical 
government. Melville replied, that he 
and his brethren took the Scriptures, and 
not their own fancies, or the mode of any 
foreign Church, for the rule and stand- 
ard of the discipline which they defended. 
Morton said, as Queen Mary had former- 
ly done, that the General Assembly was 
a convocation of the kings's subjects, and 
that it was treasonable for them to meet 
without his permission. To this Melville 
answered, that if it were so, then Christ 
and his apostles must have been guilty of 
treason, for they called together great 
multitudes, and taught and governed 
them, without asking the permission of 
magistrates. The regent, unable to re- 
fute the reasoning of Melville, and almost 
losing command of his temper, biting the 
head of his staff, growled, in that deep 
under-tone which marked his occasional 
fits of cold, black, ruthless anger, — 
" There will never be quietness in this 
country till half-a-dozen of you be hanged 
or banished." " Tush, Sir," replied Mel- 



ville, " threaten your courtiers after that 
manner. It is the same to me whether I 
rot in the air or in the ground. The 
earth is the Lord's. My country is 
wherever goodness is. Patria est ubi- 
cunque est bene. I have been ready to 
give my life where it would not have 
been half so well expended, at the pleas- 
ure of my God. I have lived out of your 
country two years, as well as in it. Le. 
God be glorified ; it will not be in your 
power to hang or exile his truth."* 

Morton felt himself for once outdared ; 
but, however indignant, he did not ven- 
ture to put his threats into execution. He 
seems to have been aware that to proceed 
to use force would be to ensure the defeat 
of his intentions ; and therefore he gave 
a comparatively favourable answer to the 
Assembly respecting their labours in pre- 
paring a Book of Policy. But as his in- 
tentions were by no means altered, he en- 
deavoured to turn the Assembly aside 
from its endeavours to perfect its own 
policy, by employing Adamson to frame 
a number of frivolous and captious ques- 
tions, to which he wished answers to be 
given. He was also not a little embar- 
rassed in political matters. His admin- 
istration had been so severe, accompanied 
with so much of a base avaricious spirit, 
that it had become intolerable to a large 
portion of the kingdom, including many 
of the most influential of the nobility. He 
felt his power on the wane, and would 
have been disposed to court the support 
of the Church, of which he gave some in- 
telligible indications, had the crisis of his 
fate not come on too rapidly to give time 
for a sufficient modification of his meas- 
ures. 

[1578.] On the 6th of March 1578, 
Morton resigned his regency, and King 
James formally assumed the reins of gov- 
ernment, although, being still only in his 
twelfth year, it was in reality little more 
than a nominal assumption, the real 
power passing from Morton, not into the 
hands of the king, but of a new court 
favourite. When the Assembly met in 
April 1578, they proceeded to consider 
the system of ecclesiastical polity which 
their committee had been employed for 
some time in framing ; and its articles hav- 
ing been read over one by one, the whole 
received, after mature deliberation, the 

Melville's Diary, pp. 52, 53. 



1579] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



81 



sanction of the General Assembly. The 
system of ecclesiastical government and 
discipline thus deliberately prepared and 
formally sanctioned, is known by the 
name of the Second Book of Discipline ; 
and from that time forward was, and con- 
tinues still to be, the authorised standard 
of the Church of Scotland, in respect of 
government and discipline. 

The same Assembly agreed, that the 
bishops should, for the future, be address- 
ed in the same style as other ministers ; 
and in case of a vacancy occurring in any 
bishopric, they prohibited the chapters 
from proceeding to a new election before 
next meeting of Assembly. Commis- 
sioners were also appointed to lay the 
Book of Discipline before the king and 
council ; and in case a conference was 
desired respecting it, commissioners were 
named for such conference. Thus did 
the Church advance in the maturing of 
her own principles and forms of govern- 
ment and discipline; and having com- 
pleted what she thought requisite for regu- 
lating her own conduct in matters of a 
spiritual character, she sought that ratifi- 
cation of the system by the civil court 
which should protect her from the undue 
interference of any hostile power, and at 
the same time give civil effect to all such 
ecclesiastical decisions as naturally in- 
volved civil consequences. 

The Assembly which met in the fol- 
lowing June extended to all future time* 
the act regarding the election of bishops, 
ordaining that no new bishops should be 
made thenceforward. It was also or- 
dained, that the existing bishops should 
" submit themselves to the General As-, 
sembly concerning the reformation of the 
corruption of that estate of bishops in 
their own persons," under pain of being 
excommunicated, in the event of their ob- 
stinate refusal. The bishop of Dunblane, 
who was present, immediately submitted, 
according to the act. 

Soon after this Assembly closed its sit- 
tings, a conference took place between 
the commissioners of the Church and a 
commission appointed by the parliament, 
at that time met in Stirling, where the 
king was then residing. Spots wood has 
preserved the results of this conference in 
the marginal remarks made upon a copy 
of the Book of Discipline which was laid 
11 



before the commission of Parliament.* 
In these marginal comments the most im- 
portant of the articles are marked as 
" agreed ;" some, chiefly relating to 
church government, are " referred to fur- 
ther reasoning," and others are agreed to 
with some slight verbal explanations. 
Upon the whole, so far as this conference 
was concerned, the Church had reason 
to regard her essential principles and 
regulations as adopted and ratified by the 
state virtually, and waiting but a more 
full discussion to be formally confirmed. 
By the same parliament an act was pass- 
ed closely resembling the acts of 1567, 
and ratifying and approving all acts and 
statutes previously made, agreeable to 
God's Woi.1, for the maintenance of the 
liberty of the " true Kirk of God." 

Another Assembly was held in Octo- 
ber the same year, partly to consider the 
result of the conference at Stirling, and 
partly to proceed in the exercise of their 
own inherent authority, stripping the pre- 
lates of their usurped and misused powers, 
and removing their corruptions. 

[1579. J Before the Assembly again 
met, and before the Parliament had com- 
pletely ratified the Book of Discipline, 
which it had seemed on the point of doing, 
the Earl of Morton regained his ascen- 
dency, and once more swayed the coun- 
cils of the nation, although no longer in 
his own 'name. The favourable senti- 
ments of the king were soon changed ; 
and as the Church continued to exercise 
its authority over the tulchan bishops 
manufactured by Morton, the king was 
prevailed upon to interfere with its juris- 
diction, and to arrest, by means of orders 
in council, the execution of the acts of the 
Assembly, and its sentences of excommu- 
nication. The Assembly which met in 
July 1579, received a letter from the 
king, in which he objected to the pro- 
ceedings against the bishops. The letter 
did not, however, deter the Assembly 
from both persevering in its course, and re- 
monstrating- against this interference with 

o o .... 

its inherent right of spiritual jurisdiction. 

A parliament was held in October the 
same year, in which the attempted en- 
croachments of the king were not counte- 
nanced ; but, on the contrary, two of the 
acts of 1567 were expressly re-enacted, 

* Spotswood, pp. 289-302. 



82 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. HI. 



and inserted anew in the record. Little 
however, was done in this parliament 
either for or against the Church. The 
elements of political strife and intrigue 
were too numerous and active to allow 
mere politicians to direct their attention 
to what they have always regarded as 
matters of comparatively slight impor- 
tance. The Earl of Morton was no 
longer regent ; but the influence of the 
veteran statesman was still so great, that 
the young aspirants to political power felt 
that their own ascendency could be se- 
curely founded only on his ruin. The 
king had already shown his disposition 
to favoritism, — that prevalent vice of 
weak and irresolute minds ; and, as 
might have been expected, his favourites 
were those who could rule by nattering, 
not guide by instructing him. These 
favourites were Esme Stewart, his own 
cousin, whom he speedily raised to the 
dukedom of Lennox ; and Captain James 
Stewart, second son of Lord Ochiltree, 
afterwards created Earl of Arran. The 
former had been brought up in France, 
and was, on his arrival in Scotland, an 
adherent of the Church of Rome, though 
not long afterwards he declared himself 
a convert to the Protestant faith. The 
latter was a bold, unprincipled, licentious 
man, capable of any crime, and posses- 
sing considerable craft in devising, as 
well as daringness in executing, his am- 
bitious designs. To such men, it may 
be easily supposed, the Church of Scot- 
land was an object of dislike ; and, so 
far as their influence extended, they, es- 
pecially Arran, were its natural foes. 

[1580.] The Assembly, perceiving that 
their desire to have the corrupt form of 
pseudo-prelacy abolished, and the Book 
of Discipline ratified, was continually 
evaded by the civil magistrate, whether 
regent or king, resolved to put forth their 
own inherent powers, both in removing 
abuses, and in completing their own judi- 
cial and disciplinary arrangements. Ac- 
cordingly, the Assembly which met in 
Dundee in July 1580 passed an act de- 
claring, that the office of a bishop, as it 
was then used and commonly understood, 
was destitute of warrant and authority 
from the Word of God, was of mere hu- 
man invention, introduced by folly and 
corruption, and tended to the great injury 
of the Church; ordaining farther, that 



all such persons as were in possession of 
the said pretended office should be 
charged simpliciter to demit it, as an 
office whereunto they were not called by 
God ; appointing the places and times at 
which they should appear before the 
provincial synods, and signify their sub- 
mission to this act. This remarkable act 
was agreed to by " the whole Assembly 
with one voice, after liberty given to all 
men to reason in the maiter, none oppo- 
sing himself in defending the said pre- 
tended office."* So great was the influ- 
ence of the Assembly, that notwithstand- 
ing the reluctance of the " pretended 
bishops" to relinquish their usurped 
power and wealth, and the opposition of 
the nobility to the 'oss of their tulchans, 
and of the milk thereby extracted, the 
whole assumed order submitted, with the 
exception of five, in the course of the 
year in which the act abolishing Episco- 
pacy was passed, f 

[1581.] The year 1581 was an impor- 
tant one in the history of the Church of 
Scotland. The labours of the ablest men 
in the Church had been expended for 
several years in the preparation of a re- 
gular system of ecclesiastical polity. 
This had been at length matured, made 
the subject of conference with the privy 
council, their remarks considered by the 
Church, and the book again laid before 
the king and council, with the earnest 
request that it might obtain the full rati- 
fication of an act of parliament. But 
finding their endeavours still thwarted 
and evaded, the Assembly resolved to 
temporize no longe* ; but as they had al- 
ready guided their conduct generally in 
accordance with its principles, they deter- 
mined now to erect it, by an act of As- 
sembly, into the condition of their avow- 
ed and accredited standard of govern- 
ment and discipline. Several of its pro- 
visions had been already in operation. 
Even in 1579 the Assembly had proceed- 
ed so far towards the erection of presby- 
teries, that they had decreed that " the 
exercise [or weekly meeting of the 
ministers and elders of contiguous, 
parishes] might be judged a presby- 
tery.""]: The king, following, as usual 
the course of the Church, sent to the As- 

* Booke of the TJniversall KirK, p. 194. 
t Calderwood MSS., vol. ii. p. 636. 
X Booke of the Universall Kirk, p, 192. 



1. D. 1581.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



83 



sembly, which met at Glasgow in April 
1581, by his commissioner, Cunningham 
of Caprington, a request that the Assem- 
bly would proceed with the erection of 
presbyteries, for the purpose of " bring- 
ing the ecclesiastical discipline to be far 
better exercised and executed over all the 
realm than it had previously been." 
This request was readily complied with ; 
and an act was passed erecting at once 
thirteen presbyteries, and recommending 
the speedy extension of the system 
throughout the kingdom. 

By another act of the same Assembly, 
the Second Book of Discipline was or- 
dained to be registered in the acts of the 
Church, and to remain therein, ad perpe- 
tuam rei memoriam, and copies thereof 
to be taken by every presbytery.* By 
the same Assembly another act was 
passed, ratifying what has often been 
termed Craig's Confession of Faith, be- 
cause it was drawn up by John Craig. 
It is also known by the designation of 
The First National Covenant of 
Scotland, and forms the first part of 
every subsequent national covenant en- 
tered into by the Church and people of 
Scotland. The occasion of its being 
framed and subscribed at this time was 
the jealousy entertained by the nation of 
the Duke of Lennox and other nobles, 
who either openly avowed their adhe- 
rence to the Church of Rome, or were 
suspected of attachment to the creed of 
that dreaded and detested perversion of 
Christianity. This covenant was sub- 
scribed by the king himself, his house- 
hold, and the greater part of the nobility 
and gentry throughout the kingdom, and 
ratified by the Assembly, as has been 
stated above, and the signing of it zeal- 
ously promoted by the ministers in every 
part of the country. The interim office 
of "readers" was suppressed by this 
Assembly, because there was now a suf- 
ficient number of ministers to supply the 
churches throughout the kingdom. In 
this it will be observed that the Church 
acted with regard to readers exactly as 
it had done with regard to the other in- 
terim offices of superintendents and vis- 
itors. They had been called into exist- 
ence, as an extraordinary office, to meet 
the necessities of the time ; and when 
these necessities ceased, the extraordinary 

• Booke of the Universall Kirk, p. 218. 



offices naturally expired, leaving the or- 
dinary and permanent to carry on the 
healthful functions of the matured 
Church. 

As the Second Book of Discipline, be- 
ing thus engrossed in the acts of Assem- 
bly, must be regarded as the standard of 
the Church of Scotland in respect of gov- 
ernment and discipline, it seems expedi- 
ent to give a brief summary of its leading 
propositions, referring those who wish 
more minute information to the work it- 
self. 

It begins by stating the essential line 
of distinction between civil and ecclesias- 
tical power. This it does by declaring, 
that Jesus Christ has appointed a govern- 
ment in his Church, distinct from civil 
government, which is to be exercised by 
such office-bearers as He has authorised, 
and not by civil magistrates, or under 
their direction. Civil authority has for 
its direct and proper object the promoting 
of external peace and quietness among 
the subjects ; ecclesiastical authority, the 
direction of men in matters of religion, 
and which pertain to conscience. The 
former enforces obedience by external 
means, the latter by spiritual means ; yet, 
" as they be both of God. and tend to one 
end, if they be rightly used, to wit, to ad- 
vance the glory of God, and to have good 
and godly subjects," they ought to co- 
operate within their respective spheres, 
and fortify each other. " As ministers 
are subject to the judgment and punish- 
ment of the magistrates in external mat- 
tors, if they offend, so ought the magis- 
trates to submit themselves to the disci- 
pline of the Church, if they transgress in 
matters of conscience and religion," The 
government of the Church consists in 
three things, — doctrine, discipline, and 
distribution. Corresponding to this di- 
vision, there are three kinds of church- 
officers, — ministers, who are preachers 
as well as rulers ; elders, who are merely 
rulers .; and deacons, who act as distribu- 
tors of alms and managers of the funds 
of the Church. The name bishop is of 
the same meaning as that of pastor or 
minister : it is not expressive of superior- 
ity or lordship ; and the Scriptures do 
not allow of a pastor of pastors, or a pas- 
tor of many flocks. There should be 
elders, who do not labour in word and 
doctrine. The eldership is a spiritual 



84 HISTORY OF THE CH 

function, as is the ministry. These func- 
tionaries ought to assist the pastor in ex- 
amining those who come to the Lord's 
table, and in visiting the sick ; but their 
principal office is to hold assemblies with 
the pastors and doctors, who are also of 
their number, for establishing good or- 
der and execution of discipline. The 
office-bearers of the Church are to be ad- 
mitted by election and ordination. None 
are to be intruded into any ecclesiastical 
office " contrary to the will of the con- 
gregation to which they are appointed." 
Ecclesiastical assemblies are either par- 
ticular (consisting of the office-bearers of 
one congregation, or of a number of 
neighbouring congregations), provincial, 
national or ecumenical, and general. 
The presbytery, or eldership as it is call- 
ed, has the inspection of a number of ad- 
joining congregations in every thing re- 
latino- to religion and manners, and has 
the power of ordaining, suspending, and 
deposing ministers, and of exercising dis- 
cipline within its bounds. The provin- 
cial synod possesses the power of all the 
presbyteries within a province. The 
General Assembly is composed of com- 
missioners, ministers and elders, from the 
whole churches in the realm, and takes 
cognizance of every thing connected with 
the welfare of the National Church. Ap- 
peals for redress of grievances may be 
taken from every subordinate court to its 
next superior one, till they reach the 
General Assembly, whose decision in all 
matters ecclesiastical is final. All the 
ecclesiastical assemblies have lawful 
power to convene for transacting busi- 
ness, and to appoint the times and places 
of their meeting. The patrimony of the 
Church includes whatever has been ap- 
propriated to her use, whether by dona- 
tions from individuals, or by law and 
custom. To take any part of this by un- 
lawful means, and apply it to the partic- 
ular and profane use of individuals, is 
simony. It belongs to the deacons to re- 
ceive the ecclesiastical goods, and to dis- 
tribute them according to the • appoint- 
ment of presbyteries. The purposes to 
hich they are to be applied are the four 
following : — The support of ministers ; 
the support of elders where that is neces- 
sary, and of a national system of educa- 
tion ; the maintenance of the poor and 
of hospitals ; and the reparation of places 



URCH OF SCOTLAND. [CHAP. III. 

of worship, and other extraordinary 
charges of the Church or commonwealth. 
Among the remaining abuses which 
ought to be removed, the following are 
particularly specified : — The titles of ab- 
bots, and others connected with monastic 
institutions, with the places which they 
held, as churchmen, in the legislative 
and judicial courts ; the usurped supe- 
riority of bishops, and their acting in 
parliament and council in the name of 
the Church, without her commission ; 
the exercise of criminal jurisdiction and 
the pastoral office by the same individ- 
uals ; the mixed jurisdiction of commis- 
saries ; the holding of p uralities ; and 
patronages and presentations to benefices, 
whether by the prince or any inferior 
person, which lead to intrusion, and are 
incompatible with u lawful election and 
the assent of the people over whom the 
person is»placed, as the practice of the 
apostolical and primitive Kirk, and good 
order, crave." 

" Such is the outline of the Presbyte- 
rian plan of church government, as deli- 
neated in the Second Book of Discipline. 
Its leading principles rest upon the ex- 
press authority of the Word of God. Its 
subordinate arrangements are supported 
by the general rules of Scripture ; they 
are simple, calculated to preserve order 
and promote edification, and adapted to 
the circumstances of the Church for 
which they were intended. It is equally 
opposed to arbitrary and lordly domina- 
tion on the part of the clergy, and to pop- 
ular confusion and misrule. It secures 
the liberty of the people in one of their 
most important privileges, — the choosing 
of those who shall watch for their souls, 
— without making them the final judges 
of the qualifications of those who shall be 
invested with this office. While it es- 
tablishes an efficient discipline in every 
congregation, it also preserves that unity 
which ought to subsist among the differ- 
ent branches of the Church of Christ, — ■ 
secures attention to those numerous cases 
which are of common concern and gene- 
ral utility, — and provides a remedy 
against particular acts of injustice and 
maladministration arising from local 
partialities and partial information, by 
the institution of larger assemblies acting 
as courts of appeal and review, in which 
the interests of all are equally represent- 



A. D. 15S1 ] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



85 



ed, and each enjoys the benefit resulting 
from the collective wisdom of the whole 
body. It encourages a friendly co-ope- 
ration between the civil and ecclesiastical 
authorities ; but it, at the same time, 
avoids the confounding of their limits, — 
prohibits church courts from 1 meddling 
with any thing pertaining to the civil 
jurisdiction,' — establishes their indepen- 
dence in all matters which belong to 
their own cognizance, — and guards 
against what is the great bane of reli- 
gion and curse of the Church — a priest- 
hood which is merely the organized pup- 
pet of the state, and moves and acts only 
as it is directed by a political administra- 
tion. It is a form of ecclesiastical polity 
whose practical utility has been propor- 
tioned to the purity in which its princi- 
ples have been maintained. Accord- 
ingly, it has secured the cordial and 
lasting attachment of the people of Scot- 
land ; whenever it has been wrested from 
them by arbitrary violence, they have 
uniformly embraced the first favourable 
opportunity of demanding its restoration ; 
and the principal secessions which have 
been made from the national Church in 
this part of the kingdom have been stated, 
not in the way of dissent from its consti- 
tution, as in England, but in opposition 
to departures, real or alleged, from its 
original and genuine principles."* 

To the above quoted just estimate of 
the merits of the Second Book of Disci- 
pline, it would be presumptuous and un- 
necessary to add a single sentence. And 
it would be well if those who declaim 
against the Church of Scotland, would 
have the candour to make themselves ac- 
quainted with its standard of government 
and discipline, before they proceed to 
misrepresent, villify, and condemn, what 
they neither know nor understand. It is 
a melancholy thought, but, we fear, too 
near the truth, that the opposition, and 
even bitter hatred, which the Church of 
Scotland has had to encounter in every 
age, has arisen from the fact, that her 
standards of faith and government are too 
pure and spiritual to be readily appre- 
hended by the darkened mind, or rel- 
ished by the corrupt heart, of fallen and 
sinful man. This at least is certain, that 
her bitterest enemies have always been 
among the most worldly-minded or the 

* M-Crie's Life of Melville, pp. 124, 125. 



most depraved, and her warmest friends 
among the wisest, best, and holiest of 
their age and nation. That a weak, vain, 
and tyrannical king, and a licentious 
court, should hate and endeavour to sub- 
vert so pure a Church, was only what 
might have been expected ; that some of 
her own ambitious or backsliding office- 
bearers should have been ready to be- 
come tools in the hands of her enemies, 
for the sake of their own self-interested 
views or base indulgencies, w T as also but 
too natural ; but that men can still be 
found eager to blacken the character of 
our heavenly-minded reformers, and at- 
tempt to overthrow the Church which 
these great men expended their noble 
lives in establishing, is a matter that must 
awaken in every well-informed and spir- 
itually enlightened mind the deepest grief 
and the most painful reflections. Is it in- 
deed so, that an institution avowedly di- 
vine in its origin and principles, cannot 
be tolerated by kings, and governments, 
and men of rank and power, unless it 
will consent to abandon all claim to that 
sacred origin and authority in virtue of 
which alone it exists, to sacrifice all its 
God-given principles, intrinsic powers, 
and divinely appointed jurisdiction, and 
submit to become the slave, bedecked and 
pampered, but fettered and enthralled, of 
licentious and worldly despotism ? Such 
might have been the sad and depressing 
thoughts of Knox and Melville, in the 
early days of the Church of Scotland; 
and her subsequent history will often 
force on the thoughtful reader musings 
of a similarly melancholy character. 

But to proceed with the narrative of 
events. The king and his dissolute and 
avaricious favourites viewed these pro- 
ceedings of the Church with equal hatred 
and alarm. They were well aware, that 
unless they could preserve the prelatic 
element in the Church, they would lose 
both their power of corrupting and bias- 
sing its courts, and of laying hold of the 
revenues of the larger benefices through 
the instrumentality of their cringing sy- 
cophants the talchan bishops. An oppor- 
, tunity soon presented itself of putting 
I their schemes in execution. Boyd, arch- 
I bishop of Glasgow, died in June 1581 ; 
! and a grant of the revenues of the arch- 
; bishopric was made by the privy coun- 
cil to the duke of Lennox. But as these 



8G 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. Ill 



revenues could not be drawn in his own 
name, it was necessary to revive the tul- 
chan system, and procure some hireling 
to hold the title, and hand over to Lennox 
the greater portion of the revenues. The 
transaction was so base, and so directly 
opposed to the whole acts of the Assem- 
bly, especially the more recent ones con- 
demning and wholly abolishing the epis- 
copal name and office, that Lennox had 
some difficulty in finding a person at 
once sufficiently knavish and reckless to 
enter into what even Spotsvvood terms 
this " vile bargain." At length, Robert 
Montgomery, minister of Stirling, " a 
man," says Robertson, " vain, feeble, pre- 
sumptuous, and more apt, by the blem- 
ishes of his character, to have alienated 
the people from an order already beloved, 
than to reconcile them to one which was 
the object of their hatred," — this worth- 
less man consented to make himself the 
base instrument of a licentious courtier's 
sacrilegious avarice. 

The Assembly which met in October 
entered promptly into the consideration 
of this simoniacal transaction, and called 
Montgomery to the bar. After proceed- 
ing a certain length, the matter was re- 
mitted to the presbytery of Stirling, to 
deal farther in it as necessity might re- 
quire ; and Montgomery was prohibited 
from accepting the condemned prelatic 
office, and from leaving his charge at 
Stirling. The members of the synod of 
Lothian were summoned to appear before 
the privy council, on account of having 
interfered with Montgomery in obedience 
to the orders of the Assembly. They 
appeared ; and Robert Pont, who was at 
that time one of the Lords of Justiciary, 
in their name, after protesting their readi- 
ness to yield all lawful obedience, de- 
clined the judgment of the council, as in- 
competent, according to the laws of the 
land, to take cognizance of a cause which 
was purely ecclesiastical. 

[1582.] 'The Assembly met in April 
1582 at St. Andrews, and immediately 
proceeded to take up the case of Mont- 
gomery, which had been referred to them 
by the presbytery of Stirling. The king 
sent a letter to the Assembly, requesting 
them not to proceed against Montgomery 
for any thing connected with the arch- 
bishopric. The answer was, that they 
would touch nothing so far as belonged 



to the civil power, but in other respects 
would discharge their duty. Soon after, 
a messenger-at-arms entered the house, 
and charged the moderator and members 
of Assembly, on the pain of rebellion, to 
desist entirely from the prosecution. After 
serious deliberation, they agreed to ad- 
dress a respectful letter to his Majesty ; 

, resolved that it was their duty to proceed 
with the trial ; ratified the sentence of the 

| presbytery of Stirling, suspending him 
from the exercise of the ministry ; and 

I having found eight articles of the charge 
against him proved, declared that he had 
incurred the censures of deposition and 
excommunication. Overawed by this 
calm and resolute conduct, Montgomery 
hastened to the house, and like a self-con 
victed culprit, humbly crouching before 
them, acknowledged that he had heavily 
offended God and His Church, craved 
that the sentence might not be pronounced, 
and solemnly promised to interfere no 
farther with the bishopric. The Assem- 
bly accepted his submission, and delayed 
pronouncing the sentence ; but, aware 
of his character, gave instructions to the 
presbytery of Glasgow to watch his con- 
duct, and in case he violated his engage- 
ment, to inform the presbytery of Edin- 
burgh, who were authorized to appoint 
one of their number to pronounce the 
sentence of excommunication against 
him. 

The event showed the wisdom of these 
precautions. Instigated by Lennox, who 
longed to realize the fruits of his " vile 
bargain," Montgomery revived his claim 
to the prelacy ; and when the presbytery 
of Glasgow met to do as they had been 
directed by the Assembly, he procured an 
order from the king to stay their proce- 
dure, and, at the head of an armed force, 
entered the house where they were sit- 
ting, and presented the order. They 
refused compliance ; and the moderator 
was dragged from the chair, insulted, 
beaten, and cast into prison. The pres- 
bytery, nevertheless, discharged their 
duty, found him guilty, and transmitted 
the result to the presbytery of Edinburgh, 
who appointed one of their own number 
to pronounce the sentence. In spite of 
the rage and the threatenings of the 
court, the sentence was pronounced, and 
intimated publicly in all the surrounding 
churches. A proclamation was immedi- 



A. D. 15-S2.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



87 



ately issued by the privy council, declar- 
ing the excommunication of Montgomery 
null and void. The ministers of Edin- 
burgh were repeatedly called before the 
council and insulted ; and John Dury 
was banished from the capital, and pro- 
hibited from preaching. 

But if the king and the courtiers were 
furious, the Church was roused and reso- 
lute, and its councils were guided by men 
equal to the emergency. An extraordi- 
nary meeting of Assembly was convened, 
and a spirited remonstrance was drawn 
up, to be presented to the king and coun- 
cil, complaining of the late proceedings, 
and craving a redress of grievances. In 
this very remarkable document they com- 
mence the statement of grievances by 
thus addressing the king : — " That your 
majesty, by device of some councillors, is 
caused to take upon you a spiritual power 
and authority, which properly belongeth 
unto Christ, as only King and Head of 
the Church, the ministry and execution 
whereof is only given unto such as bear 
office in the ecclesiastical government in 
the same. So that in your highness's 
person some men press to erect a new 
popedom, as though your majesty could 
not be full king and head of this common- 
wealth, unless as well the spiritual as 
temporal sword be put into your high- 
ness's hands, — unless Christ be bereft of 
his authority, and the two jurisdictions 
confounded which God hath divided, 
which directly tendeth to the wreck of all 
true religion."* 

A deputation, at the head of which was 
Andrew Melville, was appointed to go to 
Perth, where the king was then resid- 
ing, and to present this remonstrance. 
When information of these proceedings 
reached the court, the favourites expressed 
the highest indignation ; and an appre- 
hension generally prevailed, that if the 
ministers ventured to approach the court, 
their lives would be sacrificed on the 
spot. Their more timid and wary friends 
entreated them not to appear ; but Mel- 
ville answered, " I am not afraid, thank 
God, nor feeble-spirited in the cause and 
message of Christ ; come what God 
pleases to send, our commission shall be 
executed." Having next day obtained 

p 'iZ? 0 ^ 6 ° f Universa11 Kirk > P- 256 » Calderwood, 



access to the king in council, he pre- 
sented the remonstrance. When it had 
been read, Arran, looking around the 
assembly with a threatening countenance, 
exclaimed, " Who dares subscribe these 
treasonable articles ?" " We dare," re- 
plied Melville : and advancing to the 
table, he took the pen from the clerk, and 
subscribed. The other commissioners 
immediately followed his example. Even 
the unprincipled and daring Arran was 
overawed by the native supremacy of 
religious principle and true moral cour- 
age, and sunk from his look of domineer- 
ing sternness into the sullen scowl of im- 
potent and baffled malice. Lennox ad- 
dressed the commissioners in a concilia- 
! tory tone ; and they were peaceably 
| dismissed. Certain Englishmen who 
happened to be present expressed their 
astonishment at the bold carriage of the 
ministers, and could scarcely be per- 
suaded that they had not an armed force 
at hand to support them.* 

But though the deputation escaped per- 
sonal violence, the king and his favour- 
ites were not disposed thus to relinquish 
the contest. A warrant was given to the 
Duke of Lennox to hold what was called 
a chamberlain's court, to inquire into the 
late sedition, and have its authors and 
abetters duly punished. This court was 
to be held in Edinburgh on the 27th 
of August ; but before the arrival of that 
day, an event took place Avhich com- 
pletely changed the aspect of public 
affairs. The haughty and tyrannical 
conduct of Lennox and Arran had ex- 
cited the hostility of the greater part of 
the nobility ; and, roused from their le- 
thargy by witnessing the free and ener- 
, getic behaviour of the Church, they 
resolved to rescue the country from the 
disgraceful servitude under which it 
groaned. A combination for effecting 
this purpose was formed ; the person of 
the king was seized, and restrained for a 
time to Ruthven castle, whence this enter- 
prise obtained the name of the Raid of 
Ruthven. The Duke of Lennox was 
compelled to retire to France, where he 
soon after died ; Arran was removed from 
all intercourse with the king ; and a 
proclamation was issued, recalling all the 

* Calderwood. p. 128; Melville's Diary, p. 95; 
M ; Crie's Life of Melville, pp. 182, 183. 



88 HISTORY OF. THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. [CHAP III. 



late despotic measures, and putting an 
end to all hostile procedure against the 
Church. 

When the Assembly met in the month 
of October, the lords connected with the 
Raid of Ruthven sent a deputation to ex- 
plain the grounds of the late proceedings. 
They declared, that the causes which 
moved them were, the dangers to which 
they perceived the Church and religion, 
the king and his estate, were exposed, 
and the confusion and disorder of the 
commonwealth ; requesting the Assem- 
bly to give the sanction of their public 
approval to the enterprise. The Assem- 
bly acted with becoming caution in the 
matter. Ministers were required to state 
whether it was consistent with their own 
knowledge that such grievances were 
prevalent in the kingdom ; and a deputa- 
tion was sent to the king, to receive his 
own account of the transaction, and his 
own feelings regarding it. The king's 
answer agreeing with the declaration of 
the lords, and the statements of the min- 
isters from all parts of the country, the 
Assembly then expressed their approba- 
tion of the reformation of the common- 
wealth intended and begun. 

The same Assembly proceeded to the 
trial and deposition of the corrupt pre- 
lates ; and commission was given to frame 
articles to be presented to the king, coun- 
cil, and estates, for the farther removal of 
abuses, and maintenance of the liberty 
and purity of the Church. The notori- 
ous Montgomery, seeing little prospect of 
accomplishing his base designs, offered 
to submit to the discipline of the Church, 
and begged to be again received into her 
communion. 

[1583.] While the king remained un- 
der the care of the new administration, 
peace and contentment prevailed through- 
out the kingdom. He publicly declared 
his satisfaction with what had taken 
place ; and, lest any suspicion might re- 
main, emitted an act of indemnity to all 
in any way connected with the Raid of 
Ruthven. The Church was not only 
permitted, but even encouraged, to ad- 
vance in her course of reformation : and 
a confidential intercourse was commenced 
between the court and the Assembly, 
which seemed to indicate the opening of 
a more propitious era. Yet the Assem- 
bly was not lulled into security ; for when 



certain articles were proposed for their 
consideration by the king and council, 
with a request that a commission might 
be appointed with powers to deliberate 
and conclude, the Assembly, remember- 
ing well the convention of Leith, answer- 
ed significantly, " that they had found by 
experience, commission given to brethren 
with power to conclude, to have done 
great hurt to the Church." 

But the period of peace and prosperity 
was near its close, and a storm was ready 
to burst forth with increased violence. 
The king, whose mind and morals had 
been deeply corrupted by his former 
licentious favourites, became itterly im- 
patient of the restraint in whxh he was 
kept by the new administration. Con- 
triving to elude the vigilance of the lords, 
he hastened to St. Andrews, summoned 
his former courtly flatterers, and cast 
himself once more into the arms of the 
unprincipled Earl of Arran. Immedi- 
ately the hostile proceedings against the 
Church were resumed, although for a 
time the royal and courtly displeasure 
was directed chiefly against individuals. 
John Dury was banished from Edin- 
burgh, and restricted to the neighbour 
hood of Montrose ; and severe threaten- 
ings were uttered against all who had 
expressed approbation of the Raid of 
Kuthven. 

[1584.] The year 1584, black in the 
annals of the Church of Scotland, was 
ushered in by the commencement of that 
storm which was -soon to shake and de- 
vastate the kingdom. On the 15th of 
February, Andrew Melville was sum- 
moned to appear before the privy council, 
to answer for seditious and treasonable 
speeches, alleged to have been uttered by 
him in his sermon and prayers on a fast 
which had been kept during the preced- 
ing month. He appeared, gave an ac- 
count of what he had really said, and 
proved his innocence ; but the council 
resolved to proceed with his trial. He 
then stated objections, which he subse- 
quently put into the form of a protest, 
the chief point of which was, that his trial 
should be remitted, in the Jirst instance, 
to the ecclesiastical courts, as the ordina- 
ry and proper judges of his ministerial 
conduct, according to Scripture, the law 
of the kingdom, and an agreement lately 
made between certain commissioners of 



A. D. 1584.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



89 



the privy council and of the Church. 
This modified declinature of the direct 
and primary jurisdiction of the privy 
council over the conduct of ministers in 
the discharge of the pastoral functions, 
gave dire offence to the king, who was 
jealous to excess of every limitation of 
his absolute prerogative ; and roused the 
despotic heart of Arran to a degree of 
ungovernable fury. Nothing could appal 
the dauntless spirit of Melville. Un- 
clasping his Hebrew Bible from his gir- 
dle, and throwing it on the table, he said, 
" These are my instructions : see if any of 
you can judge of them, or show that I 
have passed my injunctions." Entrea- 
ties and menaces were in vain employed 
to induce him to withdraw his protest ; 
he steadily refused, unless his cause were 
remitted to the proper judges. He was 
then formally accused, and the deposition 
of a number of witnesses taken. But al- 
though most of them were his enemies, 
nothing could be extracted from their evi- 
dence that tended in the slightest degree 
to criminate him. Notwithstanding this, 
he was found guilty of declining the judg- 
ment of the council, and behaving, as 
they said, irreverently before them ; and 
was condemned to be imprisoned in the 
castle of Edinburgh, and to be farther 
punished in his person and goods at his 
majesty's pleasure. Having learned that 
his place of confinement was changed to 
Blackness Castle, kept by a creature of 
Arran's, and that if once there, he would 
either never leave his dungeon alive, or 
only to ascend the scaffold, he fled to 
Berwick, which he reached in safety, 
while Arran w 7 as preparing a troop of 
cavalry to convey him to Blackness.* 

This harsh and unjustifiable conduct 
at once roused and alarmed the king- 
dom. The ministers of Edinburgh pray- 
ed publicly for Melville ; and the univer- 
sal lament was, that the king, under the 
influence of evil council, had driven into 
exile the most learned man in the king- 
dom, and the ablest defender of religion 
and the liberties of the Church. The 
privy council issued a proclamation, de- 
claring that his exile was voluntary ; 
but at the same time an act of council 
was passed, ordaining that such preach- 
ers as were accused should henceforth be 

* Calderwood, pp. 144-147; M'Crie's Life of Melville, 
pp. 197-204. ' 

12 



apprehended without the formality of a 
legal charge. This contradictory pro- 
cedure tended still more to increase the 
public dissatisfaction, and to deepen the 
general alarm. 

This contest between the court and 
Andrew Melville it has been thought ne- 
cessary to state with some minuteness, 
because it brings before the reader plain- 
ly one of the chief subjects on account 
of which the Church of Scotland has 
been often exposed to peril, and almost 
always to misrepresentation and calumny. 
The claim that a minister should be tried, 
in the first instance, by an ecclesiastical 
court, for every accusation brought 
against him in regard to doctrine and the 
discharge of his pastoral functions, has 
been attempted to be identified with the 
claim maintained by the popish clergy, 
of entire immunity from the civil juris- 
diction, even in matters civil, and in 
crimes of every kind. That the two 
claims are essentially different, must be 
obvious to every clear and unprejudiced 
mind. Even the bare statement of them 
as above, makes it evident that they are 
totally dissimilar. But it has ever been 
the policy of the enemies of the Church 
of Scotland, first to misrepresent her 
principles, and then to condemn their 
own misrepresentation and to punish 
their slandered victims, as if they were 
indeed convicted criminals. It is easy 
to brand a good cause with a bad namej 
and then to assume the plausible aspect 
of preventers of evil, or aver.gers of 
wrong, when, in reality, those who so 
act, are themselves the calumniators of 
good and the assailants of right. The 
Church of Scotland has never denied the 
right of the civil magistrate to take cog- 
nizance of every crime by which the pub- 
lic morality and peace were or might be 
injured ; but as the liberty of the pulpit 
is essential to the free and fearless deli- 
very of the gospel message, and as that 
liberty would be but a name, were the 
minister to be dragged before a 'uvil tri- 
bunal upon the accusation of every igno- 
rant, spiteful, or malicious informer, she 
has always asserted the right of the 
minister to be tried, in the first instance, 
by an ecclesiastical court Should the 
partiality of such a court shelter a delin- 
quent from condign punishment, it is still 
competent for the civil magistrate to pro- 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[chap, in, 



ceed against him in the exercise of that 
authority which the antecedent judgment 
of the Church could neither supersede 
nor invalidate. And, if accurately ex- 
amined, this liberty will be found to bq| 
the very palladium of civil liberty itself. 
The freedom of opinion has never exist- 
ed in any country where religious free- 
dom was unknown ; indeed, free public 
opinion had no existence till the Refor- 
mation broke the fetters of religious, des- 
potism and made men free indeed. And 
in the time of the Scottish Reformation, 
the press, with its mighty influences, had 
not sprung into being, — parliamentary 
proceedings were the records of tyranny 
or faction y : — the courts of justice obeyed 
too generally the arbitrary will of the 
sovereign, or exhibited the one-sided re- 
sults of partizanship, — and it was from 
the teachers of religion that the people 
first learned to know that they were 
something more than the slaves of their 
feudal lords or regal despots, — that being 
rational, responsible, and immortal crea- 
tures, they were entitled to think, and 
reason, and act, as conscious of their 
mysterious nature, and worthy of their 
high destinies. " Despotism," says 
M'Crie, "has rarel}*- been established in 
any nation without the subserviency of 
the ministers of religion. And it nearly 
concerns the cause of public liberty, that 
those who ought to be the common in- 
structors and the faithful monitors of all 
classes, should not be converted into the 
trained sycophants of a corrupt, or the 
trembling slave of a tyrannical, adminis- 
tration." 

Soon after the flight of Melville, a 
proclamation was issued against all who 
had been concerned in the Raid of Ruth- 
ven, who were commanded to leave the 
kingdom within a given time. An abor- 
tive attempt was made by the threatened 
party to defend themselves ; but the Earl 
of Gowrie having been seized, the 
others fled to England, and Arran ob- 
tained the uncontrolled management of 
the king and the government. Gowrie 
was executed notwithstanding the act of 
indemnity, and the express forgiveness of 
the king to him personally. Arran 
urged impetuously forward his schemes 
at once of tyranny and revenge. When 
the Assembly met at St. Andrews in April, 
few in number, and dispirited in conse- 



quence of the conduct of the court, they 
were peremptorily commanded by the 
king's commissioner to rescind the former 
act expressing approval of the Raid of 
Ruthven, and to pass another condemn- 
ing that transaction as treasonable. 
This the Assembly declined to do ; but 
instead of taking a determined stand 
against such an encroachment on their 
liberties, they broke up their meeting, and 
withdrew from the scene of immediate 
danger. 

A parliament was held in May, in 
which the proceedings were of a most ex- 
traordinary character. T:m Lords of the 
Articles were sworn to secrecy while 
they were preparing the business of the 
parliament ; and the meetings of the par- 
liament were held with closed doors. In 
spite of these precautions, it became 
known that measures subversive of the 
Presbyterian form of church government 
were intended. One minister was 
seized, when entering the palace-gate to 
supplicate the king in behalf of the 
Church, and sent to Blackness. And 
when, on the 25th of May, the acts of 
parliament were proclaimed, Pont and 
Balcanquhall protested formally at the 
market-cross of Edinburgh, and imme- 
diately fled to Berwick. Adamson and 
Montgomery sat in this infamous parlia- 
ment as bishops, directing the despotic 
measures against the church and the 
kingdom. 

The acts passed by this parliament, 
known as " the Black Acts of 1584," 
were to the following effect : — That to 
decline the judgment of his majesty 01 
of the privy council in any matter was 
treason : That those were guilty of the 
same crime who should impugn or seek 
the diminution of the power and authority 
of the three estates of parliament: [By 
this, all that the Church had done in the 
abolition of Prelacy was declared trea- 
sonable]. That all subjects were prohi- 
bited from convening any assembly, ex- 
cept the ordinary courts, to consult or de- 
termine on any matter of state, civil or 
ecclesiastical, without the special com- 
mandment and license of his majesty: 
[This was intended for the suppression 
of Presbyteries, Synods, and General 
Assemblies.] That commissions should 
be given to the bishops, along with such 
others as the king might appoint to pu 



A. D. 1587.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



91 



order in all ecclesiastical matters in their 
dioceses ; and, That none should pre- 
sume, in private or public, in sermons, 
or familiar conferences, to censure the 
conduct of the king, his council, and pro- 
ceedings, under the penalties of treason- 
able offences, to be executed with all 
rigour. These black acts, containing 
the very essence of despotism, were pas- 
sed on the 22d of May, publicly pro- 
claimed on the 25th, and basely submit- 
ted to by the nobility, barons, and gentry, 
being opposed alone by the ministers, 
the dauntless guardians of civil and reli- 
gious liberty. " There was a spirit 
awakened in Scotland, mightier far than 
acts of parliament or the influence of the 
court. The spirit of her ministers was 
not crushed: they fought on steadily to 
the end."* 

Great was the sufferings and protract- 
ed the struggle of the Church. Up- 
wards of twenty ministers were compel- 
led to save their lives by a flight to Eng- 
land. A bond was drawn up by Adam- 
son, to be subscribed by ail ministers 
within forty days, obliging themselves to 
submit to the king's power over all es- 
tates, spiritual and temporal, and to the 
bishops, under the pain of losing their 
stipends ; with certification, that they 
who did not submit within the given 
time shoud not be received afterwards, 
but underlie the penalty without relief. 
The most of them refused to subscribe ; 
but an ambigious and deceptive clause 
was introduced by Adamson, by which 
several were beguiled into subscription. 

[1585.] But as the arrogance and ty- 
ranny of Arran were boundless, and as 
the kingdom in general sympathized 
with the suffering ministers, and as even 
James himself began to grow weary of 
his domineering favourite, it became evi- 
dent that a change of administration must 
speedily ensue. The banished lords re- 
turned from England in October 1585; 
crowds of supporters nocked to them from 
all quarters ; they advanced towards Stir- 
ling, where the king and Arran then 
were ; and entering the town, Arran fled, 
and the king received them into favour, 
and deprived his unworthy minion of all 
his previous ill-got power and honours. 

By this new change of administration 

• * Dean of Faculty Hope— Speech, Auchterarder 
Case, p. 205. 



j the Church was at once rescued from di- 
rect persecution ; but the lords were more 
intent on securing their own interests with 
the capricious and yet obstinate monarch, 
than on restoring the rights and privi- 
leges of which the Church had been de- 
prived by Arran's infamous parliament. 
They excused themselves by the com- 
mon plea of temporising insincerity, that 
it was not expedient yet to annoy the 
king by pressing the abolition of Prelacy, 
to which he was so much attached. 
And, at the same time, the Church was 
somewhat divided, in consequence of 
some ministers having been induced to 
| subscribe the servile bond of the Black 
Acts. Animadversions, supplications, 
and declarations, passed between the king 
and the Assembly, which met in Decem- 
ber ; but nothing of a definite nature was 
concluded. 

[1586.] In April, 1586, the synod of 
■ Fife excommunicated Adamson, pretend- 
j ed archbishop of St. Andrews ; and Ad- 
'. amson retaliated by excommunicating 
Andrew Melville, his nephew James, 
: and some other ministers. This matter 
j was brought before the Assembly in May, 
{ and after long and sharp controversy, 
| the king used every method to gain his 
purpose, by intimidation, by flattery of 
individuals, and by deceptive promises, 
| the sentence was held to be regarded as 
| not pronounced, many protesting against 
this deliverance. The king was pecu- 
1 liarly urgent with the Assembly to have 
1 the pre-eminence of bishops over their 
brethren recognized, if not on the ground 
of jurisdiction, yet on that of order ; 
but the utmost he could obtain was the 
answer, K That it could not stand with 
the word of God ; only they must toler- 
ate it, if it be forced upon them by the 
civil authority.* 

[1587.] Scarcely anything of marked 
importance occurred during the year 
1 587. Some slight contests there were, in- 
deed, between the king and the ministers, 
respecting praying for Queen Mary, who 
was still alive, but her life placed in the 
most imminent peril, in consequence of 
the jealousy of Elizabeth and the plots 
of the Papists. By a parliament heM in 
July, such lands of the Church as had 
not been already bestowed inalienably 
upon the nobles or landed gentry, were 

* Calderwood, p. 512. 



92 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, [CHAP. IIL 



annexed to the crown. This act, detach- 
ing the Church lands from all connec- 
tion with ecclesiastical persons, was a 
fatal blow to the order of bishops, ren- 
dering- the subsequent endeavours of 
James and his successors to restore them 
to their pristine dignity and authority ut- 
terly hopeless. It might have proved a 
fertile source of revenue to the crown, 
had not the facile disposition of James 
led him to bestow the titles to these lands 
lavishly on almost any one who requested 
them ; as, being generally held at that 
time by annuitants, he could not himself 
immediately obtain possession, and little 
valued property in prospect. But he ac- 
companied his own prodigal act with one 
of injustice, in conferring, along with 
these Church lands, the patronages which 
had formerly belonged to their ecclesias- 
tical proprietors, and which he thus ar- 
bitrarily converted into lay patronages. 
Of this arbitrary conduct even Sir George 
Mackenzie says, " There could be no- 
thing so unjust as these patronages." 
Against them the Church promptly and 
strongly protested, in the Assembly 
which met in August the following year.* 
[1588.] The year 1588 was one of 
great importance for Scotland and for 
Europe. We have had occasion to refer 
to the leagues of the popish sovereigns 
for the utter destruction of Protestantism, 
in which both the queen-regent and 
Queen Mary were deeply implicated, and 
on account of which they were continu- 
ally the objects of jealousy and distrust 
to their Protestant subjects. Nor did 
King James escape similar suspicion and 
distrust. In the early part of his reign, 
when guided by his favourites Lennox 
and Arran, it was currently believed 
that the former was in correspondence 
with the popish sovereigns on the Conti- 
nent, and that the proceedings of James 
against the Church were chiefly intended 
either to overthrow the Church of Scot- 
land, and reintroduce Popery, or at least 
to secure the support of the great Conti- 
nental powers in his pretensions to the 
throne of England on the death of Eliz- 
abeth. And although there is no rea- 
son to suppose that James did really in- 
tend the overthrow of the reformed re- 
ligion in this country, yet a certain sus- 

' Ca'.derwood, p 227 : Booke of the Universall Kirk, 
p 336. 



picion respecting his own stability on the 
Scottish throne, in case of his mother's 
liberation, induced him to desire to keep 
on favourable terms with the popish 
sovereigns, and that party in his own 
realm. While the death of Mary relieved 
him from one cause of his embarrass- 
ment, it tended to throw him into another 
line of policy scarcely more favourable 
to the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. 
Keeping in view his succession to the 
English throne, he thought it necessary 
to conciliate the English Church as far 
as possible, by making known his deci- 
ded preference to a prelatical form of 
church government. To this, indeed, 
his own despotic principles naturally in- 
clined him, having found by experience 
how much more easily a bench of bishops, 
seated among the temporal lords, might 
be brow-beaten or caj oiled, than a free 
Assembly of high principled and fear- 
less Presbyterian ministers. 

The same considerations led him to 
concur readily in the political schemes of 
Elizabeth. And as Philip of Spain, after 
long preparation, was now putting in mo- 
tion the whole power of his vast empire 
for the dethronement of the English 
queen, the Scottish monarch consented to 
make common cause with her against 
the common enemy of the Protestant 
faith. Nobly did the Scottish Church 
exert herself in this dark and threatening 
period. An extraordinary meeting of 
the Assembly was called, to deliberate 
what steps ought to be taken in this omi- 
nous aspect of public affairs. A deputa- 
tion was sent to the king, to rouse him to 
due activity ; and though he at first 
seemed inclined to resent this, as an in- 
terference with his administration, yet 
the formidable nature of the impending 
danger induced him to name a committee 
of the privy council, to co-operate with 
the commissioners of the Church in pro- 
viding for the public safety. A solemn 
bond of allegiance and mutual defence 
was framed, approved by his majesty, 
zealously promoted by the ministers of 
the Church, and sworn by all ranks, 
knitting the kingdom together by a sa- 
cred and patriotic tie. The Spanish ar- 
mada, fondly termed invincible, was soon 
after checked and baffled by the deter- 
mined courage and persevering energy 
of the English fleet, then smitten and 



1591-1 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



93 



scattered over the stormy ocean by the 
avenging hand of Omnipotence. 

[1589.] This signal deliverance, and 
the zeal and energy displayed by the 
Church in the hour of danger, produced 
a beneficial influence upon both the king 
and the nation. An insurrection attempt- 
ed by the popish party, of whom the 
Earls of Huntly, Errol, and Crawford 
were the leaders, was speedily put down ; 
and the king was earnestly urged to sup- 
press Popery, and especially to expel 
from the kingdom the jesuit emissaries 
of the king of Spain. And the Church, 
putting forth its own powers, excommu- 
nicated Patrick Adamson, for performing 
the ceremony of marriage, uniting the 
popish Earl of Huntly to a lady of the 
Lennox family. 

On the 22d of October, the same year, 
the king set sail for Norway, to meet the 
princess of Denmark, to whom he had 
been previously contracted ; and their 
marriage was solemnized at Upsal, on 
the 24th of November. Before he de- 
parted he had appointed a provisional 
government to conduct public affairs dur- 
ing his absence ; nominating Robert 
Bruce, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, 
an extraordinary member of the privy 
council ; and declaring that he reposed 
more confidence in him and his brethren, 
for preserving the country in peace, than 
he did in all his nobility. Nor was he 
disappointed. During the six months 
that the king was absent, the kingdom 
exhibited a scene of unwonted tranqui llity ; 
and the king was so sensible of the valu- 
able services of the Church, that in his 
letters to Bruce, he declared that he was 
" worth the quarter of his kingdom." 

[1590.] When the king returned in 
May 1590, he took the earliest opportu- 
nity of acknowledging his grateful sense 
of the valuable services rendered to him 
by the Church, and gave promise of re- 
moving all remaining grievances, and 
providing better measures for the future. 
In the Assembly which met in August, 
he pronounced his celebrated panegyric 
on the purity of the Church of Scotland. 
u He praised God that he was born in 
such a time as in the time of the light of 
the Gospel, and in such a place as to be 
king in such a Kirk, the sincerest Kirk 
in the world." " The Kirk of Geneva," 
continued he, " keepeth Pash and Yule. 



What have they for them? they have no 
institution. As for our neighbour Kirk 
in England, their service is an evil-said 
mass in English ; they want nothing of 
the mass but the liftings. I charge you, 
my good people, ministers, doctors, elders, 
nobles, gentlemen, and barons, to stand to 
your purity ; and I, forsooth, so long as I 
brook my life and crown, shall maintain 
the same against all deadly." This 
speech was received by the Assembly 
with a transport of joy, " there was no- 
thing heard for a quarter of an hour, but 
praising God, and praying for the king."* 

[1591.] Nothing of public importance 
occurred in the year 1591, except the re- 
cantation of Patrick Adamson, whose 
dissolute life had at length so disgusted 
the king, that he ceased to protect and 
support him ; and the miserable victim of 
ambition was reduced to such extremities, 
as to be supported by the charity of An- 
drew Melville, the man whom he had so 
often maligned and persecuted ; and who, 
in his time of distress, pitied, relieved, and 
forgave him. The unhappy man, tor- 
tured by remorse, and wasted ^ by im- 
morality, sunk into dotage, and died early 
in the following year.f 

An incident took place the same year, 
which we should not have deemed of 
sufficient importance to mention, had it 
not been for the reflex value given to it 
by the occurrence of modern times. It 
was a collision between the judicatories 
of the Church and the Court of Session. 
The transaction was of a somewhat com- 
plicated nature. Graham of Hallyards, 
it appears, had corrupted a notary public 
to authenticate by his signature a forged 
instrument, by means of which Graham 
intended to defraud the feuars of some 
property belonging to his wife. The 
matter becoming suspected, the notary 
was imprisoned, and during his confine- 
ment confessed to Patrick Simpson of 
Stirling, the minister by whom he was 
visited, that he had been guilty of the 
crime. Graham accused Simpson of 
having suborned the poor notary ; and 
the Assembly took up the case, as impli- 
cating the character of the minister. The 
Lord President, and two other Lords of 
Session, appeared before the Assembly, 
requiring them not to proceed ^ with a 
cause which was within the jurisdiction 

* Calderwood, p. 286. t Ibid., pp. 259-264. 



94 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 



ICHAP III. 



of the Court of Session, and already be- 
fore that court. The Assembly declared 
that they had no intention to interfere 
with any civil matter ; but that, as the 
case in question related to the character 
of a minister, and to his discharge of his 
pastoral functions, it was ecclesiastical, 
and belonged primario to the jurisdiction 
of the Church. Another attempt was 
made by the Court of Session to set aside 
this determination ; but the Lord Justice 
Clerk being- " demanded if he acknow- 
ledged the judgment and jurisdiction of 
the Kirk or not ?" he answered, " that he 
acknowledged with reverence the judg- 
ment of the Assembly in all causes ap- 
pertaining to them ; objecting, however, 
that this was a civil cause, and that there- 
fore the Lords were primario judices" 
The Assembly repelled the objection, 
found themselves judges in the first in- 
stance, and, notwithstanding the protest 
of the Lord Justice Clerk, proceeded to 
try and determine the case. The civil 
court thought proper to relinquish any 
farther direct interference, but tried the 
cause in their own way, and left the 
Church to do the same; which seems, 
indeed, to be the proper mode of avoiding 
collisions between co-ordinate jurisdic- 
tions.* 

[1592.] On the 22d of May 1592, the 
General Assembly met at Edinburgh, 
Robert Bruce, moderator. As the king 
had appeared more favourable to the 
Church ever since he had experienced its 
power to promote the peace of the coun- 
try during his absence in Norway, this 
was thought a fitting time to procure ah 
amicable settlement of the protracted con- 
flicts between the Church and the court. 
Articles, embodying the chief requests of 
the Church, were accordingly drawn up 
and presented to the king. When the 
parliament met in June, the same year, 
these articles were taken into considera- 
tion, and an act was passed, greatly 
through the influence of the Chancellor 
Maitland, not, indeed, granting all that 
the Church desired, but of a much more 
complete and satisfactory nature than any 
previous legislative enactment. 

The act 1592 'ratified the General As- 
semblies, Synods, Presbyteries, and par- 
ticular Sessions of the Church ; declar- 

" Spotswood, p. 384 ; Booke of the Universall Kirk, 
pp. 354, 355 ; Baillie, Vindication, pp. 62, 63. 



ing them, with the jurisdiction and dis- 
cipline belonging to them, to be in all 
time coming most just, good, and godly, 
notwithstanding whatsoever statutes, acts, 
and laws, canon, civil, or municipal, 
made to the contrary. It ratified and em- 
bodied also some of the leading proposi- 
tions in the Second Book of Discipline, 
relating to the power of these judicatories. 
It appointed General Assemblies to be 
held once every year, or oftener, pro re na- 
ta, as occasion should require ; the time and 
place of next meeting to be appointed by 
his majesty or his commissoner, or, pro- 
v ded neither of them should be present, 
by the Assembly itself. It declared that 
the act of the parliament 1584, respecting 
the royal supremacy, should be in nowise 
prejudicial to the privileges of the office- 
bearers of the Church concerning heads 
of religion, matters of heresy, excommu- 
nication, the appointment or deprivation 
of ministers, or any such essential cen- 
sures, warranted by the Word of God. 
And it declared the act of the same par- 
liament, granting commission to bishops 
and other judges appointed by his majes- 
ty in ecclesiastical causes, to be null, and 
of no avail, force, or effect in time com- 
ing ; and ordained presentations to be di- 
rected to presbyteries, who should have 
full power to give collation to benefices, 
and to manage all ecclesiastical causes 
within their bounds, provided they ad- 
mitted such qualified ministers as were 
presented by his majesty or other lay pa- 
trons. In another part of the same act it 
was provided, that in case a presbytery 
should refuse to admit a qualified minis- 
ter presented by the patron, it should be 
lawful to the patron to retain the whole 
fruits of that benefice in his own hands. 
Such were the main provisions of the 
celebrated act 1592 ; and, notwithstanding 
several imperfections, both in what it en- 
acts and in what it omits, it was then, and 
has ever since been regarded, as the 

GREAT CHARTER OF THE ChURCHOF SCOT- 
LAND.* 

* It deserves to be peculiarly remarked, that some 
of the peculiarities of the act 1592, c, 116, are directly 
favourable to the Church in that very respect in which 
they have been thought unfavourable. No express 
mention is made of the Second Book of Discipline, but 
certain of its main topics are ratified, while others are 
apparently passed over. Hence it has been argued, 
that nothing has been ratified to the Church but what 
is specifically mentioned in the act itself, and that 
every other proposition in the Book of Discipline must 
be held to have been rejected. The true reason of this 
peculiarity in the act appears to be the following 



A. D. 1592 ] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



95 



By this act of parliament the Church 
of Scotland was placed in a much better 
position for promoting the public welfare, 
which is the great end of any Church, 
than she had previously occupied. Not 
that she regarded any parliamentary en- 
actment as the basis of her religious con- 
stitution, but as merely a legal recogni- 
tion of those sacred and intrinsic powers, 
which she had always claimed as belong- 
ing to her by scriptural institution, and 
the gift of her Divine Head and King ; 
and which she had already, in her Books 
of Discipline, stated, proved, and put into 
execution on the sole authority of the 
Word of God. The attentive reader 
must have perceived how steadily the 
Church pursued her course, amidst the 
ever-shifting phases of the political world; 
at one time countenanced and supported ; 
at another, opposed, calumniated, and 
persecuted, according to the varying 
character and aims of successive civil ad- 
ministrations. But while politicians in- 
trigued, rose into power, plunged into 
criminal excesses, fell, and perished, the 
Church displayed the calm grandeur of 
an institution resting upon the fixed 
principles of eternal truth, and, whether 
suffering or triumphant, maintaining her 
integrity, and following with firm, 
though bleeding steps, the path of right, 
of mercy, and of Jove to God and man. 
From this statesmen might have learned 
— will they yet learn ? — that the Church 
may be cast down, but cannot be destroy- 
ed ; that their own devices against her 
will but issue, sooner or later, in their 
own ruin ; that even sound political sa- 
gacity might warn them not to incur the 
hazard of shattering- into fragments their 
own frail schemes of human expediency 
against the adamantine strength of sacred 
principles ; and that their wisest measure 

When the Second Book of Discipline was laid before 
the privy council, certain articles, chiefly those relating 
to government and jurisdiction by Assemblies, Synods, 
and Presbyteries, were referred to farther considera- 
tion, whilst others were at once ratified. Now, on 
comparing the copy of the Book of Discipline in Spots- 
wood, where the marginal comments of the privy 
council are given, with" the act 1592, it is remarkable 
that none of those marked " agreed" are contained in 
the act, while the chief of those marked u referred " 
are. From this the conclusion seems inevitable, that 
having already agreed to these in the privy council, it 
was not held necessary to specify any but those which 
had been left for future consideration, and, conse- 
quently, that partly by the concurrence of the pri\y 
council in 1578. and partly 6y the act 1592, thus com- 
bined, the whole of the Second Book of Discipline was 
ratified, and became the law of the land, as well as the 
law of the Church. 



would be, to secure to a spiritual Church 
the freest and fullest possible develope- 
ment of its own sacred laws and disci- 
pline, assured that they would thereby 
best promote that which ought to be their 
chief object, — the true welfare of the 
nation. 



CHAPTER IV. 

FROM THE GREAT CHARTER OF THE CHURCH, 
IN 1592, TO THE RATIFICATION OF THE FIVE 
ARTICLES OF PERTH, IN THE YEAR 1621. 

Remarks on the Act 1592— Detection of the Conspiracy 
of the Popish Lords— Duplicity of the King— Ex- 
communication of the Popish Lords by the Synod of 
Fife— Act of Abolition — Secret Motives of the King — 
Ratification of the Synod's Sentence by the Assem- 
bly—Support given to the King by the Church— Pro- 
posal of a regular arrangement for fixed and local 
Stipends— Reforming Assembly of 1596 — Renewal 
of the National Covenant— Fresh Alarms from the 
Popish Lords— Deceitful conduct of the Kin,g— Inter- 
view between the King and Andrew MelviYle— Jeal- 
ousy between the Court and the Church — Proceed- 
ings against David Black — He declines the Jurisdic- 
tion of the Civil Court, in the first instance— -The 
Church addresses the King— A Tumult in Edinburgh 
—Proceedings of the Court— The Ministers of Ed- 
inburgh expelled — First Corrupt General Assembly 
held at Perth — Commissioners of the Church ap- 
pointed to deliberate with the King — Proposal to ad- 
mit Representatives from the Church into Parliament, 
1697— Partially carried in 1598— Completed in 1600— 
Three Ministers secretly appointed to Bishoprics — 
The Basilicon Doron — The Gowrie Conspiracy— In- 
jurious Consequences to the Church— Robert Bruce 
banished by the King — The Covenant virtually re- 
newed by the King— Assembly of 1602, the last free 
Assembly — Case of Semple — The Accession of James 
to the Throne of England— Hampton Court Confer- 
ence — Proposals for a Union of Scotland and Eng- 
land — Alarm of the Church — Arbitrary Prorogation 
of the Assembly — Held at Aberdeen in 1605, notwith- 
standing the Royal Prorogation — Banishment of the 
Ministers — Parliament restores the Temporalities of 
Bishops in 1606 — Andrew Melville summoned to Lon- 
don, imprisoned, and banished — Constant Moderators 
appointed — Parliament restores the Civil Jurisdic- 
tion to Bishops in 1609— Court of High Commission in 
1610 — The Assembly restores the Ecclesiastical Juris- 
diction of Bishops in 1610— This Act ratified by Par- 
liament in 1612— New Confession of Faith in 1616— 
Calderwood banished — Five Articles of Perth in 1618 
— Ratified by Parliament in 1621 — Reflections. 

Although the act of parliament passed 
in the year 1592, and commonly known 
as the Great Charter of the Church of 
Scotland, was then, and must always be, 
regarded as a very important measure, 
giving legislative sanction to most of the 
chief principles of the government and 
discipline of the Church, yet it was not 
■ without several decidedly serious defects. 
It was evasive in its recognition of the 
Book of Discipline, as if leaving it open 
to dispute whether the engrossing of some 
of the provisions of that book, formerly 
I " referred," was to be regarded as an im- 



96 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. IV. 



plicit sanction of the whole, seeing that 
the privy council had already "agreed" 
to the rest ; or whether it might not be 
held that every part was excluded except 
what was expressly mentioned. The 
former view must have been that which 
was entertained by the Church, and 
which not merely every man of candour 
will entertain, but which also every clear 
reasoner will see to be necessary, other- 
wise the act is self-contradictory and ab- 
surd. But still, the ambiguity of the act 
in that respect has given occasion to the 
legal sophist, in several periods, to bring 
forward specious objections against the 
discipline of the Church of Scotland, on 
the plea of its wanting full statutory au- 
thority. Another decided evil was the 
clause which half prohibited the Assem- 
bly from meeting except when the time 
and place of its next meeting had been 
appointed by his majesty or his commis- 
sioner ; its own authority being enough 
only when neither the king nor his re- 
presentative was present. This after- 
wards enabled the king repeatedly to sus- 
pend its meetings altogether ; and, when 
it did meet without his previous appoint- 
ment, gave some colour to his hostile 
proceedings against its leading members. 
But the most injurious part of the act 
1592 was that which imposed upon both 
the Church and the people the intolera- 
ble yoke and enslaving fetters of lay pa- 
tronage. How fatal the " binding and 
astricting" clause has been to the Church, 
her whole subsequent history testifies, 
and perhaps no period more so than the 
present. 

The reader will perceive that these de- 
fects in this enactment left the Church 
still exposed to danger on the very points 
on which she had been always most 
fiercely and perseveringly assailed. The 
freedom of the Assembly, and its right 
to meet for the discharge of its important 
duties whenever necessity required, had 
been gainsaid by Secretary Lethington in 
Queen Mary's days ; had been questioned 
by the Regent Morton, and had been for 
a time neutralized or overborne by King 
James, during the period of the tulchan 
bishops. This was again placed in peril, 
and that too, by a regular legislative enact- 
ment, on the strength of which the king 
might proceed to greater severities and 
more plausibly than had been formerly 



done. The evasive nature of the recog- 
nition of the Book of Discipline showed 
the unchanged hostility entertained by the 
king and the nobility against a system 
of moral and religious discipline too pure 
and uncompromising to find favour in 
the estimation of dissolute, haughty, and 
worldly-minded men. That the enforce- 
ment of ecclesiastical discipline would still 
be resisted, was therefore abundantly ap- 
parent, notwithstanding the evasive sanc- 
tion of the act of parliament. And it was 
equally evident that, by the rigid reten- 
tion of lay patronages, the king and the 
nobility were determined to keep pos- 
session of the means whereby they might 
either corrupt the Church, or contrive to 
hold fast her patrimony within their sac- 
rilegious grasp. 

But although there thus remained these 
strong elements of antagonism between 
the king and the Church, there was no 
urgent reason why they might not have 
continued in a state of dormancy for an 
indefinite length of time. That the 
Church did not wish to urge matters to 
an immediate contest, was evident from 
the very fact of her receiving the act 
1592, defective as it was, without oppo- 
sition, and even with gratitude. And 
had the king been sincere in his expres- 
sions of friendship and estimation, he 
needed not to have provoked hostility by 
an early and harsh enforcement of the 
harmful powers which that act enabled 
him to retain. Their mere existence in 
the statute-book ought to have been 
enough to satisfy him that the Church 
could not, even were she disposed, make 
any dangerous encroachments upon his 
cherished prerogatives. And had they 
been allowed to remain solely as latent 
but complete preventive checks against 
any sudden democratic movement of the 
Church, the whole of what even his 
jealousy of his arbitrary prerogative 
deemed necessary might have been peace- 
fully secured ; and when that jealousy 
had subsided, he might have removed 
these defects from the enactment, and 
thereby -perfected the constitution of the 
country, by the harmonious agreement 
and mutually supporting connection of 
Church and State ; exerting themselves 
in their respective spheres, undisturbed 
by mutual jarrings and suspicions, for 
the advancement of the great end of both 



A. D. 1592.] 

— the promotion and the security of the 
civil and sacred welfare of the nation. 
Such was not, however, to be the case. 
A short time was sufficient to show that 
James had caused the elements of strife 
to be retained in the act 1592, expressly 
for the purpose of putting them into ex- 
ecution on the earliest opportunity, for 
the overthrow of a Church whose prin- 
ciples, spirit, and discipline were too 
sacred, independent, and pure, to suit the 
taste and comport with the habits of a 
monarch at once crafty and despotic, and 
of courtiers both avaricious and dissolute. 
It may seem strange that James, who had 
experienced so much treachery on the 
part of his nobility, and been exposed to 
personal danger from their factious and 
daring attempts ; and, on the other hand, 
had found such constant fidelity to his 
cause, and zeal in his behalf, in every 
time of peril, from the Church, notwith- 
standing his injurious treatment of it, — 
that with such strong and repeated proofs 
which was the more trustworthy party, 
he could still favour the schemes of the 
treacherous and selfish aristocracy, and 
distrust and persecute the faithful and 
disinterested Church. But it has always 
been the fault and the misfortune of kings 
and statesmen to give their countenance 
to sycophants and mercenary tools, whom 
they can manage and employ for any 
purpose, however guilty and base, rather 
than to men whose principles are too lofty 
for thern to comprehend, and whose in- 
tegrity is beyond their power to move. 
And James knew well that he could 
mould and bias his courtiers by the arti- 
fices of that " kingcraft" in which he 
thought himself a most accomplished 
adept ; but that in the high-souled minis- 
ters of the Presbyterian Church, when 
met together in their own free General 
Assembly, he encountered men whom 
neither his arts could blind nor his threat- 
enings overawe. Hence his determina- 
tion to retain, even in the act recognising 
and ratifying the liberty of the Church, 
a seeming innocuous clause, by which 
he might be able to prohibit the meetings 
of the Assembly, whenever he appre- 
hended from it a decided opposition to 
his schemes ; or to call it together when 
he should have succeeded in corrupting 
its members by means of the patronage- 
enforcing clause. 

13 



9? 

The preceding remarks we have 
deemed it expedient to make, for the pur- 
pose of placing before our readers clearly 
the position of the Church after the pass- 
ing of the great charter of 1592, and the 
dangers still to be apprehended from the 
defects of that enactment, and the perni- 
cious elements which it contained. But 
we must now resume the narrative, and 
trace the progress of events. 

The act 1592 almost took the Church 
by surprise. The ministers had striven 
so long for a legislative rat^cation of the 
liberty of the Church, of General Assem- 
blies, Synods, and Presbyteries, and of 
discipline, and had met so many disap- 
pointments, evasions, and direct violations 
of the most solemn promises from the 
ruling powers, that though they contin- 
ued to strive, they seem almost to have 
ceased to expect success. They appear 
to have acted on the great general prin- 
ciple, that for the discharge of known 
duty man is responsible, — for success 
he is not ; and that therefore their duty 
was to continue their exertions, and leave 
the result to God, in whose hands are the 
issues of all events. Yet they have been 
censured for accepting a measure which 
fell so far short of what they sought to 
obtain, and which contained elements 
capable of being roused into the most 
pernicious activity. But it should be con- 
sidered that men who are very far above 
taking expediency as their rule in mat- 
ters of duty, may, with a safe conscience, 
accept of a measure comparatively de- 
fective, for which they could not have 
striven ; regarding it as, though not a 
satisfactory, and consequently not a final 
settlement, yet, upon the whole, a great 
advancement towards a better state of 
matters than had previously existed, and 
containing a ratification of the most es- 
sential of their own leading principles. 
Such appear to have been the sentiments 
of the most active and influential cf the 
ministers when this very important act 
was passed ; and while they disapproved 
of those points in it which have been spe 
cified, still, as it went beyond their gene- 
ral expectation, they received it with joy 
and gratitude. It may be mentioned also 
that, between the passing of the act and 
its being publicly proclaimed, the ene- 
mies of the Church attempted to, deny 
that any such measure either had been 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



98 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. IV. 



or would be enacted by the parliament ; 
and their very hostility and opposition 
would tend to secure for it the more ready 
and cordial acceptation by all who were 
friendly to the Church.* 

A very short time elapsed, after the 
passing of this act, when the Church had 
again occasion to show that her intrinsic 
powers had not been fettered by an act 
which professed to ratify h er freedom ; and 
that to enter into a solemn compact with 
the State was not to lay aside her native 
spiritual independence, and to assume a 
gilded yoke. Towards the end of the 
year 1592, the jealousy of all sound- 
hearted Protestants, and especially of the 
ministers, — those vigilant guardians both 
of the purity of religion and of the pub- 
lic welfare, — was strongly excited, partly 
by the known presence and activity of 
priests and Jesuits within the kingdom, 
and partly by indefinite intimations of 
danger from abroad. The sense of im- 
pending peril, the more alarming on ac- 
count of its unascertained character and 
extent, alarmed the country in general, 
but seemed to give no uneasiness to the 
king. An extraordinary meeting of the 
ministers was convoked in Edinburgh 
on the 15th of November, and measures 
were framed calculated to provide for the 
safety of the Church and kingdom, by 
exerting the utmost vigilance for the de- 
tection of the popish machinations ; and 
to these measures the king gave his ap- 
probation. 

The necessity and the wisdom of these 
precautions became very soon evident. 
Andrew Knox, minister of Paisley, hav- 
ing received secret intelligence respecting 
one of the popish emissaries, hastened to 
the island of Cumray, accompanied by a 
number of Glasgow students and some 
neighbouring gentlemen, and seized 
George Ker, brother of Lord Newbattle, 
as he was on the point of embarking for 
Spain. A number of letters were found 
in his possession from priests in Scot- 
land ; and several blanks subscribed by 
the popish Earls of Huntly, Errol, and 
Angus, with a commission to William 
Crighton, a Jesuit, to fill up the blanks, 
and address them to the persons for 
whom they were intended. Graham of 
Fintry was soon afterwards apprehended ; 
and being both examined before the privy 

" Melville's Diary pp. 198, and 201. 



; council, they testified to the genuineness 
of the signatures, and confessed the na- 
ture and extent of the conspiracy. It 
! was, indeed, one of a most perilous and 
| flagrant character. The king of Spain 
■ was to have landed thirty thousand men 
on the west coast of Scotland, part of 
: whom were to invade England, and the 
remainder, in concert with the forces 
which the three earls promised to have 
I in readiness, were to suppress the Pro- 
testants, and to procure the re-establish- 
ment of the Romish religion in Scot- 
land.* 

[1593.] The privy council and the 
ministers of Edinburgh having thus re- 
ceived proof positive of the dangerous 
conspiracy existing in the kingdom, is- 
sued letters calling upon the well-affected 
to hasten to the capital, for the purpose 
of consulting what steps were to be taken 
in a matter of such a formidable charac- 
ter. At the same time they earnestly be- 
sought the king, who was at the time ab- 
sent, to hasten to Edinburgh, and aid his 
faithful subjects in the defence of the 
commonwealth. The Earl of Angus, 
unaware that the conspiracy had Been 
detected, happening to come to the capi- 
tal at the same time, was seized and com- 
mitted to the castle. Upon his majesty's 
arrival, instead of thanking his people 
for the zeal and vigilance which they 
had displayed in behalf of the religion 
and liberties of the country, he broke out 
into peevish and ill-timed complaints of 
their conduct in seizing the Earl of An- 
gus, and in convoking the lieges without 
his previous command, which he resented 
as a grievous encroachment upon his pre* 
rogative. They answered, as such meti 
might have been expected to answer, 
" That it was no time to attend on warn- 
ings when their religion, prince, country, 
lives, lands, and all were brought into 
jeopardy by such treasonable dealings." 
But when their whole proceedings were 
detailed, and the full nature and extent 
of the conspiracy made known to him, 
his petulant fume passed off, he called 
Angus " a traitor of traitors," and de- 
clared that the crime of the conspirators 
was too great for his prerogative to par- 
don, promising to proceed to trial of the 
accused "with all diligence and se- 
verity." 

• Melville's Diary, p 205; Calderwood, pp. 275-280. 



A. D. 1593. 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



99 



James now thought it necessary to act 
with at least the appearance of sincerity. 
A proclamation was issued, specifying 
the general nature of the detected con- 
spiracy, and commanding all who hated 
subjection to foreign tyranny to abstain 
from intercourse with popish priests, on 
pain of treason ; and to hold themselves 
in readiness to defend the country, " as 
they should be certified by his majesty, 
or otherwise find the occasion urgent." 
And as some suspicion of the king's sin- 
cerity had been excited by his first ex- 
pression of displeasure with the prompt 
zeal of his people, he thought proper to 
pass an act of council, prohibiting all 
from attempting to procure the pardon of 
the conspirators. The nation immedi- 
ately testified its delight with the king's 
conduct, by framing and extensively sub- 
scribing- a bond in defence of religion 
and the government, and preparing zeal- 
ously to protect and support the king and 
the public peace. The king marched 
northwards against the conspirators ; but 
they merely concealed themselves from 
immediate apprehension ; and the king, 
notwithstanding his own act of privy 
council, received favourably those who 
were sent to intercede in behalf of the 
detected traitors. 

The General Assembly met at Dun- 
dee on the 24th of April, according to 
their own previous arrangement, and 
without waiting to be called together by 
his majesty. The proceedings of that 
Assembly, although of no great moment, 
furnished sufficient indication of the 
growing jealousy between the king and 
the Church. The Assembly appointed 
commissioners to present to the king an 
address and petition, containing several 
articles in regard to which they craved 
redress. One was, that he would adopt 
strong measures for the suppression of 
the popish party, and in the meantime 
that they should be excluded from all 
public official situations, and denied ac- 
cess to his majesty's presence. Another 
was, that his majesty would consider the 
great prejudice done to the Church by 
the erection of the tithes of different pre- 
lacies into titular lordships. The king, 
on the other hand, by his commissioner, 
directed the attention of the Assembly to 
that part of the act 1592 which required 
its meetings to be held by the appoint- 



ment of his majesty, intimating that he 
could not with honour see that provision 
infringed ; and further, requested them 
to make an act prohibiting any minister 7 
! on pain of deposition, from uttering in 
public any animadversions on the con- 
, duct of his majesty or the privy council. 
The Assembly agreed to the provision 
of the act 1592, it being reserved to them 
to meet on their own authority, provided 
his majesty or his commissioner were 
not present, and ordained that no 
minister " utter any rash or irreverent 
speeches against his majesty or council, 
but that all their public admonitions pro- 
ceed upon just and necessary causes, in 
all fear, love, and reverence, under pain 
of deposition."* These proceedings 
could give little satisfaction to either 
party, and indicated but too plainly a 
mutual distrust, likely ere long to come 
to an open rupture. Some steps were 
taken by that Assembly to prevent fur- 
ther dilapidation of Church property, and 
for the enforcement of discipline and the 
maintenance of public morality and 
peace. 

The parliament met in July, and pro- 
ceeded with the trial of the popish lords ; 
but Ker had been permitted to escape a 
short while previously; and the parlia- 
ment listened to the offers of submission 
made by the conspirators, and rejected 
the bill of attainder against them, on the 
pretext of want of evidence. Great and 
general was the dissatisfaction caused by 
this injudicious lenity to men guilty of 
repeated acts of treason : and strong sus- 
picions arose in the minds of many that 
his majesty's own attachment to the Pro- 
testant faith was but hollow and insin- 
cere. The synod of Fife, at its meeting 
in September, determined to take such 
steps as were competent to it, as a church 
court, towards counteracting the injurious 
lenity of the king and parliament. On 
the ground that the Earls of Angus and 
Errol had, when students at St. Andrews, 
within the bounds of that synod, sub- 
scribed the Confession of Faith, and 
thereby rendered themselves amenable 
to its jurisdiction, and that Huntly had 
murdered the Earl of Murray within its 
bounds, the synod of Fife proceeded to 
pass the sentence of excommunication 
against these apostate conspirators, and 

* Booke of the Universal! Kirk, pp. 3S5, 386. 



100 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP IV. 



sent intimation of what had been done 
throughout the country. Intimation was 
also given, that a general meeting of 
commissioners from the different counties 
of the kingdom, consisting of noblemen, 
gentlemen, burgesses and ministers, was 
to be held at Edinburgh on the 17th of 
October. The king was extremely an- 
noyed with these measures. They were 
so completely in unison with his former 
declarations against the popish conspira- 
tors, and so naturally resulting from the 
bond of defence previously subscribed 
with his concurrence, that he could not 
justly find direct fault with them, and yet 
so contrary to his recent treatment of the 
traitors that he could not approve of them. 
With his usual craft, he attempted to 
tamper with several of the noblemen and 
the ministers, to prevent the intimation 
of the sentence of excommunication, and 
also to impair the effect of the coming 
convention. Not succeeding in his 
schemes, he again dissembled ; and be- 
ing about to proceed to the borders to 
suppress some seditious and turbulent af- 
fairs, he promised that he would show 
no favour to the conspirators. 

On the very same day on which this 
promise was given, the king admitted the 
conspirators to his presence at Fala, and 
made arrangements with them respect- 
ing their trial. The convention appoint- 
ed commissioners to follow James to Jed- 
burgh, and lay their complaints before 
him. The reception given by his ma- 
jesty to his faithful and zealous subjects 
was very different from that which he 
had granted to the traitors a few days be- 
fore. He termed the convention an un- 
lawful meeting, complained of the sen- 
tence of excommunication, and even 
threatened to call a parliament for the 
purpose of overthrowing Presbyterian 
and restoring Prelacy. When he had 
expended his wrath in idle threats, he 
grew calmer, and returned to the petition 
of the commissioners a written answer, 
containing promises sufficiently fair, but 
as idle.* It is unnecessary to dwell upon 
the wretched tergiversation of the king 
in this very important matter. A con- 
vention of estates was held at Linlithgow 
in October, and arrangements were made 
for the final trial of the rebel lords at 
Holyrood-house in the following month. 

* Melville's Dairy, p. 208. 



The conclusion of the trial was the pass 
ing of what was termed an " act of aboli- 
tion," by which the popish lords were 
ordained to give satisfaction to the 
Church, and to embrace the Protestant 
faith, or else to leave the kingdom within 
a limited time ; the process against them 
was dropped and consigned to oblivion ; 
and they were declared " free and unac- 
cusable in all time coming" of the crimes 
laid to their charge, provided they did 
not for the future enter into any treason 
able correspondence with foreigners. 

This arrangement was equally unsat- 
isfactory to the Church and to the greater 
part of the nation. It was well under- 
stood at thai time, and might be still, that 
the determined adherents of Popery 
could easily obtain absolution from Rome 
for any oaths or concessions made to Pro- 
testants, provided they continued to plot 
the destruction of the Protestant religion j 
and therefore, that to think of binding 
such men with oaths and protestations, 
however solemn, was about as wise as to 
think of fettering a beast of prey with a 
skein of rotten silk. Nor was it without 
reason that James was himself distrusted. 
He had repeatedly broken his most sol- 
emn pledges, and brought his word into 
such suspicion, that the more earnestly 
he protested, the less he was believed. 
Besides, the ruling motives of his whole 
policy were well known to such men as 
Andrew Melville and Robert Bruce'. 
They were aware of his secret inter- 
course with England, for the purpose of 
promoting his succession to the throne of 
that kingdom ; and they knew that he 
would hesitate at nothing, however base 
and deceptive, which seemed likely to 
forward his views. He knew that there 
was a strong popish party still in Eng- 
land, and he was desirous of conciliating 
them and procuring their support, which 
he sought to do by his lenient treatment 
of his own popish rebels. To this it may 
be added, that the political principles of 
papists were more agreeable to a mo- 
narch so devoted to despotic power and 
uncontrolled prerogative as James, than 
could possibly be the free spirit which 
lived and breathed in the Presbyterian 
Church of Scotland. For the same rea 
son Episcopacy obtained his peculiar fa- 
vour ; as his cunning enabled him to 
perceive, that he might more easily exer- 



A. D. 1594.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



101 



cise an influence upon prelates who de- 
rived from him their wealth and titles, 
and who, as seekers of such selfish pre- 
eminence, were likely to be worldly- 
minded and sycophantish men, than he 
could ever hope to do upon ministers 
who, deriving - nothing from him, owed 
him nothing but natural allegiance. And 
he had another reason for wishing to re- 
store Prelacy ; he thought that his doing 
so would recommend him to the favour 
and support of the English prelates, who 
both hated and feared the Presbyterian 
Church government of Scotland, as a 
standing rebuke to their own unscrip- 
tural system. All these reasons combined 
to induce this crafty yet weak-minded 
monarch to favour the treacherous abet- 
tors of despotism, civil and religious, and 
to discountenance the friends of genuine 
freedom, — a line of policy which he pur- 
sued throughout his life, and left as a 
dire heritage to his successors, and which 
they followed with infatuated pertinacity, 
till the ill-omened race reaped the bane- 
ful fruits of generations of falsehood and 
oppression, and became extinct after years 
of exiled, discrowned, unhonoured, and 
unpitied wretchedness. 

[1594.] It is for the civil historian to 
relate the minor turmoils of the nation ; 
such as those caused by the turbulent 
and ambitious earl of Bothwell, the suc- 
cessor in title and in character of him by 
whom Darnley was murdered and Mary 
disgraced and ruined, but an illegitimate 
scion of the royal race, being a grandson 
of James V. The only reason why such 
events are mentioned here is, that their 
effects were not unfrequently felt in eccle- 
siastical matters ; as, for example, where 
Bothwell, anxious to gain strength, pre- 
tended to befriend the Church, and 
thought thereby to procure the support of 
individual ministers at least, if not of the 
Assembly, so completely did the Church 
stand aloof from him and his measures, 
that he was able to deceive and ensnare 
but one minister; and upon the complaint 
of the king, that minister was deposed, 
till he should satisfy his majesty and the 
Church.* 

The same Assembly which so readily 
testified its abhorrence of treason, by 
punishing one of its own members who 
had been accused of favouring that crime, 

* Boofce of the Universall Kirk. p. 408. 



dealt in the same manner with those 
higher delinquents whose greater offence 
the king seemed more willing to forgive. 
The sentence of excommunication pro- 
nounced against the conspirators by the 
synod of Fife, was approved and ratified 
by the Assembly ; but Lord Home, who 
had also been excommunicated, appear- 
ing and confessing his offence, abjured 
popery, and was released from the sen- 
tence. It deserves to be remarked, that 
the moderator of the Assembly, Andrew 
Melville, not being satisfied with Lord 
Home's professions of repentance, but 
doubting their sincerity, felt conscientious 
scruples respecting pronouncing the act 
of the absolution ; and the Assembly, 
with a due regard to his feelings, ap- 
pointed another person to discharge that 
duty. In more modern times, men who 
made no pretension to tenderness of con- 
science themselves, showed no such tol- 
eration of the conscientious convictions 
and difficulties of others. Yet this is not 
strange, though deplorable ; for men nat- 
urally estimate others by their own stan- 
dard ; and he who knows that for him to 
plead tenderness of conscience would be 
hypocrisy, regards that plea in others as 
entitled to no better name. 

Another instance of the loyalty, public 
spirit, and energy of the Church may be 
stated. The popish lords, who had pre- 
viously entered into a treasonable corres- 
pondence with the King of Spain, and 
who had been so leniently treated by 
James, were again detected continuing 
their treacherous plots. The king, irri- 
tated into sincerity, gave commission to 
the Earl of Argyle to march against the 
traitors, and subdue them by force, while 
he himself proposed to proceed by Aber- 
deen, to see the command fully executed. 
Argyle encountered the rebel lords, but 
sustained a partial defeat. On the day af- 
ter this conflict the king left Edinburgh, 
and marched towards Aberdeen, taking 
with him Andrew and James Melville, 
and some other ministers, to witness his 
zealous discharge of his determination to 
suppress wholly the popish conspirators. 
But before any decisive measures had 
been taken, the money raised by the king 
for the support of the army was so far 
expended, that the troops were on the 
point of being disbanded for want of pay. 
In this emergency, James Melville was 



102 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCil OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. IV. 



sent back to Edinburgh for the purpose 
of inducing the ministers to raise, by the 
contributions of their congregations, a 
sum of money to assist the king. This 
mission he accomplished with extraordi- 
nary speed and success, and thereby ena- 
bled the king to keep his forces together 
till the object of the expedition was ef- 
fected, by the demolition of the strong 
holds of the conspirators. Even this was 
nearly defeated by the vacillation of the 
unstable monarch. Scarcely had James 
Melville left the camp, when James was 
on the point of frustrating the whole 
scheme, by yielding to the advice of those 
who wished him to spare the rebels. 
The energy and high principle of An- 
drew Melville prevailed even in the coun- 
cils of .the camp, and saved his sovereign 
from this disgrace. A little, a very little 
real wisdom might have enabled James 
to perceive who were his best friends and 
.wisest councillors, and upon whom he 
might with the greatest confidence depend 
in any time of emergency ; but unfortu- 
nately for himself and the kingdom, he 
loved flattery better than advice, and pre- 
ferred courtly sycophants to bold and 
honest patriots. 

[1595.] An Assembly was held at 
Montrose in June 1595, in which no 
matters of great importance were trans- 
acted ; but some suggestions were brought 
forward, containing the germs of much 
possible good, although afterwards em- 
ployed for evil. It was proposed that the 
acts of Assembly should be examined, 
and those which had special reference to 
the practice of the Church extracted, and 
joined with the Book of Discipline, for 
the information and guidance of all min- 
isters throughout the kingdom. The pro- 
posal was not carried into execution ; but 
it served to show how completely the 
Book of Discipline was regarded by the 
Church as her standard of government. 
A commission was also given to certain 
brethren to inquire into the state of the 
revenues of the Church in every presby- 
tery, to prevent dilapidations, and to se- 
cure that they should be expended in the 
support of the ministry, according to 
their original destination. But the sug- 
gestion of greatest moment arose from a 
desire to provide a remedy for an abuse 
which had been productive of great in- 
jury to the cause of religion. From the 



time of the regent Morton s administra- 
tion it had been customary for men in 
power to endeavour to throw two or 
three parishes into one, appointing but 
one minister for all, and retaining the 
fruits of the remaining benefices in 
their own hands ; and also to change the 
amount of the teind (or tithe) from year 
to year, so as not unfrequently to compel 
the minister to leave his charge from posi- 
tive want of the necessaries of life. The 
act of annexation, and the erection of tit- 
ular lordships, had greatly increased the 
process of spoliation. To remedy these 
grievances the Assembly proposed that 
some of the most intelligent of the min- 
isters from every province should make 
themselves well acquainted with the af- 
fairs of their own districts, and then con- 
vene in Edinburgh, and draw up a state- 
ment respecting the number of parish 
churches which ought to be in each pres- 
bytery, the amount of available tithes, by 
whom held, and on what tenure ; that, 
acting upon the certain knowledge thus 
acquired, a continuing form, or durable 
arrangement, might be made, by which 
such injurious proceedings might for the 
future be prevented. This " constant 
plat," as it was termed, might have been 
productive of much good had it been 
carried into effect ; but the king, seeing 
the anxiety of the Church to have the 
arrangement made, availed himself of it 
as a measure, by promising to ratify 
which he might induce the ministers to 
comply with some ensnaring scheme of 
his own. 

[1596.] The year 1596 is peculiarly 
memorable in the history of the Church 
of Scotland. " It had," says James Mel- 
ville, " a strange mixture and variety ; 
the beginning thereof with a show of 
profit, in planting the churches with per- 
petual local stipends ; the midst of it very 
comfortable for the exercise of reforma- 
tion and renewing the covenant ; but the 
end of it tragical, in wasting the Zion of 
our Jerusalem, the church of Edinburgh, 
and threatening no less to many of the 
rest.* The first thing which occupied 
the attention of the Assembly was an 
overture from John Davidson, minister 
of Prestonpans, concerning the necessity 
of reforming the many prevalent corrup- 
tions of the Church and the country, 

* Melville's Dairy, p. 222. 



A. D. 1596.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 



103 



The overture met with unanimous appro- 
bation, the conscience of every man pres- 
ent convincing him of his own need 
of humiliation and repentance. Order 
was given that a written form of confes- 
sion should be drawn up, containing an 
enumeration of the evils to be reformed, 
under the four following heads : corrup- 
tions in the persons and lives of the min- 
isters of the gospel ; offences in his ma- 
jesty's house ; the common corruptions 
of all estates ; and offences in the courts 
of justice. On the motion of Melville, 
the means to be employed for reforming 
ministers, and the censures to be inflicted 
eii. 'hem for particular acts of delinquency, 
were specified. As confession is the pri- 
mary step of reformation, the members 
of Assembly agreed to meet by them- 
selves, for the purpose of jointly confes- 
sing their sins, and " making promise be- 
fore the Majesty of God" to amend their 
conduct. They met accordingly in the 
Little Church, on Tuesday the 30th of 
March. John Davidson, the author of 
the overture, was chosen to preside and 
lead their devotional exercises. So deeply 
searching were bis words, that they 
wrought conviction in every heart ; and 
his earnest and humble confession of sin 
drew tears of sincere penitence from 
every eye. While they were in this 
frame of mind, he called upon them to 
pause, and in the privacy of their own 
souls to acknowledge, each man for him- 
self, his personal guilt before God. For 
a quarter of an hour a solemn stillness 
reigned, broken only by deep-drawn sighs 
and heavy, half-stifled sobs, as each man 
searched apart the dark chambers of his 
own bosom. After another fervent prayer 
and impressive address, the}'- rose from 
their seats at his desire, and lifting up 
their right hands, they renewed their 
covenant with God, " protesting to walk 
more warily in their ways, and to be 
more diligent in their charges." " There 
have been many days," says Calderwood, 
" of humiliation for present judgments, or 
imminent dangers ; but the like for sin 
and defection was never seen since the re- 
formation."* 

As this solemn confession of sin re- 
garded the nation, that it might be done 
nationally, the Assembly ordained that it 

Calderwood, pp. 317, 318; Melville's Dairy, pp. 232, 
233- Booke of the Universal! Kirk, pp. 426-429. 



should be repeated in the several synods 
and presbyteries, and that it should also 
be extended to congregations. This or- 
dinance was obeyed with such a degree 
of readiness and fervour, and with such 
manifestations of sincere contrition, as 
proved that it both sprang from and was 
accompanied by the all-pervading power 
of the Spirit of God. At Dunfermline 
the synod of Fife met, and conducted the 
duties of the solemn transaction in a 
peculiarly impressive manner. The 
synod was addressed by David Fergu- 
son, one of the first six ministers engaged 
in the Reformation, and now the sole 
survivor ; who, after giving a brief ac- 
count of the perils that had been encoun- 
tered, and difficulties surmounted in that 
great work, urged his younger brethren 
to fidelity and zeal in their less hazardous 
toils and duties. Many a dark and 
stormy day had the reforming patriarch 
seen and struggled through ; and his 
grave words must have sounded to his 
younger brethren like the voice of warn- 
ing, admonition, and encouragement, 
breathed forth to his sons by a departing 
father. 

Men of the world may smile at the 
thought ; but we do not hesitate to say, 
that we regard this solemn confession of 
sin and renewal of the covenant as an ex- 
press means employed by Divine Provi- 
dence to prepare the Church for the 
wasting conflict in which she was soon 
to be engaged, — the fiery trial through 
which she was soon to pass. It was the 
communication of spiritual strength ena- 
bling her to live through a period of 
dreary oppression and prostrate suffering, 
without which she must have perished ; 
like the food given to Elijah by the angel, 
to sustain him in his journey through the 
wilderness, which would otherwise have 
been ' £ too great for him." 

The attempt to establish the mode of 
supporting the ministry on a firm and 
satisfactory basis, called by the writers 
of that period the " constant plat," occu- 
pied a portion of the attention of the 
Assembly. The scheme proposed for 
consideration was drawn up by Secretary 
Lindsay, and may be seen at length in 
Melville's Diary.* It deserves_ the atten- 
tion of public men yet, containing many 
suggestions which, if carried into effect, 

* Melville's Dairy, pp. 223-229. 



'94 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. IV. 



would grea tly promote the welfare of the 
community. But its principles were too 
sound, and its arrangements too liberal, 
to gain the favour of the king and his 
avaricious courtiers ; who, having seized 
upon what even this scheme terms " the 
patrimony of the Church," could not be 
prevailed upon to make restitution of the 
pillage. The main principles of Lind- 
say's scheme were the same as those 
which had been proposed by Knox and 
the early reformers : — That the whole 
tithes should be regarded as the patri- 
mony of the Church ; and that they 
should be expended in the support of the 
ministers of the gospel, a national system 
of education, and the poor of the land. 
Could this scheme have been carried into 
effect, it must have prevented many evils, 
and produced benefits altogether incalcu- 
lable. It would have placed the minis- 
ters in that happy medium, congenial to 
the spirit of Presbytery, alike . remote 
from the evils and temptations of wealth 
and of poverty, — rendering the return of 
Prelacy impracticable, and delivering the 
Church from those insidious arts by 
which James sought to gain the aid 
of the poor and the ambitious. It might 
also have produced such a harmonious 
adjustment of all the great interests of the 
community, — at once cultivating the na- 
tional mind and mitigating the bitter evils 
of poverty and want, — as would have 
secured the peace and happiness of the 
commonwealth to a degree that never yet 
has been experienced in any age or 
country. But, like every scheme of 
Christian benevolence devised by the 
Church of Scotland, and from time to 
time re-produced by her friends, it was 
frustrated by the narrow and selfish 
views of kings and statesmen, who seem 
never yet to have learned that to secure 
the nation's good, and not their own 
aggrandisement, is the very end of their 
public being, and that, indeed, their own 
true welfare and that of the community 
are one. 

To proceed with our narrative : Ru- 
mours of a near impending Spanish in- 
vasion began to pervade the kingdom. 
While men's minds were in a state of 
great anxiety on account of these tidings, 
and after the king had himself given or- 
ders for military musters, and urged the 
ministers to exhort their people to take 



arms, provide supplies, and prepare to 
meet the meditated attacks, — while the 
public mind was in this state of tremulous 
excitement, an additional element of 
alarm was given by the tidings that the 
popish lords had secretly entered the 
kingdom. The affairs of the court 
tended to increase the public distrust and 
anxiety. Since the death of Chancellor 
Maitland the administration of affairs had 
been entrusted to eight persons, com- 
monly called Octavians, the greater part 
of whom were either known or suspected 
Papists. It was at once believed that 
they were privy to the return of the con- 
spirators, and would exert themselves to 
procure for those traitors both indemnity 
and admission to his majesty's councils; 
in which case the nation might speedily 
be exposed to all the horrors of a popish 
persecution, of which it had not yet lost 
the remembrance. 

It soon appeared that these suspicions 
were too well founded. A meeting of 
the privy council was summoned at Falk- 
land, to take into consideration an offer 
of submission by Huntly, for himself and 
his associates. Certain ministers, whom 
the court judged more complying than 
the rest, were invited to attend this meet- 
ing, to give their advice. Plausible argu- 
ments were employed by the friends 
of the exiled noblemen, to induce the 
council to sanction their return, lest, like 
Coriolanus and Themistocles, they should 
join the enemies of their country : but 
Andrew Melville, who had of his own 
accord joined the other ministers, uttered 
a bold and strong remonstrance against 
receiving into favour convicted traitors 
and popish apostates, enemies at once of 
their native country and of the gospel. 
Melville was commanded to withdraw, 
his presence not having been required, 
which he did, having thus first exoner- 
ated his conscience. The council came tc 
the resolution that Huntly might be re- 
stored upon his acceding to such con- 
ditions as the king and council should 
prescribe. This resolution gave so much 
offence, that the king thought proper 
twice to declare publicly that he did not 
mean to act upon it ; yet a short time 
afterwards a convention of estates was 
held at Dunfermline, and the Falkland 
resolution there approved of and ratified. 

His majesty's manifest breach of faith 



A. D. 1596.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



105 



increased the public alarm so greatly, that 
the commissioners of the Assembly and 
some country gentlemen met at Cupar in 
Fife, and appointed a deputation to wait 
on the king, and petition him to prevent 
the evil consequences which must result 
from such proceedings. It had been 
agreed that James Melville should be the 
person to address his majesty, because of 
his courteous manner, and the favourable 
regard which the king had shown him. 
Scarcely had he begun to speak when 
the king interrupted him, challenged the 
meeting at Cupar as seditious, and ac- 
cused them of exciting causeless fears in 
the minds of the people. As James Mel- 
ville was beginning a reply, couched in 
his mildest terms, his uncle, Andrew, 
finding that the occasion demanded a full 
and uncompromising statement of first 
principles, quitted the subordinate posi- 
tion which he had been willing for the 
time to occupy, and confronting the king, 
began to address him. James endeav- 
oured authoritatively to command Mel- 
ville to silence ; but his high spirit was 
roused, and could not be overborne. 
Seizing the king's robe by the sleeve, in 
the earnestness of his mind and action, 
and terming him i: God 1 s silly vassal ," he 
addressed him in a strain such as few 
kings have ever had the happiness to 
hear, " uttering their commission as from 
the mighty God." 

" Sir," said he, u we will always hum- 
bly reverence your majesty in public ; 
but since we have this occasion to be with 
your majesty in private, and since you 
are brought in extreme danger of your 
life and crown, and along with you the 
country and the Church of God are like 
to go to wreck, for not telling you the 
truth and giving you faithful counsel, we 
must discharge our duty, or else be trai- 
tors both to Christ and you. Therefore, 
Sir, as divers times before I have told you, 
so now again I must tell you, there are 
two kings and two kingdoms in Scot- 
land : there is King James, the head 
of the commonwealth, and there is Christ 
Jesus, the King of the Church, whose 
subject James the Sixth is, and of whose 
kingdom he is not a king, nor a lord, nor 
a head, but a member. Sir, those whom 
Christ has called and commanded to 
watch over his Church, have power and 
authority from Him tc govern his spirit- 
14 



ual kingdom, both jointly and severally ; 
the which no Christian king or prince 
should control and discharge, but fortify 
and assist ; otherwise they are not faithful 
subjects of Christ and members of his 
Church. We will yield to you your 
place, and give you all due obedience ; 
but again, I say, you are not the head of 
the Church ; you cannot give us that 
eternal life which we seek for even in 
this world, and you canno^ deprive us of 
it. Permit us then freely jo meet in the 
name of Christ, and to attend to the inter- 
ests of that Church of which you are the 
chief member. Sir, when you were in 
your swaddling clothes, Christ Jesus 
reigned freely in this land, in spite of all 
his enemies. His officers and ministers 
convened and assembled for the ruling 
and welfare of his Church, which was 
ever for your welfare, defence and pres- 
ervation, when these same enemies were 
seeking your destruction. Their assem- 
blies since that time continually have 
been terrible to these enemies, and most 
stedfast to you. And now, when there is 
more than extreme necessity for the con- 
tinuance and discharge of that duty, will 
you (drawn to your own destruction by a 
most pernicious counsel) begin to hinder 
and dishearten Christ's servants and 
your most faithful subjects, quarrelling 
them for their convening, and the care 
they have of their duty to Christ and 
you, when you should rather commend 
and countenance them, as the godly kings 
and emperors did ? The wisdom of your 
counsel, which I call devilish, is this, that 
you must be served by all sorts of men, 
to come to your purpose and grandeur, 
Jew and Gentile, Papist and Protestant ; 
and because the Protestants and ministers 
of Scotland are over strong, and control 
the king, they must be weakened and 
brought low by stirring up a party against 
them, and, the king being equal and 
indifferent, both should be fain to flee to 
him. But, Sir, if God's wisdom be the 
only true wisdom, this will prove mere 
and mad folly ; His curse cannot but 
light upon it; in seeking both ye shall 
lose both ; whereas in cleaving uprightly 
to God, His true servants would be your 
sure friends, and He would compel the 
rest counterfeitly andlyingly to give over 
themselves and serve you."* 

* Melville's Dairy, pp. 245, 246. 



106 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



CHAP. IV. 



The dignity and power of these high 
sentiments overbore the petulant anger 
of the king ; his heart was awed, and 
his soul felt for a space the hallowed 
energy q£ sacred truth. He uttered no 
wrathful reply ; he attempted not to dis- 
pute the principles to which he had been 
compelled to listen ; but declaring that 
the popish lords had returned without 
his previous knowledge, he pledged his 
word that the proposals which they had 
made to the privy council should not be 
received till they left the kingdom, and 
that even then he would show them no 
favour before they satisfied the Church. 
So ended that remarkable interview be- 
tween the king and Melville, in which 
the latter gave free expression to the sen- 
timents and principles which the Church 
of Scotland has always held as essential 
to the constitutional freedom and purity 
of the Christian Church. That such 
pinciples would not find favour in the 
eyes, of an arbitrary monarch, was not 
surprising ; but that men who at least 
affect to be strenuous advocates of religious 
and civil liberty, should reprehend them 
as lawless and rebellious, might well ex- 
cite feelings of indignant astonishment, 
were it not for the painful truth, that men 
of the world will not perceive and ac- 
knowledge the inseparable connection be- 
tween religious freedom and civil liberty, 
the former as the sacred cause, the latter 
as the effect. Religious freedom cannot 
long exist without producing civil liber- 
ty ; and civil liberty can neither come 
into being without religious liberty, nor 
survive it, even for a day. The Church 
was then, and evermore must be, the 
parent and the guardian of liberty, sa- 
cred and civil, and therefore doubly dear 
to every free-born and free-hearted 
Christian man. 

The solemn pledge of the king was 
soon found to be, as formerly, a frail secu- 
rity. Steps for restoring the popish con- 
spirators were taken, of which public in- 
timation sufficiently intelligible was given, 
by the invitation of the Countess of Hunt- 
ly to the baptism of the Princess Eliza- 
beth, and the appointment of Lady Living- 
ston, an adherent to the Romish Church, 
to have charge of the person of the royal 
infant. These ominous proceedings were 
not unmarked by the nation's vigilant 
guardians. The commissioners of the 



Assembly met at Edinburgh m October, 
and wrote circular letters to all the pres- 
byteries, pointing out the imminent dan- 
gers of the present crisis, and specifying 
the measures necessary to be taken, to 
meet, and, if possible, to avert the peril. 
These remedial measures were, the ap- 
pointment of a day of humiliation and 
prayer, — the renewal of the excommuni 
cation of the popish conspirators, — the 
summoning of a certain number of 
ministers from different parts of the king- 
dom, to form, along with the presbytery 
of Edinburgh, an extraordinary council 
of the church, to receive information, de- 
liberate, and convoke, if necessary, a 
meeting of the General Assembly. 

This energetic procedure of the 
Church convinced the court that some- 
thing more than mere deceit would be 
necessary for the subversion of religious 
and civil liberty. It was therefore deter- 
mined to make a direct assault upon the 
privileges of the Church, hoping thereby 
forcibly to subdue, since they could not 
guilefully delude her. This intention 
came first to the knowledge of the com- 
missioners at an interview which they 
had requested with the king, for the pur- 
pose of endeavouring to remove the 
jealousies which existed between them. 
On that occasion, the king told them 
plainly, that there could be no agreement 
between him and them, " till the marches 
of their jurisdiction were rid," and un- 
less the following points w r ere yielded to 
him : — That the preachers should not in- 
troduce matters of state into their ser- 
mons ; that the General Assembly should 
not be convened without his authority 
and special command ; that nothing done 
in it should be held valid until ratified 
by him in the same manner as acts of 
parliament ; and that none of the church 
courts should take cognizance of any of- 
fence which was punishable by the crim- 
inal law of the land. Some, even in 
the present day, will think that the 
Church ought at once to have assented 
to these conditions. But those who are 
adequately acquainted with the history 
of that period will be well aware, that to 
have done so, would have been putting 
it into the king's power to establish at 
once a pure despotism ; while those who 
have studied the nature of ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction, as contradistinguished from 



iL D. 1596.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



107 



that of civil courts, must also know, that 
to have complied with the king's de- 
mands would have been yielding up the 
very essence of every thing which con- 
stitutes a Church*, and placing all mat- 
ters of doctrine, government, and disci- 
pline, entirely under his control. Such 
an institution as that would have been 
might have been termed the king's 
Church, but could have been no longer 
the Church of Christ. 

The slighest shadow of doubt respect- 
ing the ultimate designs of the court, if 
any had still remained, was soon removed 
by the information that David Black, 
minister of St. Andrews, had been sum- 
moned to answer before the privy coun- 
cil for certain expressions said to have 
been used by him in his sermons. It 
was now evident that the entire over- 
throw of the liberties of the Church was 
intended ; and the commissioners resolv- 
ed to make a firm and united resistance 
to this premeditated attack. They wrote 
to the presbyteries to warn them against 
any attempt to disunite them, directing 
their attention particularly to those sub- 
jects likely to be controverted, and to the 
acts of privy council and parliament by 
which the liberties of the Church had re- 
ceived the sanction of the civil powers. 
To avoid, if possible, a direct collision, 
they endeavoured to persuade the king 
to abandon the prosecution of Black ; 
but finding all their efforts ineffectual, 
and being well aware that if they did 
not resist this attempt, it would speedily 
become a precedent for subjecting the 
whole jurisdiction of the Church to the 
arbitrary will of the king, they came to 
the resolution of advising Black to de- 
cline the judgment of the privy council, 
as incompetent to decide, in the first in- 
stance, on the accusation brought against 
him. A declinature having been drawn 
up to that effect, it was sent through the 
presbyteries, and in a very short time 
subscribed by upwards of three hundred 
ministers. 

There was now an open and avowed 
contest between the civil and ecclesiasti- 
cal authorities ; and not merely the peace 
of the kingdom, but the interests of re- 
ligion for generations w r ere involved in 
the issue. The Church displayed an 
extraordinary degree of unanimity in 
this dangerous crisis : even those who 



were not peculiarly distinguished for 
zeal in ordinary cases cast aside their 
lethargy, and joined warmly in the de- 
fence of the threatened right of the 
Church. Spotswood himself was, or 
seemed to be, peculiarly forward to de- 
fend the men and the cause, whom he 
was afterwards more than suspected of 
at that very time secretly betraying, and 
whom he afterwards basely and falsely 
calumniated. Previous to giving in his 
general declinature, Black was summon- 
ed before the council, super inquirendis^ 
about unspecified matters into which in- 
quiry was to be made ; and when he ob- 
jected to this mode of procedure as in- 
quisitorial and illegal, he was then told 
that the accusation was restricted to mat- 
ters complained of by the English am- 
bassador, as assailing the character of 
Elizabeth. So trivial was the first form 

! of accusation, that even the king said he 

| " did not think much of the matter ; only 
he should take some course for pacifying 
the English ambassador ; but take heed 

, that you do not decline the judicatory ; for 
if you do, it will be worse than any 
thing that has fallen out." The Eng- 
lish ambassador was easily pacified ; but 
that did not serve the king's purpose : 
and accordingly a new charge was 
brought against him, ranging over the 

I alleged improper language of the three 
preceding years. In vain did Black pro- 

I duce testimonials from the provost and the 
professors of St. Andrews ; the council 

j was determined to proceed. On the day 

I fixed for hearing the cause, he was as- 
sisted by Pont and Bruce ; but the 
council rejected the declinature, disre- 
garded the testimonials, found the 
charges against him proved, and sen- 
tenced him to be confined beyond the 
Tay, until his majesty resolved what 
farther punishment should be inflicted. 

This unjust and oppressive sentence 
was not pronounced without a very 
solemn warning having been previously 
given by the Church. On the morn- 
ing of Black's trial, the commissioners 
presented to the king and council an ad- 
dress, containing their deliberate senti- 
ments respecting the nature of the con- 
test in which they were engaged, and the 
momentous consequences which it in- 
volved. A portion of this document 
must be given, for the vindication of the 



108 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. [CHAP. IV. 



Church of Scotland from the calumnies 
of her enemies, and for the exposition of 
the truly Christian and patriotic senti- 
ments by which the ministers were ani- 
mated. 

" We are compelled, for clearing of 
our ministry from all suspicion of such 
unnatural affection and offices towards 
your majesty and the state of your 
majesty's country, to call that great Judge 
who searcheth the hearts, and shall give 
recompence to every one conform to the 
secret thought thereof, to be judge be- 
twixt us and the authors of all these ma- 
licious calumnies. Before His tribunal 
we protest, that we always bore, now 
bear, and shall bear, God willing, to our 
life's end, as loyal affection to your ma- 
jesty as any of your majesty's best sub- 
jects within your majesty's realm, of 
whatsoever degree ; and, according to 
our power and calling shall be, by the 
grace of God, as ready to procure and 
maintain your majesty's welfare, peace 
and advancement, as any of the best af- 
fectioned whosoever. We call your 
majesty's own heart to record, whether 
you have not found it so in effect to your 
majesty's straits, and if your majesty be 
not persuaded to find the like of us all, 
if it shall fall out that your majesty have 
occasion in these difficulties to have the 
trial of the affection of your subjects 
again. Whatsoever we have uttered, 
either in our doctrine or in other actions 
toward your majesty, it hath proceeded 
of a zealous affection toward your majes- 
ty's welfare, above all things next to the 
honour of God, as we protest ; choosing 
rather by the liberty of our admonitions 
to hazard ourselves, than by our silence 
to suffer your majesty to draw on the 
guiltiness of any sin that might involve 
your majesty in the wrath and judgment 
of God. In respect whereof we most 
humbly beseech your majesty so to es- 
teem of us and our proceedings, as tend- 
ing always, in great sincerity of our 
hearts, to the establishing of religion, the 
surety of your majesty's estate and crown 
(which we acknowledge to be insepar- 
ably joined therewith), and to the com- 
mon peace and welfare of the whole 
country. We persuade ourselves, that 
howsoever the first motion of this action 
might have proceeded upon a pu -pose of 
your majesty to have the limits of the 



spiritual jurisdiction distinguished from 
the civil, yet the same is entertained and 
blown up by the favourers of those that 
are, and shall prove in the end, the 
greatest enemies that either your majesty 
or the cause of God can nave in this 
country; thinking thereby to engender 
such a misliking betwixt your majesty 
and the ministry as shall by time take 
away all farther trust, and in end work 
a division irreconcilable, wherethrough 
your majesty might be brought to think 
your greatest friends to be your enemies, 
and your greatest enemies to be your 
friends. There is no necessity at this 
time, nor occasion offered on* our part, 
to insist on i.he decision of intricate and 
unprofitable questions and processes ; al- 
beit, by the subtle craft of adversaries of 
your majesty's quietness, some absurd 
and almost incredible suppositions 
(which the Lord forbid should enter in 
the part of Christians, let be in the 
hearts of the Lord's messengers) be 
drawn in and urged importunately at 
this time, as if the surety and privilege of 
your majesty's crown and authority royal 
depended on the present decision thereof. 
We must humbly beseech your majesty 
to remit the decision thereof to our law- 
ful Assembly, that might determine there- 
upon according to the Word of God. 
For, this we protest in the sight of God, 
according to the light that he hath given 
us in his truth, that the special cause of 
the blessing that remaineth and hath re- 
mained upon your majesty and your 
majesty's country, since your coronation, 
hath been, and is, the liberty which the 
Gospel hath had within your realm; 
and if your majesty, under whatsoever 
colour, abridge the same directly or indi- 
rectly, the wrath of the Lord shall be 
kindled against your majesty and the 
kingdom, which we, in the name of the 
Lord Jesus, forewarn you of, that your 
majesty's and your council's blood lie not 
upon us."* 

These solemn and evidently heart- 
wrung remonstrances had no effect upon 
James and his council : they were so in- 
tent upon their great design of humbling 
the Church, that the earnest pathos and 
fervent piety of the ministers made no im- 
pression upon their callous and haughty 
hearts. Still, with astonishing forbear* 

* Calderwood, pp. 344, 345. 



A. D. 1596.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



109 



ance and patience, the commissioners of 
the Church continued to strive for peace, 
if it could be obtained without the aban- 
donment of sacred principles. Again 
they sought an interview with his majes- 
ty, for the purpose of attempting an 
agreement ; but nothing would satisfy 
the king, except the complete submission 
of Black to every point of his accusation. 
The ministers answered with sad and 
solemn earnestness, "that if the matter 
concerned only the life of Mr. Black, or 
that of a dozen others, they would have 
thought it of comparatively trifling im- 
portance ; but as it was the liberty of the 
Gospel, and the spiritual sovereignty of 
the Lord Jesus, that was assailed, they 
could not submit, but must oppose all 
such proceeding, to the extreme hazard 
of their lives." This declaration, uttered 
by Bruce in his grave and serious man- 
ner, moved the heart of the king for a 
moment, till he even shed tears ; and 
that night he pondered anxiously and 
rested little, perceiving that his attempt 
was likely to be followed by consequences 
which he had not anticipated.* But his 
courtly parasites soon regained their as- 
cendency : the Lord President Seaton 
persuaded him that he could not, without 
loss of honour, abandon the prosecution ; 
his remorse passed away ; and again he 
prosecuted his designs, with even in- 
creased asperity and violence. 

The king, by a proclamation, ordered 
the commissioners of the Asssembly to 
leave Edinburgh, declaring their powers 
unwarranted and illegal ; and an act of 
council was passed, ordaining the minis- 
ters, before receiving payment of their 
stipends, to subscribe a bond, in which 
they promised to submit to the judgment 
of the king and the privy council as often 
as they were accused of seditious or trea- 
sonable doctrine ; and commanding all 
magistrates in burghs, and noblemen and 
gentlemen in country parishes, to inter- 
rupt and imprison any preachers whom 
they should hear uttering such language 
from pulpits. At the same time a circu- 
lar missive was prepared, for calling a 
convention of Estates, and a General 
Assembly, to be held at Edinburgh, on 
the 15th of the following February, to 
take into consideration " the whole order 

' Calderwood, p. 349; Life of Bruce; Livingstone's 
Memorable Characters, p. 74. 



and policy of the Kirk." From this it 
was perfectly evident that the entire over* 
throw of the Presbyterian Church was 
intended. 

On the 17th of December, a rumour 
being spread that the Earl of Huntly had 
arrived in the capital, and been admitted 
to the presence of the king, the ministers 
and the citizens became greatly alarmed ; 
which was increased by the fact, that 
a charge had just been given to twenty- 
four of the most zealous of the towns- 
men to remove from Edinburgh. In 
this state of excitement an evil-disposed 
person (supposed to be an emissary of 
that courtier party called the Cubiculars) 
gave an alarm that the Papists were com- 
ing to massacre the Protestants. Absurd 
as this outcry would have appeared in a 
cooler moment, it was enough to raise a 
temporary tumult, through the combined 
influence of fear and imagination. No 
injury, however, was done to any one, 
either in person or property ; and by the 
exertions of the ministers and the magis 
trates the tumult was speedily quieted 
This tumult, although utterly insignifi- 
cant in itself, gave the king and the cour 
tiers the opportunity for which they had 
so long wished, of a colour to their own 
violent proceedings. Next morning 
early the king quitted Holyrood-house 
and hastened to Linlithgow. Immedi- 
ately upon his departure, a proclamation 
was issued, requiring all in public office 
to repair to him at Linlithgow, and com- 
manding all strangers instantly to leave 
the capital. Fiercer proclamations im- 
mediately followed. The ministers of 
Edinburgh were ordered to enter into 
confinement in the castle; the magis- 
trates were commanded to apprehend 
them ; and the tumult was declared to be 
" a cruel and barbarous attempt against 
his majesty's royal person, his nobility, 
and council, at the instigation of certain 
seditious ministers and barons ;" and all 
who had been accessory to it, or should 
assist them, were declared to be liable to 
the penalties of treason. A short time 
afterwards the king entered Edinburgh 
at the head of a hostile array, as if he had 
been taking possession of a captured 
town, breathing forth denunciations of 
vengeance, and threatening to raze the 
city to the ground, and to erect a monu- 
ment where it stood, to perpetuate the 



110 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP IT, 



memory of such an execrable treason ! 
The terrified citizens crouched before the 
storm of royal wrath, surrendered all 
their rights civil and sacred, subscribed 
such a bond as the king pleased to im- 
pose, and being sufficiently humbled and 
enslaved, were, by what Spotswood terms 
his majesty's unparalleled " grace and 
clemency," restored to favour. 

1597. During this royal and courtly 
paroxysm the ministers of Edinburgh 
were advised by their friends to with- 
draw from the capital ; which they re- 
luctantly did, after Bruce had written a 
very able and eloquent apology for him- 
self and his colleagues. This apology 
was copied by Spotswood himself, to aid 
in its dissemination, and in the copying 
he contrived to " give it a sharper edge."* 
A letter written by the Edinburgh min- 
isters to Lord Hamilton, requesting him 
to intercede with the king in behalf of 
the Church, was also falsified, as there is 
strong reason to believe, by the same 
treacherous hand, while Spotswood was 
all the time pretending the utmost zeal in 
defending the liberties of the Church. 
It were well that every reader of Spots- 
wood were aware of the deceitful and 
perfidious part acted by that designing 
and ambitious man, that they might know 
how little trust is to be reposed in any of 
his statements, and that writers on the 
prelatic side might, for very shame, cease 
to repeat his gross and malicious fabrica- 
tions. 

Affairs being in this condition, — the 
ministers of Edinburgh in exile or con- 
cealment, the citizens humbled and pros- 
trate, and a false imputation cast upon the 
whole conduct of the Church, — the king 
proceeded to the execution of his long- 
cherished scheme. Fifty-five questions 
respecting the government and discipline 
of the Church, drawn up by Secretary 
Lindsay, were published in the name of 
the king, and a convention of estates and 
a meeting of the General Assembly were 
called by royal authority, to meet at 
Perth in the end of February, to consider 
these questions. But the spirit of the 
Church was not yet broken. Answers 
to his majesty's proposition? were pre- 
pared by the synods, of Lothian and Fife ; 
and while the king was requested to pro- 
rogue the extraordinary meeting which 

* Calderwood, p. 369. 



he had called, the Presbyteries, in case 
he should not comply, were instructed in 
the line of conduct which they should 
pursue ; and not a minister of any note 
could be prevailed upon to subscribe the 
bond of submission framed and promul- 
gated by the king.* 

This prompt and energetic conduct 
convinced the king that sheer power 
would never enable him to triumph over 
men who could suffer and die, but not 
violate their duty to God. But there was 
yet one resource ; the General Assembly 
might be vitiated by the introduction of 
false, ambitious, and unprincipled bre- 
thren, and thereby the Church made to 
fall by a suicidd blow. Sir Patrick 
Murray, one of the gentlemen of the bed- 
chamber, was sent to the northern parts 
of the kingdom, to visit the presbyteries 
of Angus, and Aberdeenshire, and to in- 
duce the ministers of those remote dis- 
tricts to subscribe his majesty's bond, and 
to come to Perth to the ensuing Assem- 
bly. Partly by flatteries and misrepre- 
sentations, and partly by striving to raise 
a spirit of jealousy in the northern minis- 
ters against the ascendancy of their south- 
country brethren, the royal emissary sped 
so well, that, when the Assembly met, it 
was found that the royal assentators 
formed a majority. 

The first struggle was on the question, 
whether this was a lawful Assembly? 
and after a debate of three days, the 
affirmative was carried by a majority of 
votes, some even of the south-countr}'' 
ministers being corrupted by the royal 
intrigues. His majesty's questions were 
next taken into consideration ; and such 
answers were given to the leading propo- 
sitions, which alone were laid before 
them, as enabled the king to introduce 
his measures in a more plausible manner 
than formerly, with the seeming sanction 
of the Church, f Thus did the king suc- 
ceed in partially accomplishing by strat- 
agem and " kingcraft," to use his own 
term, what force and persecution could 
not effect. 

The next meeting of the Assembly 
was held at Dundee, by the kings ap- 
pointment, in May ; and notwithstanding 
all his majesty's artifice, and the aid of his 
northern battalions, it was with the utmost 

* Melville's Dairy, pp. 256, 257. 

t Booke of Ihe Universal] Kirk, pp. 443, 444. 



A. D. 1598.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



Ill 



difficulty that he was able to carry his 
measures. The Assembly of Perth was 
declared lawful, with an explanation ; its 
acts were approved, but with certain qual- 
ifications ; and the additional answers 
now given to the king's questions were 
very guardedly expressed. To advance 
his schemes with an Assembly so much 
on its guard, required all the peculiar 
cunning of the crafty monarch ; but craft 
was his element, and false pretences were 
his weapons ; and thus he prevailed over 
men who were too honest themselves 
thoroughly to understand his guile. He 
requested them to appoint a committee of 
their number, with whom he might ad- 
vise on certain important affairs which 
they could not at present find leisure 
to determine, such as the arrangements 
to be made respecting the ministers of 
Edinburgh and St. Andrews, the plant- 
ing of vacant churches in general, and 
the providing of local and fixed stipends 
for the ministers throughout the king- 
dom. To this the Assembly agreed, and 
nominated fourteen ministers, to whom, 
or any seven of them, they granted 
power to convene with his majesty, for 
the above purposes, and to give him ad- 
vice " in all affairs concerning the weal 
of the Church, and entertainment of peace 
und obedience to his majesty within his 
realm."* This was indeed, as Calder- 
wood says, " a wedge taken out of the 
Church, to rend her with her own forces." 
It enabled the king to frame and mature 
his devices, and to introduce them into 
the Church through what might be 
termed his ecclesiastical council. By 
their means also, he called before him 
presbyteries, reversed their decisions, and 
restored one suspended minister to his 
office, — a species of direct interference 
with ecclesiastical government to which 
at least one parallel might be pointed out, 
with this important difference — that what 
the king prevailed on his ecclesiastical 
council to do, a modern civil court has 
done of itself. 

Availing himself of the advantage he 
had gained, James induced his ecclesias- 
tical council to present a petition to the 
parliament which met in December, re- 
questing that the Church might be repre- 
sented, and have a voice in the supreme 
council of the nation. This petition the 

* Booke of the Universall Kirk, p. 461. 



king induced the parliament to grant ; 
and it was declared that Prelacy was the 
third estate of the kingdom ; that such 
ministers as his majesty should please to 
raise to the dignity of prelates should 
have full right to sit and vote in parlia- 
ment; and that bishoprics, as they be- 
came vacant, should be conferred on 
none but such as were qualified and dis- 
posed to act as ministers or preachers. 
This spiritual power to be exercised by 
bishops in the government of the Church, 
was left by parliament to be arranged by 
his majesty and the General Assembly. 
Thus the introduction of episcopacy was 
attempted to be concealed under the pre- 
text of giving to the Church a vote in 
the national councils, for the security of 
her rights and the- advancement of her 
welfare. 

It will be observed by the attentive and 
intelligent reader, that even in this inno- 
vation there was an intermixture of con- 
stitutional propriety. It was so contrived 
that the proposal for representatives in 
parliament came first from the commis- 
sioners of the Church ; and when the 
parliament agreed to the request, its en- 
actment provided only that all ministers 
appointed to prelacies should have vote 
in parliament ; that is, it restored the po- 
litical rank of prelates, but left to the 
Church its own province untouched, to 
restore or not the prelatic office. And 
had the Church not been so much cor- 
rupted by the king, but refused to allow 
ministers to accept of prelacies, the act of 
parliament must have remained a dead 
letter, and the scheme proved abortive. 
It may be added, that the king had a 
double object in view in the matter, — 
both to obtain the means of silencing the 
bold and free admonitions and censures 
of the Church, by subjecting the ecclesi- 
astical to the civil judicatories, and to ac- 
quire a body of creatures of his own 
within the parliament, by whose assis- 
tance he might control all its proceed- 
ings. The measure in short, was a 
deadly blow aimed at the very heart of 
liberty, civil and religious, as subsequent 
events ere long very clearly proved. 

[1598.] Measures being thus far pre- 
pared, the next step was to prevail upon 
the Church to accede to the arrange- 
ment proposed by the act of parliament j 
and for this purpose the commissioners, 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. IV. 



who were wholly gained over by the 
king", wrote a circular letter to their 
brethren, putting the most plausible con- 
struction on the scheme, and in particular 
representing it as essential to the procuring 
of legislative sanction to the " constant 
plat," — the provision for a permanent 
ministry and fixed local stipends. This 
letter gave rise to long and keen debates 
in the several synods, particularly in that 
of Fife, where it was strongly opposed 
by both the Melvilles, by the venerable 
reforming patriarch Ferguson, and by 
Davidson, who, pointing out clearly that 
the proposed parliamentary voter was a 
bishop in disguise, exclaimed, " Busk, 
busk, busk him as bonnilie as ye can, 
and fetch him in as fairlie as ye will, we 
see him weill eneuch ; we see the horns 
of his mitre."* 

A meeting of the General Assembly 
was convoked by the king, at Dundee, 
in the Month of March 1598, expressly 
for the purpose of taking the late act of 
parliament into consideration. The most 
strenuous exertions were made by his 
majesty to get the Assembly packed and 
constructed according to his mind. The 
Aberdeenshire legion was again impor- 
tunately summoned to the scene ; his 
own ecclesiastical council was thorough- 
ly trained for its appointed task ; every 
means had been used to bring, as elders 
from the presbyteries, those noblemen 
and gentlemen who had already voted 
for the measure in parliament ; and even 
after the Assembly met, several days 
were spent, before entering into business 
by his majesty, in holding private per- 
sonal intercourse with the members, en- 
deavouring to corrupt, intimidate, or ca- 
jole them into compliance. Not even 
then did he venture to proceed with his 
pernicious scheme, till he had banished 
Andrew Melville, not only from the As- 
sembly, but even out of the town. The 
business was then introduced by a speech 
from his majesty himself ; in which, 
after descanting complacently on the 
great services he had rendered the 
Church, and his anxiety still farther to 
promote her welfare, which, he alledged, 
could only be done by the proposed mea- 
sure, he solemnly disclaimed any inten- 
tion of bringing in popish or Anglican 
bishops, averring that his sole object was, 

• Melville's Dairy, p. 289. 



that some of the best and wisest of the 
ministry chosen by the General Assem- 
bly, should have a place in the privy 
council and parliament, to sit in judgment 
on their own affairs, and not to stand, as 
they had too long stood, at the door, 
like poor suppliants, disregarded and de- 
spised.* 

The question was put in this form, — 
" Whether it was necessary and expedi- 
ent, for the welfare of the Church, that 
the ministry, as the third estate of this 
realm, should, in the name of the Church, 
have a vote in parliament." A warm 
and protracted debate ensued, all the best 
and ablest ministers rejecting earnestly 
that elevation to wealth, rank, and power, 
which weak, worldly-minded, and ambi- 
tious men so greatly covet. It was at 
length carried in the affirmative, by the 
slender majority of ten, after all the arti- 
fices which the king had employed, and 
carried chiefly by the votes of the elders, 
a number of whom, it was asserted, had 
no commission. A protest was then 
given in by Davidson against the pro- 
ceedings of this and the two foregoing 
Assemblies, on the ground of their not 
being free, but overawed by the king, 
and restricted in their due and wonted 
privileges ; to which protest upwards of 
forty ministers adhered. It was then 
agreed by the Assembly, that fifty-one 
ministers should be chosen to represent 
the Church, according to the ancient 
number of the bishops, abbots, and priors ; 
and that their election should belong 
partly to the king and partly to the 
Church. But when resolutions respect- 
ing the manner of electing the parlia- 
mentary representatives, the duration of 
their commission, their names and reve- 
nues, were proposed, many of the king's 
party began to waver, alarmed at the 
consequences of their own act; and it 
was deemed expedient to leave these mat- 
ters for further consideration by the pres- 
byteries, synods, and the next Assembly, 
which was appointed to meet at Aber- 
deen in July 1599. 

Numerous meetings and conferences 
were held throughout the kingdom ; and 
the more that the measure was investiga- 
ted, the less was it approved of by the 
ministers. In a conference held at Falk- 
land, the whole measure met such a de- 

* Calderwood, p. 418. 



A. D. 1600.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



Ii3 



cided opposition, that the king thought 
proper to prorogue the appointed meet- 
ing of Assembly, and had recourse again 
to that private influence to which he 
owed his previous success. 

[1599.] In November 1599, another 
conference was held at Holyrood-house, 
called by the king, and attended by 
ministers from all parts of the country. 
The whole subject was then fully dis- 
cussed, chiefly, it appears, for the purpose 
of ascertaining the arguments likely to 
be used against the measure in the next 
Assembly, that the court party might be 
prepared with their answers. The sub- 
stance of this remarkable conference is 
given by James Melville in his Diary, 
and will well repay a careful perusal, by 
those who wish to ascertain the real sen- 
timents of the Church of Scotland at this 
memorable period of her history. The 
• conclusion of this conference was, that 
James, finding the discussion going de- 
cidedly against him, broke it off in anger, 
threatening that he would leave the re- 
fractory ministers to sink deeper and 
deeper into poverty ; and would, besides, 
of his own authority, put into the vacant 
bishoprics persons who would accept of 
them, and who would do their duty to 
him and to his kino-dom.* 

[1600.] On the 28th day of March 
1600, the General Assembly met at Mon- 
trose. The most intense interest was felt 
by the whole kingdom in the meeting 
and the proceedings of this Assembly ; 
as it was manifest that upon its decision 
would depend the continuation or the 
overthrow of the Presbyterian form of 
church government in Scotland. The 
previous conferences had made both par- 
ties aware of each other's arguments, and, 
in a great measure, of each other's 
strength : and each appears to have en- 
tertained strong expectations of success. 
On the one hand, the staunch Presbyte- 
rians, holding firm by the great princi- 
ples of the Reformation, by the acts of 
parliament formerly passed in their fa- 
vour, and, above all, by the clear and 
plain language of Scripture, confided in 
the goodness of their cause, and trusted 
m the support of their divine Head and 
King. On the other, the court party, 
aware of the dislike entertained by the 
sovereign, the nobility, and all the looser- 

' Melville's Dairy, pp. 296-303. 
15 



living part of the community, against the 
strictness and impartiality of Presbyte- 
rian discipline, and knowing the influ- 
ence which the temptations of wealth, 
rank, and power must always exercise 
upon the selfish minds of poor and am- 
bitious men, trusted that, by these con- 
siderations, and by the personal exertions 
of the crafty monarch himself, the tri- 
umph of their measure would be secured. 

Andrew Melville had been chosen by 
the presbytery of St. Andrews as one of 
their representatives, and went accord- 
ingly to Montrose ; but the king, dread- 
ing his influence and his power of argu- 
ment, strictly prohibited him from taking 
his seat in the Assembly. He remained, 
nevertheless, in the town, and gave his 
brethren the benefit of his advice, during 
the course of the proceedings. After 
some preliminary business had been ar- 
ranged, the Assembly proceeded to the 
consideration of that which was the great 
object of its meeting, — the propriety of 
ministers voting in parliament. The 
opponents of the measure brought for- 
ward a formidable train of arguments 
against it, such as its supporters felt it 
impossible to answer ; who thereupon 
had recourse to evasions, and deceptive 
endeavours to draw their antagonists 
from their impregnable position. The 
king, perceiving his party evidently 
losing ground, and the whole scheme 
exposed to imminent peril, interposed his 
arbitrary authority, declaring that the 
preceding Assembly had already deci- 
ded the general question in the affirma- 
tive, that its decision must be held final 
on that point, and that they had only to 
determine respecting minor arrangements. 
This interference on the part of his ma- 
jesty saved "his measure from defeat ; for 
there is reason to think, that if the gene- 
ral question had been then put to the 
vote, the whole scheme would have been 
negatived. For, on the subordinate but 
kindred question, whether the parliamen- 
tary voters should retain their place for 
life, or be annually elected, it was car- 
ried, in spite of all the influence of the 
court, by a majority of three, in favour 
of annual election. Yet James, in the 
exercise of his favourite -king-craft," 
prevailed upon the clerk to draw up the 
minute stating that vote in such a man- 
ner as essentially to change its meaning,. 



114 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP IV. 



and virtually to grant the very thing 
which it was intended to reject ; and in 
this vitiated form he contrived to procure 
for it the sanction of the Assembly, to- 
wards the close of its sittings, when its 
vigilance was diminished.* 

To render the introduction of this 
measure somewhat less intolerable than 
it would otherwise have been, the court 
party agreed to all the " caveats" or cau- 
tions which had been proposed in the 
conference at Falkland, for protecting the 
liberties of the Church, and guarding 
against the introduction of Prelacy. The 
voters were to have the name, not of 
bishops, but of commissioners of the 
Church, in parliament. The General 
Assembly, with the advice of synods and 
presbyteries, were to nominate six in 
each province, of whom his majesty 
should choose one, as the ecclesiastical 
representative of that province. The 
commissioner was to be allowed the rents 
of the benefice to which he should be 
presented, after provision had been made 
out of them for the churches, colleges, 
and schools. And, that he might not 
abuse his power, it was provided, — That 
he should not propose any thing to par- 
liament, convention, or council, in the 
name of the Church, without her express 
warrant and direction, nor consent to the 
passing of any act prejudicial to the 
Church, under the penalty of deposition 
from' his office: That at each General 
Assembly he should give an account of 
the manner in which he had discharged 
his commission, and submit, without ap- 
peal, to the censure of the Assembly, 
under the pain of infamy and excommu- 
nication : That he should rest satisfied 
with the part of the benefice allotted to 
him, without encroaching upon what 
was assigned to other ministers within 
his province : That he should not dilapi- 
date his benefice, nor dispose of any part 
of its rents, without the consent of the 
General Assembly : That he should per- 
form all the duties of the pastoral office 
within his own particular congregation, 
subject to the censures of the presby- 
tery and synod to which he belonged : 
That in all parts of ecclesiastical govern- 
ment and discipline, he should claim no 
more power or jurisdiction than what be- 

* Calderwood, pp. 438, 439; M'Crie's Life of Melville 
fi. pp. 58-62. 



longed to other ministers, under the pain 
of deprivation : That in meetings of pres- 
bytery and other church courts he should 
behave himself in all things, and be sub- 
ject to censure, in the same manner as 
his brethren : That he should have no 
right to sit in the General Assembly 
without a commission from the presby- 
tery : That, if deposed from the office of 
the ministry, he should lose his vote in 
parliament, and his benefice should be- 
come vacant : And that the very fact of 
ambitiously soliciting the office should 
itself, on conviction, be a sufficient cause 
of deposition and all its consequences. 
It was ordained, that these " caveats" 
should be inserted, " as most necessary 
and substantial points," in the body of an 
act of parliament to be made for confirm- 
ing the vote of the Church; and that 
every commissioner should subscribe and 
swear to observe them, when he was ad- 
mitted to that peculiar appointment.* 

It will be admitted that these regula- 
tions were well adapted to render the 
king's measures as harmless as possible, 
if strictly observed. But, to use the words 
of Spotswood, " it was neither the king's 
intention, nor the minds of the wiser sort, 
to have these cautions stand in force ; 
but, to have matters peaceably ended, and 
the reformation of the policy made with- 
out any noise, the king gave way to these 
conceits." f And yet these "conceits" 
were publicly ratified by act of Parlia- 
ment, and Spotswood himself, as well as 
others of "the wiser sort," solemnly swore 
to observe them. But to such an accom- 
plished master of " king-craft" as James, 
and to such worldly-wise churchmen as 
Spotswood and his coadjutors, the viola- 
tion of national faith, and the direct per- 
jury of men styling themselves ministers 
of the gospel, seemed but a slight sacri- 
fice to make for the introduction of their 
beloved Prelacy into a church and a 
kingdom, both of which cordially ab- 
horred and dreaded its very name and 
nature, as equally a corruption of the 
Christian ministry and an instrument of 
political despotism. 

The perfidious designs of the king and 
the " wiser sort" were very soon dis- 
played. A meeting of the commission 
ers of the General Assembly was called 

' Booke of the Universall Kirk, pp. 482-487. 
T Spotswood, ~>. 435. 



A. D. 1600.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 



115 



by the king in the month of October fol- 
lowing - , to have their advice respecting 
the settlement of ministers in Edinburgh, 
and to consult on other matters to be pro- 
posed to parliament for the good of the 
Church and kingdom. Pursuing his 
usual policy, the king got James Mel- 
ville and two other ministers appointed 
on a committee to transact some other 
business ; and during their absence, he, 
with the consent of those present, sum- 
marily nominated David Lindsay, Peter 
Blackburn, and George Gladstanes, to 
the vacant bishoprics of Ross, Aberdeen, 
and Caithness. This transaction was 
carefully concealed from the absent mem- 
bers until the meeting was dissolved ; 
and the bishops appointed in this clan- 
destine manner sat and voted in the en- 
suing parliament, in direct violation of 
the cautions to which they had so lately 
given their consent. But these cautions, 
though thus early violated, and though 
their protective power was thus proved 
to be ineffectual to prevent the lawless 
deeds of a treacherous king and perfidi- 
ous churchmen, were not therefore of no 
avail. Their enactment served to show 
the mind and the principles of the purer 
part of the Church of Scotland ; and, re- 
maining on the statute-book unrepealed, 
like the clause of the convention of Leith 
subjecting bkhops to the General Assem- 
bly, they, together with that clause, be- 
ing revived and called into operation in 
better times, gave to the Church of Scot- 
land the means and the power of depo- 
sing and excommunicating her perjured 
betrayers. 

If the Church of Scotland had been in 
my doubt respecting the arbitrary inten- 
tions of the king, that doubt must have 
been completely dispelled by two differ- 
ent works published by the royal author 
about this time. These were, his Free 
haw of Free Monarchies, and his Basil- 
icon Doron, or instructions of the king 
to his son, Prince Henry. In the former 
of these productions his majesty expresses 
with abundant clearness his notions of a 
free monarchy, which according to him, 
;s the government of " a free and abso- 
lute monarch," — a king free to do what 
he pleases, — in short, a perfect despotism, 
in which the arbitrary will of the sove- 
reign is above all law with a parlia- 



ment to register and execute his com- 
mands, and a people his passively-obedi- 
ent and unresisting slaves. In the latter, 
the Basilicon Doron, the extent and na- 
ture of the king's hatred of the Presbyte- 
rian Church w r as revealed, as may be 
seen from the propositions extracted from 
that treatise, and condemned by the sy- 
nod of Fife. These propositions were 
the following : — That the office of a king 
is of a mixed kind, partly civil and partly 
ecclesiastical : That a principal part of 
his function consists in ruling the Church : 
That it belongs to him to judge when 
preachers wander from their text ; and 
that such as refuse to submit to his judg- 
ment in such cases ought to be capitally 
punished : That no ecclesiastical assem- 
blies ought to be held without his con- 
sent : That no man is more to be hated 
of a king than a proud puritan : That 
parity among ministers is irreconcilable 
with monarchy, inimical to order, and 
the mother ^f confusion : That puritans 
had been a pest to the commonwealth 
and Church of Scotland, wished to en- 
gross the civil government as tribunes of 
the people, sought the introduction of de- 
mocracy into the State, and quarrelled 
with the king because he was a king : 
That the chief persons among them 
should not be allowed to remain in the 
land: And that parity in the Church 
should be banished, Episcopacy set up, 
and all who preached against bishops 
rigorously punished.* 

Surely no man of common intelligence 
and candour will deny that the Church 
of Scotland had good reason to be jealous 
of a monarch who could pen such gross 
slanders and outrageous opinions ; and 
yet, at the very same time, the royal dis- 
sembler was publicly and loudly declar- 
ing that nothing was farther from his 
mind than the introduction of the prelatic 
system into Scotland! But oaths and 
law r s were in his view fetters of iron to 
Presbyterian ministers and the commu- 
nity, and threads of gossamer to kings 
and prelates. The policy of principle he 
knew not, because he was himself un- 
nrincipled ; but the policy of falsehood, 
cunning, and sycophancy, he well under- 
stood and practised, and crowd-id its 
whole essence into his favourite ecclesi 

* Melville's Diary, p. 295. 



116 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP IV. 



astico-political aphorism, " No bishop^ no 
king" which his own comment explains 
to mean, No bishop, no despot. 

An event occurred in the same year, 
1600, the consequences of which proved 
exceedingly detrimental to the Church of 
Scotland. This was that mysterious 
event known in history by the name of 
the Gowrie conspiracy, the true nature of 
which has never been fully unveiled. 
Leaving the discussion of such topics to 
the civil historian, to whose province they 
belong, we proceed to state the baneful 
consequences to the Church arising out 
of this strange conspiracy. An order 
was issued by the privy council, com- 
manding all ministers to give thanks for 
his majesty's deliverance, according to a 
prescribed form ; and for not using the 
very words of that form, the ministers of 
Edinburgh were called before the coun- 
cil, and candidly acknowledged that they 
were not thoroughly convinced of Gow- 
rie's treason, although they respected the 
king's account of the matter, and were 
willing to express thankfulness that he 
had been delivered from danger, provided 
they were not at the same time obliged to 
express any opinion respecting its nature 
and extent. Five of them were immedi- 
ately banished from the capital, and pro- 
hibited from preaching in Scotland. Of 
these, four soon submitted : but the re- 
maining one, Robert Bruce, not being 
convinced, would not violate his con- 
science by saying what he did not be- 
lieve, and was banished from the king- 
dom. He was afterwards allowed to re- 
turn to his native country, but not to 
Edinburgh ; and his offence was never 
forgiven, — an offence in which nearly all 
the kingdom, and almost every historian, 
shared. After his return he was banished 
for a time to Inverness : then allowed to 
reside in his own house at Kinnaird, 
near Stirling ; then removed to the vi- 
cinity of Glasgow, watched and perse- 
cuted by the bishops, and beloved and 
revered by every good and pious man 
throughout the kingdom, many of whom, 
and among others the celebrated, Alexan- 
der Henderson, owed their conversion to 
his i istrumentality. But James could 
never forgive him for two dire offences ; 
he had rendered great services to his 
country, and he had been injured by the 
king ; for the one the sovereign hated 



him, because it could neither be denied 
nor compensated ; and for the other, be- 
cause it is natural for malignant men to 
hate those whom they injure. To this 
may be added, that the king bore towards 
Bruce that instinctive antipathy which 
men of little minds cherish against those 
in the presence of whom their dwarfish 
intellect shrinks into its native insignifi- 
cance, rebuked and crouching.* 

A considerable number of the minis- 
ters throughout the country were brought 
into much trouble on account of their ex- 
pressing sympathy with the ministers of 
Edinburgh, and with Bruce in particu- 
lar. And it deserves to be mentioned, 
that the king availed himself of the con- 
fusion and distress into which this affair 
had cast the Church, for completing his 
eversive schemes ; for it was while James 
Melville and two of his like-minded 
brethren were conversing with the per- 
secuted ministers of Edinburgh, that 
James nominated three of his creatures 
to the vacant bishoprics, as above related. f 

[1601.] A meeting of the General 
Assembly was held at Burntisland in 
May 1601, by the appointment of James, 
who called it two months earlier than had 
been previously arranged. He was in- 
duced, probably, to take this step, partly 
in consequence of the failure of an em 
bassy which he had sent to Rome to pro- 
pitiate the papal influence, and partly 
because of the odium which he had 
incurred by the slaughter of the Earl of 
Gowrie, the accusation of treason against 
whom the mass of the nation could not be 
induced to believe. To this Assembly 
James Melville sent a letter, pointing out 
very faithfully the corruptions still re- 
maining in the Church and nation, and 
urging his brethren to fidelity in the dis- 
charge of their public duty \ but this 
letter the king thought proper to suppress. 
A letter to the same effect, but expressed 
in stronger terms, written by the venera- 
ble John Davidson, was read in the 
Assembly, contrary to his majesty's incli- 
nation. Davidson's letter was instrumen- 
tal in leading the Assembly back to the 
sacred ground so frequently occupied by 
its predecessors. They entered into a 
serious deliberation on the " causes of the 
general defections from the purity, zeal, 
and practice of the true religion in all 

* Calderwood *)p. 444-446. t lbd., pp. 445, 44G. 



A. D. 1602.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



117 



estates of the country, and how the same 
may be most effectually remedied." The 
king himself either yielded to, or for a 
short while participated in, the general 
feeling. He rose up and addressed the 
Assembly with great appearance of sin- 
cerity, tears moistening his eyes as he 
spoke. He confessed his offences and 
mismanagement in the government of the 
kingdom; and lifting up his hand, he 
vowed in the presence of God and of the 
Assembly, that he would, by the grace 
of God, live and die in the religion pre- 
sently professed in the realm of Scotland, 
de f end it against all its adversaries, min- 
iste; justice faithfully to his subjects, 
reform whatever was amiss in his person 
or family, and perform all the duties of a 
good and a Christian king better than he 
had hitherto performed them. At the 
request of his majesty, the members of 
Assembly in a similar manner renewed 
their vows ; and it was ordained that this 
mutual vow should be intimated from the 
pulpits on the following Sabbath, to con- 
vince the people of- the good dispositions 
of his majesty, and the cordiality subsist- 
ing between him and the Church.* 

Various other matters were transacted 
irr this Assembly, of little public impor- 
tance, with one exception, — a proposal to 
review and improve the common transla- 
tion of the Bible, and the metrical version 
of the Psalms. Into this proposal the 
king entered with great cordiality, availed 
himself of the opportunity of displaying 
his acquaintance with the Scriptures, and 
his knowledge of their original lan- 
guages, and subsequently set himself to 
the task of attempting a new poetical ver- 
sion of the Psalms. 

Although the king had, in the Assem- 
bly held at Burntisland, made the most 
solemn declaration of love to the Church 
of Scotland, yet as soon as his fit of devo- 
tion, and perhaps of remorse, wore off, 
he returned to his course, and continued 
to prosecute his measures for the subver- 
sion of that Church which he so often 
swore to maintain. Upon the represen- 
tation of his parasite Gladstanes, he con- 
fined Andrew Melville within the pre- 
cincts of the College of St. Andrews ; 
and he continued tc demand from Bruce 
concessions which he well knew that 

* Melville's Dairy, pp. 329-331 ; Caldorwood, pp. 
447-456 ; Booke of the Universall Kirk, pp, 491-499. 



upright man could never make, that he 
might have some pretext for continuing 
to prosecute and oppress him. And when 
the synod of Fife met, and proceeded, 
with accustomed sincerity and boldness, 
to express complaints and animadversions 
respecting public matters, the king en- 
deavoured first to circumvent, and then to 
intimidate James Melville, in neither of 
which attempts did he succeed. 

[1602.] The Assembly had been ap- 
pointed to meet in July 1602, at St. An- 
drews ; but the king, on his own author- 
ity, postponed it till November, changing 
the place of meeting to the chapel at 
Holyrood-house. This arbitrary mode 
of dealing with the meetings of the 
Assembly excited considerable apprehen- 
sion, numbers of the most faithful minis- 
ters regarding it as, what in all proba- 
bility it was intended for. — a mode of 
familiarizing the minds of the minfsters 
generally with the idea that the meeting 
of the Assembly was wholly dependent 
on the pleasure of his majesty, and might 
be postponed indefinitely, or altogether 
disallowed, whenever he should think 
proper. A protestation against this arbi- 
trary procedure was given in by James 
Melville. Yet when the Assembly fairly 
entered upon its duties, it was soon appa- 
rent that a great number of the ministers 
were still true Presbyterians. Several 
important acts were passed concerning 
the visitation, examination, and censure 
of synods, presbyteries, pastors, and con- 
gregations ; and regulations were framed 
of a very searching nature, well calcu- 
lated to test the conduct and character of 
the Church, both office-bearers and ordi- 
nary members, and to prevent that laxity 
of discipline and morals wdiich .the pre- 
latic party were but too certain to intro- 
duce, should their machinations be suc- 
cessful. 

In this Assembly's records we find 
mention of a case of some importance, as. 
indicative of the views of the. Church, 
respecting the appointment of ministers 
at that period. The synod of Glasgow 
brought a complaint against Mr. George 
Semple, who had been presented to the 
parish of Killelane, and whom the synod 
had forbidden to intermeddle with the 
ministry in that parish, for various rea- 
sons, but especially on account of a great 
dislike which several of the parishioners 



118 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. IV. 



entertained against him. The A ssembly 
inquired into the case, acquitted Mr. Sem- 
ple of the charges brought against his 
character in general ; but, in respect of 
the great dislike between him and the 
parishioners. " think it not good that he 
be planted minister at the said kirk, and 
therefore ordained him to desist there- 
from, and demit the presentation made to 
him of the benefice thereof."* 

This Assembly was the last which 
was recognised by the Church of Scot- 
land as a free and lawful Assembly, from 
that time till the year 1638. And indeed 
even the Assembly of 1602 can scarcely 
be called a free Assembly. It was held 
in the very precincts of the palace ; some 
of the most influential men in the Church 
were violently prevented from attending 
it ; and on several occasions the king 
and his minions interrupted the proceed- 
ings when these began to take a course 
of which the despotic monarch and his 
flatterers did not approve ; as, for instance, 
when an accusation was brought against 
Spotswood, that he had been present at 
the superstitious and idolatrous popish 
service of the mass, when he was recently 
in France, the court party interfered, and 
contrived to prevent the process against 
him from going forward. 

[1603.] On the last day of March 1603, 
intelligence of the death of Glueen Eliza- 
beth having reached Scotland, James was 
proclained king of Scotland, England, 
France, and Ireland : and in the High 
Church of Edinburgh on the following 
Sabbath, he addressed the assembled peo- 
ple, and once more declared his approba- 
tion of the Church of Scotland, disclaim- 
ing all intention of making any farther 
alteration in its government. But even 
in the moment of his exultation on ac- 
count of his easy accession to such an 
increase of wealth and power, he relented 
not in his determination to perpetrate the 
punishments which he had inflicted on 
Bruce and Davidson, unless they would 
confess themselves guilty of an offence in 
a matter in which they saw nothing guilty 
or offensive. If they could have flattered 
and falsified, they might easily have re- 
gained his favour ; that is, they might 
have regained, by ceasing to deserve it; 
but because they could not be other than 
honest and conscientious men, they could 

* Booke of the Universal] Kirk, p. 529. J 



not recover the favour of their vain, weak- 
minded, and obstinate sovereign. 

The Presbyterian Church of Scotland 
had little reason to expect that its govern- 
ment and discipline would obtain addi- 
tional favour from a sovereign who had 
long plotted their overthrow, now that he 
had obtained a vast accession of wealth 
and power, and was surrounded by the 
dignitaries of the prelatic Church of Eng- 
land. Still, it was not from the English 
bishops, so much as from their own 
treacherous countrymen, that the Scottish 
ministers were most apprehensive of dan- 
ger ; according to the well-known fact, 
that the renegade becomes the greatest 
zealot. The Hampton Court conference 
between the High Church party and the 
puritan Non-conformists, which took 
place soon after James's arrival in Lon- 
don, indicated with sufficient distinctness 
what might be expected ; especially when 
his majesty, in his first speech in parlia- 
ment, expressed his tender indulgence of 
papal errors, and his utter detestation of 
the puritans, with "their confused form 
of policy and parity," whom he termed 
" a sect insufferable in any well-governed 
commonwealth." The proposal for a 
union of the two kingdoms gave addi- 
tional alarm to the Church of Scotland, 
who saw in such a measure, especially 
after the utterance of such sentiments, the 
greatest danger to the Presbyterian estab- 
lishment. 

In this dangerous juncture the synod 
of Fife again put itself boldly in the front 
of the conflict. When the Scottish par- 
liament met to deliberate upon the propo- 
sal for a union, the synod of Fife applied 
for liberty to hold a General Assembly ; 
and when this was declined, the synod 
addressed the commissioners of the As- 
sembly, reminded them of their duty and 
their responsibility to the Church at all 
times, and particularly in this hour of 
danger. They adjured the commission- 
ers to defend the government of the 
Church of Scotland, as not resting upon 
conventional grounds, capable of being 
changed or altered, but upon Divine au 
thority, equally as the other articles of 
religion did ; declaring that they would 
rather suffer death itself than see the 
overthrow of the Presbyterian Church. 
This spirited remonstrance had a most 
beneficial effect. The parliament passed 



A. D. 1605.] 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



119 



an act in conformity with its views, de- 
claring, that the commissioners for the 
union should have no power to treat of 
any thing that concerned the religion and 
ecclesiastical discipline of Scotland.* 
This, it may be remarked, was of the 
very same nature as the celebrated Act 
of Security, passed about a century after- 
wards, as the basis of the union then 
really formed ; and we shall have occa- 
sion to show how little such an act was 
able to accomplish directly the purpose 
for which it was intended, but yet, as in 
the other instances, of how much service 
it may finally be productive. A great 
constitutional principle, law or declara- 
tion, may remain for any indefinite length 
of time not dead but dormant ; and may 
at length be aroused into potential activ- 
ity, so as to realize the full developement 
of that precious germ which it so long 
preserved. 

[1604.1 Events very soon proved that 
the dangers dreaded by the Church were 
not imaginary. When the time ap- 
proached that the General Assembly 
should meet, which had been appointed 
to be on the last Tuesday of July 1604, 
at Aberdeen, his majesty prorogued it till 
the conferences respecting the union 
should be over, and postponed its meeting 
till the same month of the following 
year. But the presbytery of St. Andrews 
being resolved to exonerate themselves 
from the blame of allowing their sacred 
rights to be violated without remon- 
strance, enjoined their representatives to 
keep the appointed meeting, notwith- 
standing the royal prorogation, which 
they accordingly did ; and finding none 
present to assist them in holding an As- 
sembly, they took a formal protest that 
they had done their duty, and that the 
danger to the .privileges and rights of the 
Church, arising from the cowardly neg- 
lect of others, should not be imputed to 
them. 

This bold and faithful conduct acted 
like the kindling of a beacon in the time 
of a threatened invasion. The next meet- 
vng of the Synod of Fife bore the aspect 
sf a General Assembly, so many dele- 
gates from all parts of the kingdom as- 
sembled, to consult what course should 

* Calderwood, pp. 479482; M'Crie's Life of Mel vile, 
rol. i. pp. 108, 109 



now be taken in defence of their reli- 
gious liberties. This synodical meeting, 
and an extraordinary one subsequently 
held at Perth, went as direct to the cause 
of these evils as they constitutionally 
could, charging not the king, but the 
parliamentary bishops, with hindering 
the meeting of the Assembly, for the pur- 
pose of prolonging their own powers, 
and of evading the censures which their 
conduct had deserved. . It was resolved 
that petitions should be sent from all the 
synods, requesting his majesty to allow 
the Assembly to meet for the transaction 
of important business. The terror and 
wrath of the parliamentary bishops and 
expectant commissioners were great ; 
and Gladstanes procured an order from 
the king to throw the two Melvilles into 
prison, in revenge for their activity, — an 
order which the privy council did not 
deem it expedient at the time to execute. 

[1605.1 But the king had resolved upon 
his course ; and when the time for the 
meeting of the General Assembly again 
drew near, it was again prorogued, not- 
withstanding the numerous petitions sent 
to court, requesting its meeting to be al- 
lowed. And, as if to remove all doubt 
respecting his design, his majesty, in /pro- 
roguing the Assembly, mentioned no 
time for its next meeting. This rendered 
it evident that nothing less than its entire 
suppression was intended, and, by inev- 
itable consequence, the overthrow of the 
Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the 
erection of Prelacy. This was directly 
contrary to the act of parliament 1592, 
in which it was expressly stipulated that 
the Assembly should meet at least once 
every year ; it was contrary even to the 
acts of parliament and Assembly passed, 
for the introducing of commissioners of 
the church into parliament, who were 
annually to render to the Assembly an 
account of their conduct, subject to cen- 
sure and deposition if they had acted im- 
properly. The suppression of the meet- 
ing of Assembly was a virtual bestowal 
of permanence in their function on these 
parliamentary bishops and commission- 
ers, and to that extent was directly ever- 
sive of the constitution and government 
of the Presbyterian Church. It was 
therefore imperatively necessary for the 
Church now to oppose these perfidious 



120 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. IV. 



and arbitrary encroachments, and to de- 
fend her sacred liberties, or to be for ever 
enslaved. 

When the Assembly was thus pro- 
rogued, the time of its meeting was so 
near at hand that several presbyteries 
had already chosen their representatives. 
The interval was too short to admit of 
such deliberations and transmission of 
opinions as would have enabled the 
whole Church to act in a body, and ac- 
cording to one systematic plan ; but nine 
presbyteries resolved to send their repre- 
sentatives to Aberdeen, with instructions 
to constitute the Assembly, and adjourn 
it to a particular day, without proceeding 
to transact any business. For it was still 
hoped that his majesty might be pre- 
vailed upon to alter his course ; and the 
Church was extremely reluctant to take 
any exasperating steps, but merely to 
secure formally its sacred and statutory 
rights. 

On the 2d of July 1605, nineteen min- 
isters met, after sermon in the session- 
house of Aberdeen ; and the king's com- 
missioner, Straiton ^f Lauriston, pre- 
sented to them a letter from the lords of the 
privy council, addressed " To the brethren 
of thte ministry convened at their Assembly 
in Aberdeen." The very address of this 
letter not only authorized the Assembly, 
but rendered it necessary, that it should 
be formally constituted before the letter 
could with propriety be read. This was 
done accordingly ; and while they were 
engaged in reading the letter, a messen- 
ger-at-arms entered, and, in the king's 
name, charged them to dismiss, on the 
pain of rebellion. The Assembly de- 
claring their readiness to comply with 
this order, requested the commissioner to 
name a day and place for their next 
meeting ; and upon his refusal, the mod- 
erator appointed the Assembly to meet 
again in the same place on the. last Tues- 
day of September ensuing, and then dis- 
solved the meeting with prayer. It was 
afterwards pretended by the commis- 
sioner, that he had prohibited the Assem- 
bly by open proclamation at the market- 
cross of Aberdeen on the day before it 
met ; but when Andrew Melville charged 
him, in presence of the king, with hav- 
ing falsified the date, he had nothing to 
answer, and could not produce a single 



! person who had heard the proclamation 
on that day.* 

Is there one man who understands the 
principles and values the rights of reli- 
gious and civil liberty, that will condemn 
the proceedings of this much calumnia- ' 
ted Assembly ? The right of the minis- 
ters of the Church of Scotland to meet at 
least once a-year in a General. Assembly, 
had been always asserted, had been se- 
cured by acts of parliament, and had re- 
ceived repeatedly the express sanction of 
his majesty. And when these sacred 
rights and legislative enactments were 
attempted to be destroyed by the arbitrary 
will of the sovereign, on the bare au- 
thority of a loyal proclamation, the min- 
isters of the Church of Scotland would 
have been unworthy of the names they 
bore, the station they occupied, and the 
great cause in defence of which they 
stood forth, had they acted in any other 
manner than they did, — had they not con- 
fronted every danger, rather than submit 
to measures which aimed at the estab- 
lishment of a perfect despotism. It does 
not seem too much to say, that these high 
principled christian ministers were the 
chosen instruments, in the hand of the 
Divine Head and King of the Church, 
for the preservation of that sacred prin- 
ciple, — the right of the office-bearers and 
members of the Christian Church to 
meet and deliberate respecting religious 
matters, and to exercise a spiritual juris.- 
diction therein, free from all civil control. 
And though for a time the strong arm of 
power might crush the devoted defenders 
of that sacred principle, the principle it- 
self, when once fully made known and 
resolutely asserted, was indestructible, 
because it was true, and because God was 
its defender. 

The wrath of the king, when informed 
of the meeting of the Assembly at Aber- 
deen, knew no bounds. He instantly 
sent orders to Scotland to proceed with 
the utmost rigour against the ministers 
who had presumed to contravene his 
command. Fourteen of the most emi- 
nent were sent to prison to wait their 
trial, John Forbes, moderator of the late 
Assembly, and John Welsh, son-in-law 
of Knox, being confined in separate dun- 
geons in the castle of Blackness. Acting 

* Calderwooii, pp. 492494. 



A. D. 1606 ] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



121 



according to the principles of the Church 
of Scotland, they declined the jurisdic- 
tion of the privy council in a matter 
purely ecclesiastical ; and this being, as 
formerly, regarded as an aggravation of 
their offence, they were indicted to stand 
trial for high treason before the Court of 
the Justiciary at Linlithgow. The able 
defence of Forbes and Welsh, supported 
by the legal reasonings of Thomas Hope, 
and countenanced by Andrew Melville, 
could not avail to rescue the victims from 
the gripe of the tyrant. Every species of 
corruption was employed by James's un- 
worthy minions to secure a verdict against 
them, which was at length obtained by a 
majority of no more than three.* 

Six eminently pious and able ministers 
were thus condemned and cast into prison, 
to wait his majesty's pleasure what sen- 
tence should be pronounced. Eight more 
remained for trial ; and the relentless des- 
pot sent orders to proceed without delay 
to a repetition of the same perversion of 
law and justice. But the heart of Scot- 
land began to swell with sympathy for 
the sufferers ; and the privy council sent 
intimation to the king, that it would not 
be safe to proceed with the trial in the 
present temper and feeling of . the nation. 
James yielded to the remonstrance so far 
as to release the eight ministers from 
prison, but banished them to the remotest 
parts of the kingdom. The six who had 
been convicted, after suffering fourteen 
months' imprisonment in the Castle of 
Blackness, were banished into France. 

Such were the first-fruits of the intro- 
duction of Prelacy into Scotland, — the 
violation of acts of parliament, the cor- 
ruption of courts of justice, and the ban- 
ishment of ministers eminently distin- 
guished by personal piety, and by success 
in the discharge of their sacred duties ; 
and so early was the foundation laid in 
Scottish experience for what has become 
a national proverb, — " that prelatic Epis- 
copacy never appeared in Scotland but as 
a persecutor." 

[1606 ] In the month of February 
1606, an evasive attempt was made by 
the king, at the instigation of the bishops, 
to procure the consent of the synods to 
five articles, intended to secure the bish- 
ops and commissioners from the conse- 
quences of their violation of all the cau. 

* Calderwood, pp. 499-516. 

16 



tions they had sworn to observe, and also 
to admit the power which the king 
claimed over the meetings of the General 
Assembly. But although the synods were 
cunningly summoned to meet on the 
same day all over the kingdom, so that 
there could be no interchange of opinion 
among them, the result was, that only 
one synod, that of Angus, assented to the 
proposed articles. 

A parliament w T as held at Perth in 
August the same year, for the purpose 
chiefly of proceeding with the restoration 
of Prelacy. In order to effect this, it was 
necessary to repeal the t atute annexing 
the temporalities of bishoprics to the 
crown, and to restore them to those who 
should be nominated to the episcopal of- 
fice. This intention becoming known, 
the ministers from all quarters repaired 
to Perth, remonstrated against this de- 
sign, and finally gave in a protest to each 
of the three estates. This protest was 
signed by forty-two ministers, three of 
whom not long afterwards accepted bish- 
oprics, to their perpetual disgrace. The 
protest itself may be seen in Calderwood, 
and also in the introduction to Stevenson ; 
and deserves an attentive perusal, as an 
able embodiment of the opinions enter- 
tained by the leading men in the Church 
at that period, — opinions which all ages 
would do well to cherish. An arrange- 
ment was made between the nobility and 
the prelatic party to the following effect! 
That the wealth and lands formerly pos- 
sessed by abbots, priors, &c, in virtue of 
which those persons had voted in parlia- 
ment, and as representing which so many 
commissioners of the Church had re- 
cently been admitted to sit and vote, 
should be alienated from the Church, and 
erected into temporal lordships ; and that, 
on the other hand, there should be seven- 
teen prelacies erected, and the bishops 
restored to all their ancient honours, dig- 
nities, privileges, and prerogatives. In 
the preamble to the strange and arbitrary 
act by which this base arrangement was 
ratified, and which was for a considera- 
ble time kept as secret as possible, his ma- 
jesty is recognized as " absolute prince, 
judge, and governor over all estates, 
persons, and causes, both spiritual and 
temporal.* 

A short while previous to the meeting 

* Act Pari. Scot. iv. pp. 2S1-2S3 ; Celderwood, p. 532. 



122 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. IV. 



of parliament, letters were sent by the 
king to six of the most distinguished of 
the ministers who had not been already 
seized on account of the Aberdeen As- 
sembly. These six were, Andrew and 
James Melville, William Scott, John Car- 
michael, William Watson, James Bal- 
four, • Adam Colt, and Robert Wallace. 
They were commanded to repair to Lon- 
don, that his majesty might treat with 
them concerning such things as would 
settle the peace of the Church, and would 
justify to the world the measures which 
his majesty, after such extraordinary 
condescension, might find it necessary to 
adopt for repressing the obstinate and 
turbulent. The ministers had little doubt 
what would be the issue. The course of 
the king's conduct in times past pointed 
out with sufficient plainness what was 
his probable design. Like the tyrant of 
antiquity, James knew that the safest 
method of reducing a nation to slavery 
was to begin by cutting off its leading 
and free-spirited men. Bruce and Welsh 
were already in exile ; and if the Mel- 
villes could also be removed, he might 
secure the comparatively easy accom- 
plishment of his favourite scheme, — the 
overthrow of the Church of Scotland, 
and the establishment of Prelacy. 

The heart sickens at the very recital 
of such a continued course of royal 
knavery and prelatic treachery ; and we 
feel compelled to trace with more rapid 
and summary course the remaining 
stages of this disgraceful period of our 
national history. When the six minis- 
ters arrived at London, they were admit- 
ted to an interview with the king, and 
questioned respecting their opinion of the 
Assembly which met at Aberdeen, not- 
withstanding the royal prorogation. 
Every endeavour was used to draw them 
into the use of language which might 
furnish a plausible pretext for instituting 
proceedings against them ; and at length, 
on the despicable charge against Andrew 
Melville, of having written an epigram 
censuring pointedly the superstitious cere- 
monies which he had been compelled to 
witness in the Chapel Royal, he was 
brought to trial as guilty of a treasonable 
act. Notwithstanding the singularly able 
and eloquent defence of Melville, he was 
committed to the Tower, subjected to a 



tedious imprisonment of four years, and 
at length allowed to go to Sedan, where 
he remained till his death. His nephew 
was also prohibited from returning to 
Scotland, and the remaining four from 
returning to their parishes, although not 
implicated in the offence charged against 
him ; but thus the crafty tyrant contrived 
to cut down the tallest. 

The king and his bishops thinking 
themselves now tolerably secure of car- 
rying their measures, hastened with 
keen speed to the work. Missives were 
addressed by the king to the several pres- 
byteries, informing them that an Assem- 
bly w T as to be held at Linlithgow on the 
10th of December, and naming the per- 
sons whom they were to send as repre- 
sentatives. Thus even the choice of 
their own representatives was to be taken 
away before the king could expect to 
threaten or cajole the Presbyterian minis- 
ters into the reception of his beloved Pre- 
lacy. Some of the presbyteries refused 
to grant any commission to the king's 
nominees ; and others strictly prohibited 
them from taking part in the decision of 
any ecclesiastical question. When this 
packed Assembly met, a letter from his 
majesty was read, recommending the 
appointment of constant moderators of 
presbyteries, and that the bishops should 
be the moderators of the presbyteries 
within whose bounds they resided. 
Even in this carefully-selected Assembly 
it required all the art of the king's com- 
missioner, and a repetition of the deceit- 
ful protestations and cautions of the per- 
jured prelates, to carry a measure so re- 
pugnant to every Presbyterian principle. 
It was carried, however ; and when sent 
to his majesty to be ratified, it returned 
with an interpolation, appointing the 
bishops to be moderators of provincial 
synods, as well as of presbyteries Le- 
gal charges were sent to all the synods 
and presbyteries to admit the constant 
moderators ; and the synod of Angus 
confirmed its bad pre-eminence by being 
the only one that did not refuse.* Fierce, 
violent, and outrageous were the at- 
tempts made by the king's agents to force 
the bishops as constant moderators upon 
the synods and presbyteries, and in al- 
most every instance unsuccessfully. 

* Calderwood, pp. 550-554. 



A. D. 1610.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



123 



though many ministers were thrown into 
prison, and disgraceful tumults raised by 
the prelatic party. 

[1607.] The whole of the year 1607 
was employed by the prelates and their 
supporters in their endeavour to force the 
constant moderators upon synods and 
presbyteries, by every method which 
craft could devise or tyranny execute. 

[1608.] But the bishops perceiving 
that these forcible measures were rous- 
ing the spirit of the country, had recourse 
to a stratagem which wrought more ef- 
fectually. A conference was held at 
Falkland, between the Prelatists and the 
faithful presbyterians, with the pretext of 
attempting to come to an amicable ar- 
rangement, and put an end to the strifes 
and divisions by which the country was 
distracted. Following up this policy, an 
Assembly was held at Linlithgow about 
the end of July, in which the Prelatists 
repeated their wish for a peaceful and 
amicable discussion on the points in dis- 
pute, some of them pretending that they 
began to be of opinion that Prelacy was 
more agreeable to Scripture than the 
Presbyterian form of church government. 
This fallacious pretext produced the de- 
sired effect. It lulled many of the vigi- 
lant Presbyterians into security, or di- 
rected their attention to speculative dis- 
cussions, while their wily antagonists 
were pressing forward their machina- 
tions practically. 

[1609.] A parliament was held at 
Edinburgh in 1609, in which the bish- 
ops were present, but none of the minis- 
ters received, intimation of its meeting, 
that they might, as usual, present their 
requests to the national legislature. 
Considerable progress was accordingly 
made by the prelates in the prosecution 
of their measures. Spotswood, now arch- 
bishop of Glasgow, was made a Lord of 
Session ; and the bishops were empower- 
ed to modify and fix the stipends of minis- 
ters, — a power which they did not scruple 
to employ for the pupose of bribing ad- 
herents, and of starving antagonists. 
Thus were the bishops restored by Par- 
liament to the civil jurisdiction formerly 
held by the popish prelates. 

[1610.] On the 16th of February 1610 
a commission was given under the great 
seal of the two archbishops of St. An- 
drews and Glasgow, to hold two courts 



of high Commission. These courts, it 
may be mentioned here, were united in 
1615, when Spotswood was translated to 
St. Andrews, and thereby became pos- 
sessed of what in popish times had been 
the primacy. Never was a more tyran- 
nical court instituted than that of High 
Commission. It was regulated by no 
fixed laws or forms of justice, and was 
armed with the united terrors of civil and 
ecclesiastical despotism. It had the 
power of receiving appeals from any ec- 
clesiastical judicatory ; of calling before 
it all persons accused of immorality, 
heresy, sedition, or an imaginary offence ; 
or finding them guilty upon evidence 
which no court of justice would have sus- 
tained ; and of inflicting any punishment 
either civil or ecclesiastical, or both, 
which it thought proper. " As it exalted 
the bishops far above any prelate that 
ever was in Scotland, so it put the king 
in possession of what he had long desired, 
namely, the royal prerogative and abso- 
lute power to use the bodies and goods 
of his subjects at his pleasure, without 
form or process of law : so that our bish- 
ops were fit instruments of the over- 
throw of the freedom and liberty both of 
the Church and realm of Scotland."* 

An Assembly was held at Glasgow on 
the 8th of June, the same year. Pre- 
vious to its meeting, the king, by the di- 
rection of the bishops, sent circular let- 
ters to the presbyteries, nominating as on 
a former occasion, their representatives ; 
and the Earl of Dunbar was sent from 
London as king's commissioner, well pro- 
vided with golden persuasives to use in 
lack of better arguments. His majesty's 
dictatorial letter was read ; threats and 
promises were plentifully employed ; 
and at length the whole of the prelatic 
measures were carried, only five votes 
being given against them. The Aber- 
deen Assembly of 1 605 was condemned ; 
the right of calling and dismissing As- 
semblies was declared to belong to the 
royal prerogative ; the bishops were de- 
clared moderators of diocesan synods, 
and all presentations to benefices were 
appointed to be directed to them ; and 
the power of excommunicating and ab- 
solving offenders, and of visiting the 
churches within their respective dioceses, 

* Melville's Hist, of Decl. Age. pp. 270-276; Calder 
wood, pp. 616-619. 



124 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. IV 



was conferred on them. Thus did this 
packed, and intimidated, and bribed con- 
vention (often called the Angelical As- 
sembly, in allusion to the angels, a gold 
coin used in bribing the mercenary prela- 
tists), consent to the introduction of the 
corrupt and corrupting prelatic system 
of church government. Not more strong- 
ly contrasted are Prelacy'and Presbytery 
in their forms and ceremonies, than in 
the methods by which they were estab- 
lished in Scotland. The faithful preach- 
ing of the gospel, open and manly ar- 
gument, and the pure lives of its teachers, 
were the means employed by Presbytery 
to fix itself in the heart of Scotland : ar- 
bitrary power, dissimulation, perfidy, 
treachery, corruption, and persecution, 
were the methods by which Prelacy was 
introduced, nourished, and confirmed. 
Till these facts have perished from the 
records of history, little else will be re- 
quired by any right-hearted and unpre- 
judiced man, to enable him to answer the 
question, Which of the two systems is of 
human invention, and which of divine 
institution 7 

The perfidious acts of the Glasgow 
Assembly were kept for a time concealed 
till the prelates were ready to have them 
enforced. Yet great opposition was 
made in many parts of the country, and 
the persecution of faithful ministers was 
resumed. Spotswood, Lambe, and 
Hamilton, went to London to obtain con- 
secration of their episcopal functions, and 
that they might afterwards legitimately 
consecrate their prelatic brethren. 

[1612.] Nearly two years elapsed be- 
tween the Glasgow Assembly and the ra- 
tification of its acts by the parliament, in 
October 1612 5 but in the ratification the 
acts were so far changed as to render 
them more according to the wish of the 
prelates, especially of Spotswood, who 
directly asserts that this act rescinded and 
annulled that of 1592.* By the influ- 
ence of the same ambitious man, also, the 
Courts of High Commission were subse- 
quently united in 1615, and he was 
placed at the head of this prelatic inquisi- 
tion. 

[1616 ] No Assembly was held till 
August 1616, when it was summoned to 
meet at Aberdeen. It is chiefly remark- 
alr le on account of a new Confession of 

• Spotswood, p. 518. 



Faith, drawn up by the prelatic party, 
sufficiently orthodox in its doctrines, but 
meagre and evasive in respect of church 
government and discipline, for a very 
evident reason * By this accommoda- 
ting Assembly the popish lords were re- 
ceived into favour, and subscribed the 
new Confession. The prelatic party had 
indeed outgrown the patriarchs of the 
Reformation. 

[1617.] In 1617 the king paid a visit 
to his ancient kingdoms j expecting, pro- 
bably, to find matters more to his liking 
under the prelatic sway than formerly. 
He soon found, however, that the ancient 
spirit was not wholly fled. A considera- 
ble number of the ministers gave in a 
protestation against a proposal that the 
king, with the advice of the prelates and 
some of the ministry, should have power 
to enact ecclesiastical laws ; and when 
David Calderwood was summoned be- 
fore the Court of High Commission on 
account of this protestation, he declined 
its jurisdiction. Some sharp altercation 
passed between him and the king, which 
Calderwood has himself recorded in a 
very graphic manner, t The result was, 
that he was banished out of the kingdom, 
and compelled to depart during the 
stormy winter weather, the king coarsely 
saying, that should he be drowned it 
would save him from a worse fate. A 
sort of Assembly was held at St. Andrews 
in the end of October, for the purpose of 
completing the prelatic innovations ; but 
it proved rather premature, and that com- 
pletion was reserved for the following 
year. 

[1618.] On the 25th of August 1618, 
the General Assembly met at Perth, in 
obedience to the royal mandate. During 
the preceding summer months, every 
possible device which craft or despotism 
could suggest, had been used to prepare 
such an Assembly as would be sufficiently 
subservient ; and when the Assembly 
met, nothing was left undone to ensure a 
prelatic triumph. They met in what was 
called the Little Kirk, in which a long 
table was placed in the centre, benches 
arranged on each side of it, and at the 
head a cross table, with chairs for his 
majesty's commissioners and the modera- 
tor. The nobility, gentry, and prelates 
placed themselves on the benches, leaving 

* Calderwood, pp. 666-673. 1 Calderwood, pp. 681-683. 



A. D. 1621.] HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



125 



the ministers to stand behind them, un- 
accommodated with seats, as if indicating 
the subordinate part which they were to 
perform ; and Spotswood took the mode- 
rator's chair, without being elected to 
that office. When it was proposed that 
the moderator should be elected accord- 
ing to the usual order of procedure, Spots- 
wood would not permit it, on the ground 
that as the Assembly was held within the 
bounds of his diocese, he was entitled to 
preside. The ministers were then re- 
quired to give in their commissions ; but 
these commissions were not examined 
publicly, so that it could not be known 
whether they were all genuine or not, 
till the conclusion of the proceedings, 
when it was ascertained that many of 
them were not legal. The question was 
asked by some of the ministers, whether 
all the noblemen, barons, and burgesses 
present were to vote, since many of them 
had no commissions as elders. Spots- 
wood answered, that all who had come 
in compliance with his Majesty's missives 
should vote, although this was directly 
contrary to the constitution of the Assem- 
bly. The dean of Winchester was then 
introduced, who read a long letter from 
the king, strongly recommending the 
measures which he proposed, and warmly 
expostulating with the Church on account 
of its reluctance to comply with his sug- 
gestions. The dean followed up this 
letter with a speech, strenuously urging 
compliance with all the king's desires 
and suggestions, in a strain of sycophan- 
tic adulation. 

The struggle immediately began be- 
tween the faithful ministers and the inno- 
vating prelatic party. A private con- 
ference was held for the purpose of put- 
ting the proposed articles into regular 
form for the consideration of the Assem- 
bly. In the conference Spotswood en- 
deavored to procure the sanction of these 
articles by a vote, which would have pre- 
cluded the liberty of reasoning in the 
Assembly, and in this he was partially 
successful. When the articles were laid 
before the Assembly on the 27th, a scene 
of tyrannical violence ensued, such as has 
been seldom equalled. Spotswood ad- 
dressed the Assembly in the most haughty 
and domineering style, urging submission 
to his majesty's desires, commanding im- 
plicit and immediate obedience, deriding 



the idea that any ministers would submit 
to be expelled from their parishes and 
stipends rather than yield, and assuring 
them that the people would not support 
them, or, if such a thing should happen, 
" wishing that the king would make him 
a captain, and never one of these brag- 
gers would come to the field." Others 
of the prelates followed in a similar strain 
and spirit ; and every attempt made by 
the faithful Presbyterians to reason and 
argue was overborne by the rude clam- 
ours and taunting jeers of the haughty 
barons and more naughty prelates. A 
protestation against such a course of pro- 
cedure was given in by some of the 
ministers ; but after a few sentences had 
been read it was cast aside and neglected. 
The vote was then loudly demanded by 
the self-chosen moderator, and the king's 
letter was again read, to overawe the 
opposing ministers. In putting the vote 
the question was often crouched in these 
terms : — "Will you consent to these arti- 
cles, or disobey the king V and Spots- 
wood even declared, that whosoever voted 
against these articles, his name should be 
marked and transmitted to his majesty. 
Thus surrounded by the half-armed re- 
tainers of the nobility, and threatened 
with the vengeance of the king, the 
ministers were compelled to proceed to 
the vote in the midst of confusion and 
alarm. Even then many stood true and 
unshaken ; but the Five Articles of 
Perth, as they are usually called, were 
carried by a majority, — one nobleman, 
Lord Ochiltree, one doctor, and forty-five 
ministers, voting in the negative. These 
Five Articles were, — kneeling at the 
communion, — the observance of holidays, 
— episcopal confirmation, — private bap- 
tism, — and the private dispensation of 
the Lord's Supper. Thus by a formida- 
ble combination of fraud and violence, 
the king and his minions succeeded in 
perpetrating another glaring innovation 
upon the government, discipline, and 
ritual of the Presbyterian Church ; yet 
so narrowly, that if none had voted ex- 
cept those who had commissions, the 
attempt would have been _ defeated.* 
These articles being thus forcibly carried 
in the Assembly, the Court of High 
Commission set about enforcing their 
observance, by means of civil penalties ; 

* Calderwood, pp. 697-713. 



126 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. IV. 



thus yielding another practical proof, that 
civil and religious liberties perish or exist 
together. 

[1621.] Trusting that the spirit of the 
nation was now subdued, after three years 
of High Commission tyranny, the parlia- 
ment was summoned to meet in Edin- 
burgh on the 25th of July 1621, chiefly 
for the ratification of the Five Articles 
of Perth. The faithful ministers who 
still survived to watch over the welfare 
of the Church, endeavoured to move the 
parliament by earnest remonstrances, but 
in vain ; the course was predetermined, 
and the result prepared. At length all 
preliminary arrangements being com- 
pleted, the parliament proceeded to vote 
for the ratification or rejection of the Five 
Articles, without deliberation, and as if 
they had formed but one topic. Even 
then the opposition was very strong. 
Fifteen lords and fifty-four commission- 
ers of shires and burghs voted against 
the measure, and it was carried by a 
small majority. On Saturday the 4th of 
August 1621, this vote, subversive of the 
Presbyterian Church of Scotland, was 
thus carried, chiefly by means of men 
who had solemnly sworn to maintain 
what they had thus conspired to over- 
throw. This day, sadly memorable in 
the annals of the Church of Scotland, 
was marked also by a singular coincident 
event, recorded by the historians of that 
time. The morning had been lowering 
and gloomy, and as the day advanced the 
gloom waxed deeper and deeper, as the 
gathering clouds seemed to concentrate 
their huge voluminous masses around 
over the city. At the very moment when 
the Marquis of Hamilton and the Lord 
High Commissioner rose to give the for- 
mal ratification to the acts, by touching 
them with the sceptre, a keen blue flash 
of forked lightning blazed through the 
murky gloom, followed instantaneously 
by another and another, so dazzingly 
bright as to blind the startled and terri- 
fied parliament, in the act of consumma- 
ting its guilty deed. Three terrific peals 
of thunder followed in quick succession, 
appalling the trembling conclave, as if 
the thunder-voice of heaven were utter- 
ing denouncements of vengeance against 
the insulters of the dread majesty on high. 
Then descended hailstones of prodigious 
magnitude, and sheeted rains so heavy 



and continuous, as to imprison for an hour 
and a-half the parliament which had per- 
petrated this act of treason against the 
King of kings, by subjecting His Church 
to an earthly monarch. This dark and 
disastrous day was long known in Scot- 
land by the designation of " Black Sat- 
urday," — "black with man's guilt and 
with the frowns of heaven."* 

We have now reached the close of 
another period of the Church of Scot- 
land's eventful history, — a period full of 
instruction for the thoughtful Christian 
reader. It is painful to peruse the records 
of a crafty monarch's fraud and tyranny, 
— of aristocratic selfishness and avarice, 
— of the perjury and deceit of ambitious 
and sycophantic churchmen, longing 
for prelatic pre-eminence in wealth and 
power, — and of the sufferings to which 
the true-hearted and noble-minded de- 
fenders of the Church of Scotland were 
exposed, as they strove faithfully, though 
ineffectually, to maintain her principles 
and defend her rights. Yet it affords a 
signal illustration of the great truth, that 
the Church of Christ and the world are 
each other's natural antagonists, and that 
the more closely a Church cleaves to its 
Divine Head and King, obeying His 
precepts and following His example, the 
more certain is it to incur the hostility of 
crafty, irreligious, and wordly-minded 
men of every rank and station. It shows 
also, that the greatest danger a Church 
has to encounter is that arising from 
internal corruption. King James could 
not overthrow the Church of Scotland 
till he had gained over some of its minis- 
ters, and thereby succeeded in corrupting 
its courts, so as to obtain its own apparent 
sanction to his successive invasions of its 
rights and privileges. And it deserves 
also to be remarked, that even when zeal- 
ously working the ruin of the Church, 
there was in all the crafty despot's mea- 
sures a strange tacit recognition of one of 
the leading principles which he sought to 
overthrow, — the independent right of the 
Church to regulate its own procedure 
on its own authority. Every one of the 
destructive acts by which Presbytery was 
overthrown and Prelacy introduced, was 
so contrived as to have its origin in some 
court or commission of the Church, — 
never first in a civil court ; thereby prac- 

* Calderwood, p. 783; Spotswood, p. 542. 



A. D. 1621.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 



127 



tically admitting, not only that the Church 
courts were possessed of complete co-ordi- 
nate jurisdiction, but even that they were 
supreme in ecclesiastical matters. When 
the parliament even seemed to take the 
primary step, it was only in affairs mani- 
festly civil, such as the restoration of the 
civil emoluments and civil jurisdiction to 
prelates ; but the existence of the prelatic 
function itself, and the elevation of minis- 
ters to the prelacy, were matters with 
which the parliament did not interfere, 
till the Church had been induced to pass 
the acts which were competent alone 
to her jurisdiction. The hatred shown 
bv the king to declinatures of civil juris- 
diction in matters ecclesiastical, may be 
regarded as a proof that he was aware 
how constitutionally sound and reli- 
giously just was the claim of the Presby- 
terian Church ; and that he, as a tyrant, 
detested it the more, because of its consti- 
tutional and sacred character. 



CHAPTER V. 

PROM THE RATIFICATION OF THE FIVE ARTI- 
CLES OF PERTH, IN THE YEAR 1621, TO THE 
NATIONAL COVENANT IN 1638. 

Pespotic Letter from the King. — Conduct of his Ma- 
jesty and the Prelates. — John Welch.— Robert Bruce. 
— Proceedings of the Court of High Commission 
against the Ministers, Universities, Probationers, 
and People. — David Dickson. — Robert Boyd. — Rob- 
ert Blair. — The People and Magistrates of Edinburgh. 
— Death of King James.— Charles I. — Despotic Tem- 
per and proceedings of Charles. — Changes in the 
Courts of Session and Justiciary. — Commission of 
Teinds.— Proposed Act of Revocation.— Intention to 
assimilate the Church of Scotland to that of Eng- 
land. — Ambition and Rashness of the younger Pre- 
lates. — Revivals of Religion at Irvine, Stewton, and 
Shotts. — Growth of Arminianism among the Pre- 
latic Party.— Visit of the King to Scotland.— " Act 
anent the Royal Prerogative and the Apparel of 
Churchmen." — Fraudulent manner in which it was 
carried. — Edinburgh made a Bishopric. — Trial of 
Balmerino.— Diocesan Courts of High Commission. 
— Book of Canons. — Pride and Ambition of the Pre- 
lates.— The Liturgy.— Riot in Edinburgh at its In- 
troduction.— Arbitrary Conduct of the Prelates. — 
The Feelings of the Kingdom roused.— Alexander 
Henderson.— The Presbyterians crowd to Edinburgh. 
— The Privy Council. — Commotions. — Violent Pro- 
clamations. — Increased Agitation. — The Presbyteri- 
ans accuse the Prelates of being the direct Cause of 
all the. National Troubles. — The Formation of the 
Four Tables. — Deceitful Proceedings of the Privy 
Council.— Evasive Proclamations.— Pernicious Ad- 
vice given to the King by Spotswood and Laud.— 
Conduct of the Earl of Traquair.— Skilful Manage- 
ment of ihe Presbyterians. — Duplicity of the Privy 
Council— Injudicious Proclamation.— The National 
Covenant. 

Duiung the interval which elapsed be- 
tween the passing of the Five Articles of 
Perth in the Assembly 1618, and their 



ratification by the parliament of 1621, 
there had been a continual struggle be- 
tween the prelates and the Presbyterian 
ministers ; the former endeavouring to 
enforce obedience to these articles by the 
authority of the Court of High Commis- 
sion ; the latter protesting, refusing obe- 
dience, and resisting, notwithstanding the 
sufferings to which they were exposed. 
But still something was wanting to com- 
plete the power of the prelates, and to 
give a more legal aspect to their aggres- 
sions ; for the minds of men in general 
revolted against the glaring tyranny of 
the High Commission, — a court depend- 
ing solely upon the arbitrary will and 
command of the sovereign, but not recog- 
nised by constitutional law. The act of 
parliament ratifying the Five Articles of 
Perth supplied what had been wanting, 
and gave a constitutional sanction to the 
despotism and the treachery of these sub- 
versive measures. It was not the inten- 
tion of either the king or the prelates to 
allow this power to remain unemployed. 
A short time after the passing of the act, 
Spotswood, archbishop of St. Andrews, 
received a letter from the king, not merely 
giving full warrant to proceed to extrem- 
ity in the enforcement of the Five Arti- 
cles, but even urging forward men who 
were already abundantly disposed to 
tyrannize over and persecute their bre- 
thren. " The greatest matter," said, the 
king, in this remarkable letter, " the pur- 
itans had to object against the church 
government was, that your proceedings 
were warranted by no law, which now, 
by this last parliament, is cutted short ; so 
that hereafter that rebellious, disobedient, 
and seditious crew must either obey or 
resist God, their natural king, and the 
law of the country. It resteth therefore 
to you to be encouraged and comforted 
by this happy occasion, and to lose no more 
time to procure a settled obedience to God, 
and to Us, by the good endeavours of 
our commissioner, and our other true- 
hearted subjects and servants. The 
sword is now put into your hands : go on 
therefore to use it, and let it rust no longer, 
till ye have perfected the service entrusted 
to you."* Such were the instructions of 
the infatuated king to his not less infatu- 
ated prelatic minions, for the destruction 
of a Church which he had termed " the 

• Calderwood, p. 784. 



128 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP IV 



sincerest Church in the world," and had 
repeatedly sworn to defend. And the 
enormity of these instructions is certainly 
not diminished, if, as Calderwood sug- 
gests, and other authors more distinctly 
assert, this letter was actually a mere 
transcript of one sent to the king by 
Spotswood, to' be copied and returned to 
Scotland, stamped with the royal author- 
ity, — a procedure which it appears, was 
often adopted by the treacherous and 
tyrannical Scottish prelates.* A letter 
of a similar import was also sent to the 
privy council, commanding all the offi- 
cers of state to conform, under pain of 
dismission ; and enjoining them to see 
that all persons filling any subordinate 
official station, members of the Courts of 
Session and Justiciary, advocates, sheriffs, 
magistrates of burghs, and even clerks 
and sheriff-officers, should render im- 
plicit obedience, or be declared incapable 
of holding office. 

The Court of High Commission was 
not composed of men likely to let the 
sword of double despotism which had 
been put into their hands rust for want of 
being used. Its freshly whetted edge 
was directed keenly against the faithful 
ministers, and against all who refused to 
mould their faith according to acts of par- 
liament. And, as if for the very purpose 
of proving that the cruelty of the king 
and of the prelates was equally fierce and 
implacable, its effects were exhibited al- 
most simultaneously by his majesty and 
by them. The celebrated John Welch, 
who had suffered a banishment of four- 
teen years duration on account of the part 
he took in the prorogued Assembly of 
Aberdeen in 1G05, had fallen into such a 
state of ill health, that a return to his na- 
tive country was recommended, as the 
only means of saving his life. By great 
solicitations he obtained permission to 
return to London ; but when his wife, a 
daughter of John Knox, obtained an 
interview with the king, and requested 
that her dying husband might be allowed 
to breathe once more his native air, his 
majesty, with coarse oaths, refused, un- 
less she would persuade her husband to 
submit to the bishops. " Please your 
majesty," replied the heroic matron, lift- 
ing up her apron, and holding it forth as 

* Wodrow's Collection of Lives, particularly the 
lives of Gladstanes and Spotswood. 



if in the act of receiving her husband's 
decolated and falling head, " I would 
rather kep [receive] his head there !" — 
James would not even permit the dying 
man to preach, till, hearing that he was 
at the point of death, he in mockery sent 
permission then, when he believed it 
could not be accepted. But Welch joy- 
fully hastened to embrace the opportunity 
of once more proclaiming the glad tid- 
ings of salvation ; and having preached 
long and fervently, returned to his cham- 
ber, and within twojiours rested from his 
labours, and escaped from the cruel and 
insulting tyranny of his oppressors. 

About the same time Robert Bruce, 
who had been residing for some years in 
his own house at Kinnaird, having been 
permitted to return from Inverness, was 
accused of seditious conduct, and of trans- 
gressing the bounds of his confinement. 
He was imprisoned for a time in the Cas- 
tle of Edinburgh, and then sentence 
passed that he should again be sent to 
Inverness, and restricted to that town and 
four miles around it during the king's 
pleasure ; this sentence being accompa- 
nied by the sneering expression, " We 
will have no more popish pilgrimages to 
Kinnaird," — in allusion to the frequent 
intercourse between Bruce and the most 
pious people of the surrounding country, 
who resorted to Kinnaird to enjoy the 
benefit of his instructive conversation. 
The prelaiic party exulted in the oppor- 
tunity of inflicting their mean malicious 
vengeance upon a man whom the king, 
in an unwonted fit of truth and gratitude, 
had pronounced worth the quarter of his 
kingdom. But what was meant as a 
punishment to him, became a precious 
blessing to the people of Inverness and 
its vicinity, who acquired then a relish 
for the pure gospel, which there is reason 
to believe, has never since been lost. 

[1622.] — Not contented with these se- 
vere proceedings against the venerable 
fathers of the Church, the prelates direct- 
ed their attention to every minister of 
eminence throughout the kingdom, re- 
quiring from each submission to the Perth 
Articles. They had a twofold purpose 
in demanding urgently the compliance of 
such men : by far the majority of the 
people regarded these articles with ex- 
treme dislike ; and the prelates were well 
aware, that if they could prevail upon the 



A. D. 1622.] 



. HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



129 



best ministers to subscribe, those ministers 
would either bring with them the people 
who were strongly attached to them, or 
they would lose that popular influence 
which they possessed. There was an- 
other alternative winch they seem not to 
have taken into their calculation; they 
do not appear to have thought it probable 
that those ministers would continue to re- 
sist, braving the terrors of the Court of 
High Commission, and by their suffer- 
ings increasing the popular detestation of 
the prelatic system, much more than all 
their arguments could have done. They 
were aware that they would themselves 
have yielded to any measure, when, by 
so yielding, they would both escape per- 
sonal suffering and obtain the prospect of 
personal wealth, rank and power ; and 
they could not conceive nor credit the 
higher principles of their antagonists. 
But it has often been the lot of cunning 
men to overreach themselves ; and such 
was the lot of the Scottish prelates. The 
prelates held a Court of High Commis- 
sion early in January 1622, and com- 
menced their despotic course by sum- 
moning before them the Rev. Messrs. 
Dickson of Irvine, Dunbar of Ayr, Row 
of Carnock, Murray of Dunfermline, and 
Johnstone of Ancrum. All these were 
men of great piety, much beloved by their 
people, and highly respected in the dis- 
tricts of the country where they respec- 
tively resided. Their submission was 
therefore earnestly desired by the prelates ; 
or, at least, their forcible removal to dis- 
tant parts of the country, where, being 
unknown, they would possess little influ- 
ence, and their oppressors would the more 
easily carry forward their pernicious de- 
signs. 

Of all these ministers, the case of Mr. 
David Dickson of Irvine seems to have 
excited the most attention. This eminent 
man was assailed by the prelates at one 
time in the language of entreaty, at an- 
other in that of fierce vituperative threats, 
to induce him to submit. His own con- 
gregation employed every effort for his 
protection ; and the earl of Eglinton per- 
sonally entreated the prelates not to re- 
move him from his charge. But all en- 
treaties were ineffectual ; he had declined 
the jurisdiction of that despotic court, the 
High Commission, and this was an 
offence which could not be forgiven. He 
17 



was banished to Turriff, in the synod of 
Aberdeen, where, however, he continued 
to exercise his ministry, greatly to the ad- 
vantage of the inhabitants of that district, 
till he was afterwards permitted to return 
to Irvine. The other ministers, whose 
names were' mentioned above, were also 
subjected to similar penalties, some being 
banished to one part of the country, others 
to another, and only one, so far as appears, 
permitted to remain in his own parish, 
but strictly prohibited from passing be- 
yond its boundaries.* 

The tyranny of the prelatic party fell 
not less heavily on the people than on the 
ministers ; for the people were every 
where as much opposed to compliance 
with the Perth Articles as their pastors 
could be, and in some places much more 
so ; for in every parish where the minis- 
ter was prelatic the opposition was of 
course made by the people alone. In 
such instances the prelatic ministers strove 
to persuade, or to force, the people to com- 
ply with the Five Articles of Perth ; and 
as the article which commanded kneeling 
at the communion was that which was 
most exposed to public observation, it 
gave rise to the greatest part of the con- 
tentions by which the peace of the coun- 
try was destroyed. Many most disgrace- 
ful scenes of strife and confusion took 
place, even at the communion-table, in 
consequence of the prelatic party attempt- 
ing forcibly to compel the people to sub- 
mit to what they justly regarded as an at- 
titude not warranted by Scripture, and 
bearing a close resemblance to the idola- 
trous service of the Church of Rome. 
Notwithstanding all their exertions, they 
could not prevail upon the people to com- 
ply. A few, and those in general the 
least respectable in character, did gratify 
the prelates by adopting their superstitious 
ceremonies ; but by far the greater num- 
ber either ceased to communicate at all, 
or resorted to the churches of those min- 
isters who continued to follow the simple 
and scriptural customs of their fathers. 

The universities did not escape the 
vigilance of the prelates, who were aware 
of the influence which the opinions of 
eminent professors naturally exercise 
upon the minds of their students. The 
celebrated Robert Boyd of Trochrigg was 
first obliged to leave Glasgow College, 

* Calderwood, pp. 792-794. 



130 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. V. 



m consequence of the hostility of Arch- 
bishop Law ; and having been appointed 
principal of Edinburgh College, the pre- 
latic party complained to the king, and 
obtained from his majesty a positive com- 
mand to the magistrates to urge Mr. Boyd 
to conform to the Perth Articles, on pain 
of being expelled from his office. He 
accordingly removed, to the joy of the 
prelatists, and to the great grief both of 
the students and of the religious part of 
the inhabitants. About the same time 
Mr. Robert Blair was deprived of his pro- 
fessorship in Glasgow, and obliged to re- 
tire to Ireland, where he became minister 
of Bangour, and was honoured in being 
made the instrument of much spiritual 
good in that country. In addition to the 
removal of true Presbyterians from the 
professorships, the prelatic party did all 
in their power to corrupt the young as- 
pirants to the ministry ; proceeding even 
to the extent of exacting an oath from 
these young students, before investing 
them with the office of preaching, that 
they would conform to the Perth Articles, 
and submit to the prelatic form of Church 
government. This ensnaring oath they 
rigidly enforced ; and if any conscientious 
young man expressed unwillingness to 
bind himself by such an obligation, he 
was at once rejected. By this process it 
was hoped, that all the growth of the 
Church would be directed into the prelatic 
channel, so that within the course of an- 
other generation it would become univer- 
sal, and Episcopacy would be as firmly 
settled in Scotland as in England. 

The prelates do not seem to have been 
aware of some symptoms which even 
then were beginning to appear, and 
speedily assumed a formidable aspect. 
Of these, the two most important were, 
the alienation of the nobility, and the in- 
creasing direct hostility of the people. 
Even so early as the Perth Assembly of 
1618, the prelates had given offence to 
the nobility by their haughty and over- 
bearing manners ; and as prosperity did 
not tend to abate their insolence, it soon 
became intolerable to the proud Scottish 
barons. An ill-suppressed jealousy from 
that time prevailed, which waited but an 
opportunity to rise into open strife, — so 
soon, at least, as the selfish interests of 
the rival parties should manifestly bear 
in opposite directions. That the people 



were opposed to all their proceedings; 
the prelatic party were well aware ; but 
considering themselves 11 lords over God's 
heritage," they disregarded equally the 
entreaties and the expressions of dissatis- 
faction addressed to them by the poor 
suffering congregations of the oppressed 
Presbyterian 'Church. Spotswood and 
his coadjutors thought that these popular 
discontents would soon subside, when 
they had succeeded in removing from 
their parishes the most eminent of the 
ministers who refused to conform to the 
Articles of Perth. And when they were 
not startled by sudden outbursts of popular 
indignation, they flattered themselves that 
the kingdom was acquiescing in their 
measures, or at least passively submitting 
to what could not any longer be success- 
fully opposed. They might have heard, 
from time to time, of private meetings for 
prayer, among the more pious ministers 
and their adherents ; but they seem in 
general to have despised those private 
meetings, being themselves ignorant of 
the sacred might of prayer. They do 
not seem to have marked the difference 
between a ripple on the surface, and 
a deep, calm under-current: the ripple 
dies away with the breeze that produced 
it; but the under-current moves steadily 
on, imperceptible to the eye, but irresisti- 
ble in its silent and viewless power. 

[1623.J The tyranny of the prelates 
continued throughout the year 1623, dis- 
placing non-conforming ministers, insult- 
ing congregations, enforcing the oppres- 
sive enactments of previous years, and re- 
laxing those only which had been made 
against papists. The intercourse at that 
time existing between his majesty and the 
court of Spain, during the negotiations 
for the marriage of the prince to the Span- 
ish infanta, may have been the cause of 
this toleration to the adherents of the Pa- 
pal Church ; but certainly it had no ten- 
dency to gratify the people of Scotland, 
who saw more favour shown to the cor- 
rupt Church of Rome than to their own, 
although the one was prohibited, and the 
other established, by the most solemn na 
tional enactments. 

[1624.] A contest arose in Edinburgi 
in 1624, which excited considerable at 
tention, and had no slight effect in deep 
ening and confirming the popular feeling 
against the prelatic party. It had been 



A. D. 1625 ] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



131 



customary for many year?, that, previous 
to the communion Sabbath, a day was ap- 
pointed on which all who were at enmity 
with each other were summoned to ap- 
pear before the kirk-session, that they 
might be exhorted to lay aside their 
strife, give and accept forgiveness, and 
thereby prepare to make the communion 
indeed a feast of mutual love. It was 
usual at the same time to institute some 
general inquiries into the conduct of the 
members of the session, both minister and 
elders, with regard to the manner in 
which they had discharged their duties, 
each member withdrawing during the in- 
quiry into his course of life and behaviour. 
While engaged in the discharge of this 
customary investigation, one of the citi- 
zens complained that Mr. William Forbes, 
recently appointed minister of one of the 
city churches, had taught that there 
might easily be a reconciliation effected 
between the Church of Rome and the 
Protestant Churches. This complaint 
was repeated by other respectable citizens, 
who requested that Mr. Forbes might be 
questioned by the presbytery, whether he 
really meant to teach doctrines subversive 
of the Reformation. 

Forbes, who had been brought from 
Aberdeen to Edinburgh expressly on ac- 
count of his high prelatic opinions, was 
excessively indignant that the people 
should presume to express disapprobation 
of his doctrine. And his brethren mak- 
ing it a common cause, applied to Spots- 
tvochd and through him obtained from the 
king an order empowering a select num- 
ber of the privy council to try those citi- 
zens for their conduct in expressing dis- 
approbation of the doctrine of the minis- 
ters ; and, in particular, for having re- 
quested that the communion might be ob- 
served in the former manner, and not ac- 
cording to the Articles of Perth. The 
result was, that William Rigg, one of 
the magistrates of Edinburgh, was depriv- 
ed of his office, and imprisoned in the 
Castle of Blackness till he should pay a 
ruinous fine; and five other highly res- 
pectable citizens were punished, some by 
imprisonment, others by banishment to 
remote parts of the country. 

The prelatic party being somewhat 
alarmed by the spirit manifested in this 
trial, complained to the king that several 
of the non-conforming ministers who had 



been deprived of their parishes, were in 
the habit of resorting to Edinburgh, and 
holding " private conventicles," whereby 
the people were stirred up, and the public 
peace disturbed. In answer to this com- 
plaint, the king sent a proclamation, pre- 
pared, says Calderwood, as was constant- 
ly reported, by the archbishop of St. An- 
drews; in which, after reprehending, in 
very severe terms, the conduct of the citi- 
zens in listening to the " turbulent persua- 
sions of restless ministers, either deprived 
from their functions, or confined for just 
causes," he strictly prohibited all such 
privats conventicles. A short while af- 
terwards his majesty sent a letter of cen- 
sure to the magistrates of Edinburgh, 
reprehending them severely for not giv- 
ing obedience to the Perth Articles, and 
for remissness in the enforcement of these 
articles upon others ; threatening to re- 
move from the town the Courts of Session 
and Justiciary, if these orders were not 
more punctually obeyed. 

Every attentive reader of history must 
often be struck with the close similarity 
in language and sentiment of men who 
lived in periods very remote from each 
other. It seems that oppressors are al- 
ways the men who most loudly complain 
of resistance : the despot most vehemently 
exclaims against lebellion; and the sub- 
verters of pure religion cry out against 
the turbulence of restless ministers. But 
it appears to be very natural, and certain- 
ly it is very easy, for men to disguise a 
bad cause under a good name, and to try 
to blacken a good cause by fixing upon it 
an offensive designation. 

[1625 ] King James had determined to 
have Christmas celebrated with extreme 
pomp and ceremony, as a public triumph; 
and had given orders to that effect; but 
the plague breaking out in Edinburgh, 
suspended his scheme. As Easter ap- 
proached he renewed his commands, to 
prepare for celebrating the communion 
on that day, in conformity with the Arti- 
cles of Perth, threatening very severe 
punishment to all who should refuse im- 
plicit obedience. But the close of his 
despotic career was at hand. On the 
27th of March 1625, he departed this life, 
leaving behind him a kingdom sunk from 
glory to disgrace through his mean mis- 
government ; filled with the elements of 
private strife and social discord, ferment- 



132 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. V. 



ing and heaving onward to a revolution ; 
— a son, the inheritor of his despotic prin- 
ciples, and of all the evils which they 
had engendered ; — and a name, lauded 
by a few prelatic flatterers, who could 
term their "earthly creator" the " Solo- 
mon of the age," but scorned by the 
haughty, mocked by the witty, despised 
by men of learning and genius, and not 
hated, only because pitied and deplored, 
by the persecuted yet loyal and forgiving 
Church of Scotland. 

The death of King James paralyzed 
the power of the prelatic party for a time, 
and allowed many of the persecuted 
Presbyterians to escape from actual, and 
also from threatened sufferings. The 
proceedings against the Edinburgh citi- 
zens were suspended, Robert Bruce re- 
turned from Inverness, David Dickson 
was allowed to resume without interrup- 
tion the discharge of his ministry at 
Irvine, and many other sufferers for the 
sake of truth and conscience obtained a 
temporary respite. The direct reason of 
this cessation of the prelates from their 
tyrannical procedure was, that the Court 
of High Commission expired with the 
monarch, from whose arbitrary will it de- 
rived its existence. The people of Scot- 
land could not fail to perceive, that the 
prelates were the instigators, and even 
the perpetrators, of all the judicial despo- 
tism under which they had so long 
groaned ; so that this very cessation of 
their sufferings would increase their de- 
testation of the system under which they 
had suffered, and of the men by whom 
these sufferings had been inflicted. 

Although the death of one sovereign 
and the accession of another caused a 
suspension of the active progress of pre- 
latic domination, till the intentions of the 
new monarch should be known, and 
allowed a brief breathing time to the 
ministers and people, yet the relief was 
but slight, and the favourable hopes enter- 
tained by the Presbyterians were soon 
clouded with doubts. Soon after his ac- 
cession to the throne, Charles I. wrote to 
Archbishop Spotsvvood, directing him to 
proceed with the affairs of the Church as 
formerly, and assuring him that it was 
his majesty's special will to have all the 
laws enforced which had been enacted in 
the former reign concerning ecclesiastical 
affairs; and. as if to remove all remain- 



ing doubt respecting his intentions, the 
king issued a proclamation on the 1st of 
August, commanding conformity to the 
Perth Articles, and ordering severe and 
rigorous punishment to be inflicted on all 
who dared to disobey. Next month, Sep- 
tember, a royal letter was sent to the 
town-council of Edinburgh, commanding 
them to choose for magistrates those only 
who observed the Articles of Perth. By 
this arbitrary command a sufficiently plain 
indication was given of the principles 
held by the young king, and a proof that 
he meant to carry into effect that despo- 
tism which his father held in theory, but 
wanted firmness and tenacity of purpose 
to enforce. 

The greater firmness of purpose by 
which Charles was characterized im- 
pelled him to the adoption of more deci- 
sive, but also more dangerous measures, 
than those which his father had em- 
ployed. One of these, essential to his 
future schemes, was at the same time both 
ungracious in itself, and calculated to ex- 
cite the jealousy of the nobles with regard 
to a matter in which they felt peculiarly 
sensitive. Charles was well aware, thai 
if he expected Prelacy to take ere long 
the same hioh ground in Scotland which 
it occupied in England, he must not 
merely secure to the prelates their titles, 
but also reinstate them in the possession 
of their wealth and power. The first 
step towards the execution of that design 
was taken in November 1625, when by 
proclamation his majesty revoked all the 
deeds of his father in prejudice of the 
Crown. This, it was tolerably evident, 
was preparatory to a resumption of those 
crown lands, many of them previously 
church lands, which his father had 
erected into temporal lordships, and be- 
stowed upon his unworthy favourites, 
and upon others whose support he wished 
to secure. But as no direct consequences 
immediately followed the proclamation, 
the jealousy of the nobles partially sub- 
sided, though it did not entirely pass 
away. 

[1626.] Although the king's attention 
was very much occupied with the Spanish 
war in which he was engaged with little 
success, and also with those beginnings 
of resistance to his arbitrary conduct in 
England which ought to have warned 
him to desist from his dangerous course, 



A. D. 1628.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



133 



he nevertheless found leisure to interfere 
in Scottish affairs enough to increase the 
dissatisfaction already prevalent. The 
Scottish nobles were not sufficiently ser- 
vile for a monach so arbitrary. He re- 
solved, therefore, to make extensive 
changes throughout the whole public 
administration of the kingdom, removing 
men of independent mind, and introduc- 
ing those who would be subservient to 
his will. He remodelled the Courts of 
Session and the Justiciary, the privy 
council, and the Lords of the Exchequer, 
placing several of the prelates in the two 
latter departments ; and he erected a 
Commission of Grievances, which occu- 
pied the position of the Star Chamber in 
England, reviving also the Court of High 
Commission, created in the former reign. 
By these changes the king hoped to cut 
off all opposition, and to obtain the means 
of carrying all his measures into execu- 
tion. 

These alterations having been made, 
and a little time allowed for the new 
officials to become acquainted with their 
duties, a convention of estates was held in 
July the same year, for the purpose of 
proceeding with the recovery of the tithes 
and the church lands. But the opposi- 
tion of the nobility was still too strong ; 
and all that the convention did was 
naming four of each estate as a commis- 
sion, to examine the state of the teinds, to 
ascertain who were the proprietors, and 
by what tenure they were held. The 
titulars and possessors of teinds not relish- 
ing this intended inquiry, sent the Earls 
of Rothes, Linlithgow, and Loudon, as a 
deputation to endeavour to prevail upon the 
king to abandon that measure ; but their 
efforts proved ineffectual. 

About the same time Charles did one 
of the few even seemingly prudent acts 
of his strangely imprudent life. He or- 
dained that such of the ministers as had 
been admitted before the Assembly of 
1618, should not be compelled to conform 
to the Perth Articles, provided they did 
not publicly assail the king's authority 
and the form of church government ; 
and that all who had been banished, con- 
fined, or suspended, should be restored to 
their charges on the same condition ; but 
that conformity should be strictly enforced 
on all who had been admitted since 1618, 
and on every new entrant into the minis 



try. This measure was one of deep and 
dangerous policy ; and its steady opera- 
tion would have been far more deadly to 
the Presbyterian Church than the most 
direct and fierce persecution. But the 
intolerant zeal of the prelates could not 
endure this wary policy, even on account 
of what made it dangerous, — its lenient 
aspect. It is probable that this scheme 
was devised by Spots wood ; but the 
younger prelates, and those who expected 
to reach the prelacy, were beginning to 
obtain a greater influence with the king 
than his more aged and sagacious coun- 
sellors. 

[1627.1 Early in the year 1627, com- 
missioners from the Church were sent to 
the king, to supplicate his majesty for 
certain important alterations and improve- 
ments in ecclesiastical matters. An at- 
tempt was made to give to this deputation 
the aspect of being a full representation 
of the whole Church, both the Prelatic 
and the Presbyterian parties ; but the 
overbearing conduct of the prelatists 
caused the Presbyterian commissioner to 
withdraw, so that the purpose remained 
unaccomplished. 

The commissioners for the teinds also 
prosecuted their labours, but with little 
success. Yet a tolerably complete return 
of the state of teinds throughout the 
country having been obtained, it was re- 
solved that every man should have liberty 
to purchase back his own teind at a rea- 
sonable price, and all were required to 
come to the commissioners for that pur- 
pose. Although this measure was intro- 
duced at first with a view to prepare for 
the restoration of Prelacy to all its golden 
honours, it has proved, on the whole, 
very beneficial to the Church and the 
people of Scotland, by being instrumental 
in removing the obstacles which the me- 
thod of levying tithes in kind opposes to 
national prosperity and peace. 

[1628.] In the spring of 1628, a meet- 
ing of synod was held in Edinburgh, in 
which, after long and earnest reasoning, 
it was resolved to send a deputation to his 
majesty, to entreat release from the com- 
pulsive obligation to comply with the 
Perth Articles, especially that of kneeling 
at the communion, to which the people 
could not be brought to submit. _ But the 
king expressed himself highly displeased 
that the people durst presume to petition 



134 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. V. 



agaiast a measure which had his appro- 
bation ; and commanded that condign 
punishment should be inflicted on the 
petitioners, to deter others from the like 
presumption. The result was, there was 
no communion at Edinburgh that year. 

The king seems to have thought that 
the public mind was now sufficiently pre- 
pared for the act of revocation which he 
meditated. In order, however, to intro- 
duce it as plausibly as might be, he pri- 
vately purchased the abbey of Arbroath 
from the Marquis of Hamilton, and the 
lordship of Glasgow from the Duke of 
Lennox, and gave them to the two arch- 
bishops of St. Andrews and Glasgow, 
giving to the transaction such an aspect 
as if these two noblemen had voluntarily 
surrendered that property. By this and 
several similar private purchases of es- 
tates, Charles hoped to induce the nobility 
and gentry to comply with the act of re- 
vocation. But when he sent the Earl of 
Nithsdale to propose the measure to a 
convention of estates, with this induce- 
ment, that those who would willingly sub- 
mit should experience his majesty's 
favour, while the most rigorous proceed- 
ings should be instituted against those 
who refused, the nobility instantly de- 
termined to resist, and to employ force if 
arguments should not prevail. It was 
resolved at a private meeting of the irri- 
tated barons, that if Nithsdale should con- 
tinue to press the measure, he and his 
adherents should be assailed and put to 
death in the open court. So determinedly 
was this purpose entertained, that Lord 
Belhaven, a man blind by very age, re- 
quested to be placed beside one of Niths- 
dale's party, and he would make sure of 
that one. Being set beside the Earl of 
Dumfries, and holding him fast with one 
hand, apologizing for doing so, as neces- 
sary for support in his blindness, he 
clutched fast with the other the hilt of a 
dagger, which he kept concealed in his 
bosom, ready to plunge it into the heart 
of his victim, should the signal for vio- 
lence be given. But the Earl of Niths- 
dale read enough in the stern and frown- 
ing looks of the Scottish barons around 
him, to induce him to suppress the main 
part of his instructions, and to give up the 
attempt as hopeless.* 

* Burnet's History of his own Times, folio edition of 
1724, pp. 20, 21. 



[1629. J Nothing of peculiar public im- 
portance occurred during the year 1629, 
— nothing, indeed, except the continua- 
tion of the insolence displayed and the 
persecutions inflicted on the Presbyterian 
ministers and people by the prelates. 
Some attempts were made to induce the 
king himself to interpose in behalf of his 
suffering people ; but he paid no atten- 
tion to the statement of grievances which 
they laid before him. Previous to this 
time there had been some symptoms of 
division in the prelatic party, although 
Spotswood continued to be regarded as its 
head ; but now the younger prelates be- 
gan to undermine his influence with the 
king. The most active of these intriguers 
was John Maxwell, at that time one 
of the ministers of Edinburgh, and soon 
afterwards bishop of Ross. This able 
and unscrupulous man contrived to work 
himself into the confidence of the notori- 
ous Laud, by whose pernicious counsels 
the king was almost entirely guided. In 
this manner there arose a decided and 
growing dissention among the prelates j 
and the violence of the younger and more 
impetuous party had the effect of stimu- 
lating the rash despotism of the king, and 
increasing the hostility of the nobles, who 
could not brook the insolence and pride 
of these haughty churchmen. 

[1630.] In the year 1630, Maxwell, 
who had been at London on some private 
commission, brought down from the king 
a letter to Spotswood, directing him to 
convene the other prelates, and the most 
prelatic of the ministers, and to inform 
them, that it was his majesty's pleasure 
that the whole ord'er of the Church of 
England should be received in Scotland. 
" This," Wodrow says in his life of Spots- 
wood, " was the first motion for the Eng- 
lish liturgy in Scotland, in King Charles's 
reign." The most prudent of the pre- 
lates, apprehensive of the consequences, 
opposed this measure as too dangerous, 
considering the already excited state of 
the country, and it was postponed. In 
July the same year, at a convention of 
estates, the non-conforming ministers 
gave in a paper of grievances, of which 
they craved redress ; but though it was 
supported by several of the nobility, it 
was not permitted to be read. 

[1631.] The year 1631 is chiefly re- 
markable for the progress made by the 



A. D. 1632.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



135 



commissioners of teinds, in the discharge 
of their duty. The landed proprietors 
began to perceive the advantage of ob- 
taining possession of their own teinds at 
a moderate price, and many accordingly 
applied to the commissioners, and made 
the purchase. Some attempts were made 
this year by the prelatic party to intro- 
duce organs, choristers, surplices, and the 
other mummeries of the cathedral service, 
with little success. 

[1632.] Some changes took place 
among the prelates this year, by which, 
instead of being strengthened, they were 
hurried forward to their suicidal doom. 
Law, archbishop of Glasgow, died, and 
Lindsay, bishop of Ross, was appointed 
to succeed him, and Maxwell was raised 
to the bishopric of Ross. But this pro- 
motion only opened the way to others, to 
which his elevation to the prelacy ren- 
dered him eligible ; and in a short time 
Maxwell became a lord of session, a lord 
of exchequer, and a member of the privy 
council ; by which accumulation of of- 
fices, belike, he thought that he was most 
convincingly proving the scriptural char- 
acter of Prelacy, and his own indubitable 
claims to the sacredness of pure apostoli- 
cal succession ! 

All further innovations were sus- 
pended for a time, in consequence of his 
majesty having intimated that it was his I 
intention to visit his ancient kingdom 
next year, to be formally crowned king 
of Scotland, and to make all the arrange- 
ments which might be desirable for pro- 
moting the peace and happiness of that 
portion of his dominions. The prepara- 
tions fl fchat visit, which were made on 
the most magnificent scale, so thoroughly 
occupied the public mind, that almost 
everything else was disregarded, all men 
vieing with each other how they might 
best do honour to the long-expected visit 
of their native king. 

The preceding brief outline of the pro- 
gress of public events, from the accession 
of Charles to the year in which he pur- 
posed to visit Scotland, has been given, 
that the reader might obtain a continuous 
view of the external aspect of what was 
done or attempted. And for the same 
reason it is now intended to retrace the 
same period of years, that a continuous 
view may be obtained of matters im- 
measurably more important than the des- 



potism of kings, the plots of courtiers, 
and the perfidious ambition of prelates. 

Reference has already been made to 
the remarkable effects which frequently 
attended the preaching of Robert Bruce, 
both before he was banished from Edin- 
burgh, and in his various places of con- 
finement. Had the prelates understood 
the influence of a man thus highly 
honoured by success in his divine Master's 
work, they would have either left him un- 
touched, or put him to utter silence. 
But while they sent him, in the wanton- 
ness of their malicious power, from dis- 
trict to district of the kingdom, they even 
compelled him to kindle in many quar- 
ters that sacred fire by which they were 
destined to be consumed. Many able 
and fervent young ministers were deeply 
impressed by what they heard uttered by 
the venerable man ; and thus his princi- 
ples were infused into the minds of men 
in the rising prime of life, able and wil- 
ling to expend their unbroken energies 
in the sacred cause. There were few of 
the eminent men of that day who did not 
cheerfully acknowledge how much, un- 
der God, they owed to Bruce. 

But there were many other ministers 
of decided piety, whose labours the Head 
of the Church also owned and blessed to 
a very great extent. Of these, David 
J Dickson of Irvine deserves particular 
mention. It has been already stated, 
that he was so greatly beloved by his 
congregation, that when brought before 
the court of the tyrannical prelates, every 
effort was made by the devoted flock to 
secure the enjoyment of their pastor's 
precious labours. They did not at first 
succeed ; but in the year 1624, he was 
allowed to return to Irvine, and remain 
there during their majesty's pleasure. 
Suffering in Christ's cause gives a very 
deeply spiritual character to a Christain 
minister'3 labours. Soon after Mr. Dick- 
son's return to his charge, striking effects 
began to appear among his people, and 
in the adjoining parish of Stewarton, 
where he frequently preached. This re- 
markable revival of vital religion begaii, 
it appears, in 1625, and lasted for about 
five years. " This," says Fleming, " by 
the profane rabble of that time was called 
the Stewarton sickness ; for in that parish 
first, but afterwards through much of 
that country, particularly at Irvine under 



i36 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. V 



the ministry of Mr. Dickson, it was re- 
markable ; where it can be said (which 
diverse ministers and Christians yet alive 
can witness), that for a considerable time 
few Sabbaths did pass without some evi- 
dently converted, or some convincing- 
proof of the power of .God accompanying 
his Word. And truly this great spring- 
tide, as I may call it, of the gospel, was 
not of a short time, but of some years' con- 
tinuance ; yea thus, like a spreading 
moor-burn, the power of godliness did 
advance from one place to another, which 
put a marvellous lustre on those parts of 
the country, the savour whereof brought 
many from other parts of the land to see 
its truth."* 

Another token for good to the suffer- 
ing Church of Scotland occurred in the 
year 1628. At a meeting of the synod 
in Edinburgh in the spring of that year, 
it had been agreed upon to apply to his 
majesty that a general fast might be held 
all over the kingdom. The ostensible 
causes adduced for this proposal by the 
prelates, were the dangerous state of Pro- 
testant Churches abroad, the prevalence 
of vice and immorality at home, and to 
implore the divine blessing upon his 
majesty's arms being at that time invol- 
ved in hostilities both with France and 
with the House of Austria. To these 
causes, the Presbyterians naturally ad- 
ded the consideration of their own suffer- 
ing state, and of the oppressive innova- 
tions forced upon the people. Much of 
the searching power of the Holy Spirit 
seems to have been granted to both 
ministers and people during their solemn 
fast ; and many felt, that in humbling 
themselves before God, and making an 
earnest confession of sin, both national 
and individual, they obtained a strength 
not their own, — a spiritual strength, — 
preparing them for greater sufferings, 
and giving earnest of final deliverance. 
And let any truly pious person imagine 
the contrast between the cold, formal, and 
insincere services of the prelatists, and 
the deep, earnest, heart-wrung supplica- 
tions of the Presbyterian sufferers, breath- 
ing the very essence of spiritual contri- 
tion, and he cannot fail to perceive one 
mighty cause of the disrespect with which 
he former were regarded, and the power- 

Fleming'a Fulfilling of the Scriptui^s, vol. i. p. 355. 



ful hold which the latter possessed of the 
nation's heart. 

In no individual instance probably, 
was the converting power of the Spirit 
more signally displayed than at the Kirk 
of Shotts, on Monday the 21st of June 
1630. It appears that John Livingstone, 
a young man of about twenty-seven years 
of age, who was at that time domestic 
chaplain to the Countess of Wigton, had 
gone to attend the dispensation of the 
Lord's Supper at the Kirk of Shotts. 
There had been a great confluence of 
both ministers and people from all the ad- 
joining count) y ; and the sacred services 
of the communion Sabbath had been 
marked with much solemnity of manner 
and great apparent depth and sincerity 
of devotional feeling. When the Mon 
day came, the large assembly of pious 
Christians felt reluctant to part without 
another day of thanksgiving to that God 
whose redeeming love they had been com- 
memorating. Livingstone was prevail- 
ed upon to preach, though reluctantly, 
and with heavy misgivings of mind, at 
the thought of his own unworthiness to 
address so many experienced Christians. 
He even endeavoured to withdraw him- 
self secretly from the multitude ; but a 
strong constraining impulse within his 
mind caused him to return, and proceed 
with the duty to which he had been ap- 
pointed. Towards the close of the ser- 
mon, the audience, and even the preacher 
himself was affected with a deep un- 
usual awe, melting their hearts and sub- 
duing their minds, stripping off inveterate 
prejudices, awaking the indifferent, pro- 
ducing conviction in the hardened, bow- 
ing down the stubborn, and imparting to 
many an enlightened Christian, a large 
increase of grace and spirituality. " It 
was known," says Fleming, " as I can 
speak on sure ground, that nearly five 
hundred had at that time a discernible 
change wrought on them, of whom most 
proved lively Christians afterwards. It 
was the sowing of a seed through Clydes- 
dale, so that many of the most eminent 
Christians of that country could date 
either their conversion, or some remark- 
able confirmation of their case, from that 
day."* 

* For a more full account, see Gillies's Collections, 
vol. i. p. 310, et seq. ; and Fleming's Fulfilling of the 
Scriptures, vol. i. pp. 355, 356. 



A. D. 1632.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



.37 



Mr. Livingstone, the honoured instru- 
ment by which this great work was 
wrought, was one of those against whom 
the tyranny of the suspicious prelates had 
been directed. He had been called to be 
their pastor by the people of Torphichen ; 
but because he would not take the oath 
of conformity to the Perth Articles, Spots- 
wood would not allow him to be con- 
tinued in the charge. This, indeed, was 
the current policy of the prelates, — a po- 
licy which may generally be expected to 
be pursued by every party when contests 
run high and victory is doubtful. But 
in the case of the prelates, and indeed in 
every case of a contest between right and 
wrong, the most politic measure will 
prove injurious to those who employ it. 
When such men as Livingstone were ex- 
cluded from a parish by the prelates, 
they were actually compelled to extend 
their influence over a wider sphere than 
would otherwise have been either possi- 
ble or right. And not unfrequently, as 
in his case, they were received into the 
families of some of the nobility, where 
their unassuming manners and deep per- 
sonal piety produced the most beneficial 
results, both to their protectors, and to the 
cause for which they suffered. In this 
manner both the ejected ministers and 
the rejected probationers tended, by their 
fervent and widely diffused labours, to 
prepare the great body of the nation for 
that struggle and revulsion which was 
ere long to take place. And when the 
reader who is at all acquainted with Scot- 
tish ecclesiastical history marks among 
these home missionaries the names of 
Livingstone, and Blair, and Rutherford, 
and Douglas, and Gillespie, and Dunbar, 
and Hogg, and Dickson, and many 
others of almost equal eminence, he may 
easily imagine how mighty must have 
been the influence which their sufferings 
and their toils produced in the very heart 
of Scotland. 

There is yet another general reflection 
which must not be omitted, in order to 
complete our survey of all the elements 
then fermenting in the kingdom. Soon 
after the introduction of Prelacy into 
Scotland by the machinations of King 
James, the tenets of Arminius began to 
be entertained by those worldly-minded 
men, as much more congenial to their 
low notions of Christianity, and their 
18 



own characters and habits. But Armin- 
ianism made little progress till after the 
ratification of the Five Articles of Perth, 
when the prelatic party felt themselves 
secure, and ventured to follow more open- 
ly the bent of their inclination. In the 
meantime, a large proportion of the 
Church of England had greedily imbibed 
these erroneous tenets, thereby widen- 
ing the division between them and the 
party called Puritans. As soon as the 
Arminian party were headed by the cun- 
ning, narrow-minded, bigoted and malev- 
olent Laud, they advanced with rapid 
strides to the possession of uncontrolled 
power in the kingdom, and especially in 
the favour of the Sovereign. The 
younger Scottish prelates, headed by 
Maxwell, set themselves to emulate Laud, 
and almost surpassed him in their ardent 
advocacy of Arminianism. But however 
this might recommend them to the king 
and the English prelates, it had a very 
different effect among their own country- 
men in general. For the erroneous 
tenets of Arminius, however plausible m 
the eyes of men of superficial minds, will 
never stand the scrutiny of a searching 
intellect, if directed to the investigation 
with warm and real interest. Least of 
all will such tenets give satisfaction to a 
heart on which the light of God's Word 
has shone, revealing its desperate wick- 
edness, — to a soul which has been quick- 
ened from its deadness in sin by the life- 
giving power of the Holy Spirit. In so 
far, therefore, as Arminianism prevailed 
among the prelatic party, to that extent 
were they regarded as weaklings and 
aliens, by the manly and searching intel- 
lect of Scotland; and in so far as vital reli- 
gion revived and was diffused throughout 
the kingdom, to that extent did the right- 
hearted Scottish nobles and peasantry de- 
test a system which introduced such men, 
and men w 7 ho vitiated the oracles of the 
living God, and strove to reduce the Gos- 
pel of the Lord Jesus Christ to a code of 
human morality. 

It is scarcely necessary to add to these 
mighty elements, this further considera- 
tion, although it had its influence, that 
the men who were the keenest sticklers 
for empty forms and ceremonies, — who 
did not hesitate to violate their oaths, and 
strive to compel others to the perpetration 
of the same crime, throwing a whole na 



138 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. V. 



tion into suffering and confusion for the 
attainment of what they themselves ad- 
mitted to be not a matter of conscience, 
but merely of convenient and seemly or- 
der, — that these men were generally noto- 
rious for vice, profligacy, Sabbath-break- 
ing, and every species of immorality. 
Had even the cause been good, the per- 
fidious and tyrannical manner of its intro- 
duction, and the characters of the men by 
whom it was introduced, would have 
ruined it in the estimation of every man 
who had an eye to discern and a heart 
to feel. 

Some of the defenders of Prelacy have 
said, that Scotland never saw it in its true 
aspect, — that if we had, we would have 
received it, and made it cordially our 
own. Certainly Prelacy never appeared 
in Scotland but as a tyrannical and per- 
secuting system ; therefore we have little 
cause to love it. But we can see it in 
Enq-land, with all its blushing honours 
and unblushing abuses thick upon it, — 
with its clergy secularized, and its people 
uninstructed ; and what we see of it there 
has no tendency to recommend it to our 
favourable regard, or to make us lan- 
guish for its reintroduction to Scotland. 

[1633.] Such was the state of Scotland, 
and of the contending parties by which 
it was agitated when Charles I. prepared 
to pay a visit to his ancient kingdom. 
Had he been disposed to inquire into the 
state of the country, with a sincere desire 
to remedy all proved evils, and redress 
all manifest grievances, — and had he 
been able to lay aside his own preju- 
dices, or even to prevail upon himself to 
investigate matters for himself, and not to 
trust entirely to the statements of persons 
who were interested in deceiving him, — 
the result might have been most propi- 
tious. As it was, it proved highly disas- 
trous. Unfortunately his whole conduct 
was pre-determined before he left Lon- 
don. He wished to enjoy the pageantry 
of a Scottish coronation ; he intended to 
hold a parliament for procuring money ; 
and he was resolved to take measures 
for reducing the Church of Scotland into 
perfect conformity with that of England. 
For the management of the latter point 
he brought with him Laud, who may 
not inaptly be designated his evil genius, 
by whose malign influence he was per- 



petually turned aside from the path of 
safety, and hurried along that of ruin. 

It is not our intention to describe the 
pride, pomp and circumstance of his 
majesty's triumphal procession, his en- 
trance into the capital of his ancient king- 
dom, and the more than semi-popish pa- 
geantry of his coronation. Suffice it to 
state, that the most enthusiastic reception 
was given to their monarch by a people 
who were almost instinctively loyal, and 
who were prone to gratify him in every 
thing which their higher allegiance to 
God could permit. Still even in the 
height of their enthusiastic loyalty, they 
were compelled to feel, that in the most 
important matters there existed no har- 
mony of sentiment and feeling between 
their sovereign and them. The mani- 
fest preference shown by the king to all 
the rites, ceremonies, and gaudy exhibi- 
tions of Prelacy, strengthened the distrust 
already entertained, that no good was in- 
tended to the Presbyterian Church. 
Ample proof was soon given that these 
apprehensions were but too well founded. 

Previous to the meeting of parliament 
the king arranged matters in the most 
likely way to secure the accomplishment 
of his designs. He introduced ten En- 
glishmen into the privy council of Scot- 
land, one of whom was the notorious 
Laud. The Lords of the Articles were 
so chosen as to be composed almost en- 
tirely of those who were known to be 
subservient to the king, and ready to 
comply with any thing which he might 
require. All matters being thus arranged, 
the parliament met for the despatch of 
business on the 25th of June. Their first 
act was one granting to Charles a larger 
subsidy than had ever before been given 
to a Scottish king. So far all was har- 
mony and good-will ; but the next meas- 
ure aroused a different spirit. It was in- 
tituled, " An act anent his Majesty's Royal 
Prerogative, and Apparel of Churchmen." 
This was a combination of two acts, one 
passed in 1606, acknowledging the king's 
supremacy over all persons, and in all 
causes ; and another passed in 1609, by 
which King James was empowered to 
prescribe apparel and vestments to all 
judges, magistrates, and churchmen. 
The act 1606 had been but too often en- 
forced, to the sad experience of many 



A. D. 1633.] HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



139 



banished ministers and destitute congre- 
gations ; but the act 1609, concerning 
vestments, had been allowed to lie dor- 
mant. They were now joined together 
and made one, in the expectation that the 
strength of the prerogative clause would 
carry with it the weakness of the other. 
To this combined act great opposition 
was made, the Earl of Rothes heading 
the opposition. Rothes desired that the 
acts might be divided, expressing his 
willingness to vote for the prerogative 
clause, if it stood alone. The king de- 
clared that it was now one act, and that 
he must either vote for it or against it, as 
such. Rothes began to argue, that the 
second clause was contrary to the liber- 
ties of the Church, and ought not to be 
further considered until at least the mind 
of the Church should be ascertained ; 
but the king rudely interrupted him, com- 
manded the vote to be taken without fur- 
ther reasoning, and, calling for a list of 
the members, which had been previously 
prepared, he sternly said, " I have all 
your names here, and I will now know 
who are good subjects and who are bad."* 
The question was then put ; Rothes 
promptly voted, " Not content." His ex- 
ample was followed by fifteen earls and 
lords, several barons, and forty-four com- 
missioners of counties and burghs. f 
Even Burnet affirms that the act was re- 
jected by the majority ; but the clerk of 
register, knowing well the king's wish, 
declared that it was carried in the affirm- 
ative. Rothes asserted that the contrary 
was the case; but the kins:, whose at- 
tempt to overawe the parliament must 
have made him aware of the truth, dis- 
honourably supported the clerk's false as- 
sertion, saying that it must be held 
good unless the Earl of Rothes would go 
to the bar, and accuse him of falsifying 
the record of parliament — an offence 
which was capital ; and in that case, if 
he should fail in the proof, he was liable 
to the same punishment. J This perilous 
step Rothes declined to take ; conse- 
quently the act was declared to have 
passed, though its power was greatly par- 
alyzed by the despotic and nefarious na- 
ture of the transaction, which speedily 
became known to the whole kingdom. 
So dissatisfied were the lords, both 

* Kirkion. p. 30. 
t Rutherford's Letters, part iii. letter 40. 
X Burnet's History of his own Times, pp. 21, 22 



with this act itself, and the forcible and 
fraudulent manner in which it had been 
carried, that they resolved to present to 
the king a supplication, explaining and 
excusing their conduct, and remonstra- 
ting against the manner in which their 
freedom to deliberate had been overborne. 
This supplication was drawn up by 
Hague, the king's solicitor, himself, as 
Burnet says, a sincere and zealous Pres- 
byterian. It was read over to Lord Bal- 
merino and the Earls of Rothes and 
Cassilis. Balmerino disapproved of some 
expressions in it, and procured a copy, 
that he might deliberately peruse and al- 
ter it, according to his own judgment. 
Rothes carried a copy of it to the king, 
that he might, if possible, obtain his ma- 
jesty's permission to present it, without 
further exciting his displeasure ; but the 
king would not so much as look upon it, 
and commanded him to proceed no fur- 
ther in that matter. Accordingly it was 
not presented, and was regarded by its 
authors as consigned to oblivion. But it 
ere long appeared that the king and the 
prelates could neither forget nor forgive 
whatsoever thwarted them. 

In the meantime the oppressed Pres- 
byterian Church of Scotland did not neg- 
lect the opportunity of his majesty's pre- 
sence in the kingdom, and the meeting of 
parliament, to endeavour to obtain some 
redress of their grievances. A number 
of the most eminent of the ministers re- 
paired to Edinburgh, met together, and 
deliberated in what manner they ought to 
proceed. It was resolved to present to his 
majesty and the parliament a petition 
containing a full statement of the griev- 
ances of the Church, expressed in the 
most respectful terms, and humbly sup- 
plicating redress. This petition was sup- 
pressed by the clerk register, who was a 
fierce prelatist ; upon which a new pet 
tion was prepared, mentioning the one 
given into the hands of the clerk regis- 
ter, and requesting his majesty to cause 
it to be read and considered. That the 
latter petition might not also be suppres- 
sed, Mr. Thomas Hogg, who had been 
deposed from his ministry at Dysart, by 
the High Commission, delivered it per 
sonally to the king. His majesty perused 
it with unmoved countenance, but re 
turned no answer. Too well the neg 
lected sufferers saw that no redress was 



140 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. 7 



to be expected from the Icing : but they 
did not despair ; but they presented their 
supplications to the King of kings, in 
the full confidence that He would not re- 
ject their prayers. 

The remainder of the time spent by 
Charles in Scotland tended but to in- 
crease the alienation between him and his 
best subjects. He studiously neglected, 
and even insulted, those who had oppo- 
sed his designs ; and heaped honours 
upon those who had showed themselves 
willing to prostrate the liberties of the 
Church and the kingdom at his feet. At 
length he took his departure, little grati- 
fied with the result of a visit from which 
he had promised himself a vast acces- 
sion of strength. He was already deeply 
involved in contentions with his English 
parliament ; and he seems to have antici- 
pated, that by his visit to Scotland he 
would secure the support of that king- 
dom, and be thereby enabled to coerce 
the people of England into submission to 
his arbitrary sway. Little did he under- 
stand the character of either country, or 
the nature of the principles by which at 
that time both were so deeply moved. 
There seemed, indeed, to rest upon 
Charles I. and all his advisers, — those at 
least in whom he most confided, — a cloud 
of infatuation, concealing or distorting 
every truth, and giving a delusive aspect 
to error. 

Some may perhaps be disposed to say, 
that the act respecting the vestments of 
churchmen was not a matter of such im- 
portance as to justify the opposition made 
to it. But it must be observed, that the 
passing of such an act, without consult- 
ing the Church on the matter, involved 
the whole question respecting the liberty 
of the Church ; and especially, joined as 
it was to the clause respecting the royal 
prerogative, it implied no less than that 
the power of dictating to the Church in 
every matter, whether of vital impor- 
tance or comparatively trivial, was a part 
of the royal prerogative. In fact, it vir- 
tually admitted, and very soon would 
have rendered operative, the principle, 
that the king was the Head of the Church, 
— a principle directly subversive of the 
Church of Scotland, which has never 
admitted any Head but the Lord Jesus 
Christ alone. 

T1634.J Previous to the departure of 



the king, he declared that he had found 
a man whose high merits deserved that 
a bishopric should be made for him,. 
This man of rare eminence was Mr. 
William Forbes, one of the ministers of 
Edinburgh, — the same person who had 
been brought from Aberdeen to the cap- 
ital, in consequence of his known attach- 
ment to Prelacy and Arminianism, and 
whose scornful disregard of his respect- 
able parishioners had been the cause to 
them of heavy fines and protracted im- 
prisonment. In recompense of these mer- 
itorious deeds, Edinburgh was consti- 
tuted a bishopric, and Forbes appointed 
its first prelate, — an appointment not cal- 
culated to soothe the oppressed and in- 
sulted citizens. The new bishop deter- 
mined to justify the choice of his ma- 
jesty, by proceeding immediately, in the 
most rigorous manner, to enforce obedi- 
ence to the Perth Articles ; and issued a 
circular order to all the presbyteries within 
his diocese, commanding them to conform, 
on pain of his ecclesiastical censure. The 
majority of the Edinburgh presbyteries 
yielded ; but several others not only re- 
fused to comply, but even boldly warned 
the haughty prelate of the sinful and 
dangerous nature of his own conduct, in 
thus wantonly aggrieving the conscience 
of both ministers and people in matters 
for which he could find no warrant in the 
Word of God. Before, however, his 
fiery zeal had time to proceed to the ex- 
tremities which he had threatened, he 
was, happily for his own memory, re' 
moved from the scene by death, and suc- 
ceeded by Lindsay, bishop- of Brechin, 
to which latter see Sydserf was ap- 
pointed. 

An event occurred about the same 
time, the consequences of which proved 
exceedingly detrimental to the character 
and schemes of the king. It has been 
already mentioned, that a supplication 
had been prepared to be presented to his 
majesty, by those lords who disapproved 
of the act of parliament respecting the 
prerogative and the attire of churchmen ; 
and that, theugh it was not presented, 
Lord Balmerino retained a copy of it in 
his own possession. It would appear 
that Balmerino still entertained hopes of 
this petition being useful, as explaining 
to the king the feelings and sentiments 
actuating a number of his most faithful 



A. D. 1637.] HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. HI 



subjects, and had showed it in confidence 
to one Dunmoor, a legal friend whom he 
trusted, for the purpose of obtaining his 
lid in modifying its phraseology, so as to 
bo as little offensive to the king as it 
could possibly be rendered. Dunmoor 
was allowed to take it home with him, on 
the promise of keeping it concealed from 
every one ; but he so far violated his 
pledge as to show it to Hay of Naugh- 
ton, on promise of secrecy. Hay surrep- 
titiously obtained a copy, and carried it 
to Archbishop Spotswood, who immedi- 
ately posted off with it to London, com- 
mencing his journey, according to his 
custom, on a Sabbath-day. The king, 
whose own conscience must have se- 
cretly condemned him for the tyrannical 
and fraudulent manner in which he had 
compassed the passing of that act, and 
instigated by Spotswood and Laud, re- 
solved to wreak his vengeance on Bal- 
merino. It required some ingenuity to 
frame a plausible ground of accusation 
against that nobleman. This the malig- 
nity of Spotswood supplied, by the dis- 
torted application of one of James's de- 
spotic acts respecting what is termed leas- 
ing-making, or the crime of sowing dis- 
sention between the king and his sub- 
jects. By this act, writing or saying 
any thing which might tend to bring dis- 
credit on the king and the government 
was declared capital ; and even to know 
who was the author of any such seditious 
matter, and not to reveal it, was held to 
involve equal guilt, and to expose to the 
same punishment. But this latter clause 
had never been put in execution ; and yet 
on the strength of it alone was Balme- 
,rino to be tried for his life. 

The management of the trial was in- 
trusted to the Earl of Traquair, who was 
at that time rising rapidly into court fa- 
vour. Traquair was not a man to be de- 
terred by any scruples of conscience 
from the invidious and dangerous task. 
He selected such a jury as he thought he 
could trust, and got some of Balmerino's 
personal enemies appointed to be asses- 
sors to the justice-general, that he might 
secure both the declaration of the law 
and the verdict of the jury. Balmerino 
defended himself with great ability. 
When the verdict of the jury was about 
to be required, Gordon of Buckie, — then 
a very aged man, but who had in his 



youth been distinguished for daring and 
reckless ferocity of character, shown es- 
pecially in the murder of " the bonnie 
Earl of Murray," the good regent's son, 
— this aged homicide arose, and with a 
tremulous voice, desired them to consider 
what they were about. ' : It was," he said, 
" a matter of blood, and they would feel 
the weight of that as long as they lived. 
He had in his youth been drawn into 
shed blood, for which he had the king's 
pardon ; but it cost him more to obtain 
God's pardon : it had given him many 
sorrowful hours, both day and night." 
The tears, as he spoke, ran down his 
furrowed cheeks ; and for a time the 
chill sensation of sympathetic horror held 
the guilty conclave silent.* But Tra- 
quair, to break the force of this pathetic 
appeal, reminded them that the question 
which they had to determine, was simply 
whether or not Balmerino had concealed 
his knowledge of the author of a pro- 
duction said to be seditious. The result 
was, that seven of the jury voted for ac- 
quittal, and seven voted guilty ; the cast- 
ing vote of Traquair secured the con- 
demnation of Balmerino, and sentence of 
death was immediately pronounced, — 
the execution to be delayed till the 
pleasure of the king should be known. 
Intense had been the interest excited by 
this trial ; and no sooner was the result 
divulged than public indignation swelled 
to a storm. Secret meetings were held, at 
which plans of the most daring character 
were proposed. It was resolved that the 
prison should be forced, and Balmerino 
set at liberty ; or, if that attempt failed, 
to revenge his death by the slaughter of 
that portion of the jury by whose verdict 
he had been condemned. Traquair per- 
ceiving the danger, hastened to the king, 
informed him of the state of public feel- 
ing, and solicited a pardon for the con- 
demned nobleman, which his majesty re- 
luctantly granted. 

Scarcely any thing could have been 
more injurious to the character and the 
schemes of the king than this trial. It 
not only proved beyond all doubt the ar 
bitrary disposition of Charles himself, 
who could brook no opposition to his de- 
spotic will, not even in the constitutional 
form of an humble supplication and re- 
monstrance ; but it also showed clearly, 

* Burnet's History of his own times, pp. 24, 25. 



142 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. V. 



that the main object at which he aimed, 
in his zeal for the establishment of Pre- 
lacy in Scotland, was, that he might ob- 
tain in the prelates a set of nominal lords, 
creatures of his own, who would be 
wholly subservient to his commands, and 
enable him to reduce the kingdom to a 
state of utter slavery. If any thing had 
been wanting either to excite or to con- 
firm the jealousy of the Scottish nobility, 
who were already irritated at the arro- 
gance of the prelates, it was supplied by 
the trial of Balmerino. In it they saw 
revealed the very heart of his majesty's 
design, — that a change in church gov- 
ernment was the means, but absolute des- 
potism the end, at which he aimed ; and 
much as many of them disliked the se- 
vere impartiality of Presbyterian disci- 
pline, they felt that they had more in 
common with men who were the friends 
of freedom, sacred and national, however 
strongly opposed to that licentiousness 
which is the bondage of the soul, than 
they could have with those who could 
indeed tolerate all immoralities, but were 
the banded foes of all true liberty, civil 
and religious. Thus were the nobles, the 
ministers, and the people, gradually 
drawn together into one common cause, 
by the infatuated conduct of their com- 
mon oppressors ; and the remembrance 
of the manner in which they had in 
former times asserted and defended their 
liberties, began again to suggest the idea 
of a bond of union, whence all parties 
might derive mutual protection and sup- 
port. But the crisis was not yet come : 
and the prelatic party were allowed to 
fill up the measure of their guilt. 

Nor were they slack in their guilty 
career. They marked not the tempest 
blackening around the national horizon ; 
they felt not the ground-swell beginning 
to heave beneath their feet, indicative 
of the coming earthquake. Exulting in 
their fallacious prosperity, they continued 
to urge forward with reckless haste the 
measures which were to issue in their 
own destruction. Although they had not 
been yet able to enforce obedience to the 
Perth Articles, they urged the propriety 
of having a Book of Canons framed for 
the government of the Church, and a 
Liturgy prepared for its form of worship. 
This Spotswood and the older prelates 
opposed, regarding the attempt as yet too 



dangerous ; but the younger and more 
reckless party, encouraged by Laud, ex- 
pressed their confidence that the attempt 
might be made with perfect safety. Some 
difference of opinion also existed whether 
the English Book of Canons and Liturgy 
should be adopted, or one framed ex- 
pressly for Scotland ; but upon the repre- 
sentation of the more cautious party, that 
the very fact of these new arrangements 
coming from England would give them 
the appearance of conveying a studied 
insult to the national feeling of indepen- 
dence, and thereby greatly increase the 
hostility against them, it was finally 
agreed that a Book of Canons and a 
Liturgy .should be framed in Scotland, 
and communicated to Laud, Juxon, and 
Wren, for their revision and approval. 
This matter was finally determined upon 
in September. About the same time the 
Court of Exchequer was remodelled, a 
number of the barons removed, and four 
of the vacancies filled by the aspiring 
prelates. 

[1635.1 Early in the year 1635, pre- 
latic ambition obtained another triumph. 
The Earl of Kinnoul, lord chancellor of 
Scotland, a nobleman of the antique 
mould, who had repeatedly checked the. 
arrogance of the prelates, and on one 
occasion had refused precedency to Spots- 
wood, even when solicited by Charles 
himself, died in December of the preced- 
ing year. The high office thus left 
vacant was conferred on Spotswood, who 
was thus raised to the highest pinnacle 
of rank on which a Scottish subject could 
be placed. Some of the older prelates 
dying about the same time, several 
changes took place, in all of which not 
wisdom, worth, and learning were ad- 
vanced, but men of ambitious and intrig- 
uing minds obtained the stations of great- 
est honour and emolument. Elated with 
this success, they now proceeded to en- 
force an enlargement of their Court of 
High Commission, for which his ma- 
jesty's letters patent had been a short 
while previously obtained. Before this 
time only archbishops could hold Courts 
of High Commission : now they were 
empowered to hold such courts in every 
diocese, each prelate in his own, where, 
assuming to himself any six ministers, he 
could call before him and sit in judgment 
upon any person, of whatsoever quality. 



A. D. 1634.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



,43 



1 These courts," says Burnet, " were 
thought little different from the Courts of 
Inquisition."* Sydserf, now made bishop 
of Galloway, immediately raised one of 
these courts in his diocese, banished Gor- 
don of Earlston to a remote part of the 
kingdom, suspended Robert Glendin- 
ning, minister of Kirkcudbright, who had 
reached the venerable age of seventy- 
nine, and began that persecuting process 
against Samuel Rutherford, which ended 
in his banishment to Aberdeen. 

In April the same year a meeting of 
the prelates was held in Edinburgh, 
to see what progress had been made 
in the framing of the Book of Canons. 
After the Scottish prelates had brought it 
as near to perfection as they could, it was 
sent to Laud, under the care of Maxwell, 
bishop of Ross, the leader of the younger 
prelates. Having obtained the high 
benefit of Laud's supervision and amend- 
ments, the Book of Canons was confirmed 
under the great seal, by letters patent 
bearing date 23d May 1635. The Book 
of Canons, thus revised and sanctioned 
by the regal fiat, was sent, not to Edin- 
burgh, but to Aberdeen, that arsenal of 
Scotland's woes, to be printed, and then 
circulated by the prelates throughout their 
respective dioceses. The canons con- 
tained in this book were subversive of 
the whole constitution of the Church of 
Scotland. The first decrees excommuni- 
cation against all who should deny the 
king's supremacy in ecclesiastical affairs: 
the next pronounces the same penalty 
against all who should dare to say that 
the worship contained in the Book of 
Common Prayer (a book not yet pub- 
lished, nor even written) was supersti- 
tious or contrary to the Scriptures. The 
same penalty was decreed against all who 
should assert that the prelatic form of 
church government was unscriptural. 
Every minister was enjoined to adhere to 
the forms prescribed in the Liturgy, on 
pain of deposition ; which Liturgy, as 
before stated, was not yet in existence. 
It was decreed also, that no General As- 
sembly should be called, but by the king ; 
that no ecclesiastical business should even 
be discussed, except in the prelatic courts ; 
that no private meetings, which were 
termed conventicles, and included pres- 
byteries and kirk sessions, should be 

* Burnet's History of his c wn Times, p. 26. 



held by the ministers for expounding the 
Scriptures ; and that on no occasion in 
public should a minister pour out the ful- 
ness of his heart to God in extemporary 
prayer. Many minute arrangements 
were also decreed respecting the ceremo- 
nial parts of worship, as fonts for baptism, 
communion-altars, ornaments in church, 
modes of dispensing the communion ele- 
ments, the vestments of the clerical order, 
and' all such other idle mummeries as the 
busy brain of Laud could devise, or the 
fantastic fooleries of Rome suggest. Such 
are some of the chief regulations in the 
Book of Canons ; and yet, although 
every Presbyterian must have perceived 
at once that they were totally subversive 
of the constitution of the Presbyterian 
Church, his majesty's declaration was 
made, with consummate effrontery, to 
assume them to have been taken from the 
acts of the General Assemblies held in 
former years.* 

Great was the indignation felt all over 
Scotland when the character of the Book 
of Canons came to be known ; and innu- 
merable were the discussions respecting 
its papistical regulations which immedi 
ately ensued. The prelatic party en- 
deavoured feebly to defend it ; but their 
antagonists condemned it unsparingly 
and in the strongest terms. The nobility 
were secretly gratified to find it so glar- 
ingly offensive, believing that its regula- 
tions never could be enforced, and per- 
ceiving that its failure must shake the 
credit and diminish the power of the pre- 
lates, whose ambitious usurpation of the 
highest offices in the State they could not 
brook. The people almost universally 
detested the Book of Canons, regarding 
it as directly popish, and intended to pre- 
pare for the introduction of Popery itself. 
All the hostility, however, thus increased 
and extended against the prelatic innova- 
tions, did not break out into any positive 
tumults ; but it gave an immense addi- 
tional power to the deep under-current of 
the popular mind, and pointed its course 
directly against those regal and prelatic 
measures which were now universally 
felt to be equally injurious to civil liberty, 
freedom of conscience, and the purity of 
sacred worship. 

[1636.] During the year 1636, the 

* Stevenson's History of the Church of Scotland, 
edition 1840, pp. 159-164; Cruickshank, vol. i. p. 41; 
Neale's History of the Puritans, vol. ii p. 277, &c 



144 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND 



[CHAP. V 



contending parties seemed to be silently 
mustering their strength, preparatory to a 
conflict which should prove fatal to the one 
or the other. But there was this very signi- 
ficant difference between the modes of pre- 
paration, that the prelatic party strained 
every nerve to obtain an accession to that 
political and civil power which was 
already exorbitant, and upon which alone 
they seemed to rely for support in the 
hour of peril ; while the Presbyterians 
were doubly earnest in their prayers to 
God, in whose wisdom to guide, and 
strength to uphold them, they placed all 
their confidence. The only other me- 
thod adopted by the ministers was, that 
of informing their people of the nature 
and course of the proceedings which the 
prelatic party were urging forward with 
such high-handed tyranny. Attempts 
have often been made to convict these 
pious men of the grave crime of neglect- 
ing the most important duty of their 
office, the preaching of salvation through 
the Redeemer, and converting the pulpit 
into a place for uttering seditious and in- 
flammatory harangues. This is an accu- 
sation easily made, but fortunately as 
easily refuted. The writings of these 
culumniated men still exist, and never 
have been surpassed for the heart-search- 
ing earnestness of practical piety, purity, 
and depth of devotional feeling, loftiness 
of spirituality, and even peace-loving gen- 
tleness of temper, which they contain and 
display. To prove this statement, nothing 
more is necessary than to direct the rea- 
der to the letters of Samuel Rutherford, 
the greater part of which were written in 
those very stormy times, and many of 
them while he was himself suffering per- 
secution because of his refusal to yield to 
prelatic despotism. And would these 
watchmen of our Zion have been guilt- 
less, if they had neglected to warn those 
over whom they had been appointed 
overseers, that days of sharp and fiery 
trial were at hand ? Would they have 
been true shepherds, if they had seen the 
wolf about to break in upon 'he fold., and 
given no alarm? True, their silence 
would have been more favourable to the 
wolfish invaders ; and, no doubt, by a 
wolfish conclave their loud and earnest 
warnings would be vehemently censured 
and condemned. But let those who still 
re-echo and renew these accusations be- 



ware, lest they bring upon themselves the 
suspicion, or confirm the belief, that they, 
too, belong to the same ravening and 
blood-thirsty herd. 

The prelates, as has been already 
stated, had procured admission to the 
privy council, the exchequer, and the 
courts of session and justiciary, so that 
at least the half of the civil offices in the 
kingdom were filled by these aspiring 
churchmen. The office of lord high 
treasurer becoming vacant, Maxwell, 
bishop of Ross, grasped eagerly at that 
high office, in addition to three other civil 
offices which he already enjoyed. But 
the nobility, disgusted with his insatiable 
ambition, concurred in requesting the 
king to confer it on Traquair, who was 
already in high favour with the sovereign. 
Baffled ambition is the very spirit of im- 
placable revenge. From that time for- 
ward Ross and Traquair cherished a 
deadly mutual hatred, and strove to 
thwart each other's designs. The two 
rivals strove to counterplot each other 
about the continuation or the breaking up 
of the commission for the teinds ; but in 
this also Traquair proved an overmatch 
for his antagonist. The prelates had 
begun to find, that when the teinds were 
valued and purchased, they lost the power 
of drawing the revenues of the diocese 
into their own possession, nothing remain- 
ing but what was alloted for the local 
stipends of the ministers. They there- 
fore now wished the commission termi- 
nated, for their own avaricious ends. But 
Traquair persuaded the king to continue 
that court, and even contrived to persuade 
several of the prelates to support his views. 

These contests for wea Lth and power 
had engrossed the prelates so much for a 
time, that the Book of Canons had been 
allowed allowed to sink into comparative 
oblivion. This apparent calm in the 
public mind the prelates seemed to regard 
as a positive acquiescence by the nation 
in the progressive "changes of church 
government and discipline which they 
were labouring to introduce ; and accor- 
dingly came to the conclusion that the 
Liturgy also might now with perfect 
safety be published and enforced. Some 
authors assert that Traquair encouraged 
them to urge forward the Liturgy, with 
the very intention of precipitating their 
ruin ; but this seems scarcely credible, a:- 



A. D. 1G37.J 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



145 



he was himself certain to share in both 
■Aie obloquy and the danger. However 
that might be, the prelates themselves 
were sufficiently desirous of having their 
long-contemplated purpose accomplished. 
A Liturgy, or Book of Public Worship, 
was framed by the bishops of Ross and 
Dunblane, on the model of the English 
Prayer-Book, and sent to London for the 
revision of Laud. It was returned with 
innumerable corrections and additions, 
all tending to give it a more popish char- 
acter. " I have seen," says Kirkton, 
"the principal book, corrected with 
Bishop Laud's own hand, where in every 
place which he corrected, he brings the 
word as near the missal as English can 
be to Latin."* A proclamation was 
brought from Court by the bishop of 
Ross, and published by an act of privy- 
council in December 1636, announcing 
the completion of the work, and command- 
ing all faithful subjects to receive with 
reverence, and conform themselves to, 
the public form of religious service therein 
contained. To conform to that Liturgy, 
so popish in its character, and imposed in 
such an arbitary manner, was impossible 
without being prepared to yield up every 
vestige of liberty, civil and religious, and 
to violate all that conscience held most 
sacred. 

[1637.] Even after this last element of 
strife had been thrown into the surcharged 
and boiling heart of the community, the 
long-collected storm of popular indigna- 
tion did not at once burst forth. The 
proclamation itself was so far premature, 
that the Liturgy was not yet printed off 
and ready for distribution ; and although 
it had been determined that the period of 
its universal adoption should be at Easter, 
that period was allowed to elapse, except 
that some of the bishops, who had ob- 
tained early copies, began to use the 
Liturgy in their own churches about that 
time. Some of the more wary of the 
prelates were apprehensive of the com- 
ing tempest, even by the deep preternatu- 
ral stillness by which it was preceded ; 
while others regarded the stillness as a 
proof that the spirit of the people was 
broken and humbled, and that no resist- 
ance would be made. In May and June 
a few copies of the Liturgy began to ap- 
pear, and to be circulated about the coun- 

* Kirkton, p. 30. 
19 



try ; which gave to men the opportunity 
of ascertaining the real character of the 
production, and of forming a deliberate 
resolution how to act when the crisis 
should take place. In the beginning of 
July the prelates procured an order from 
the privy council, empowering them to 
raise letters of horning (the technical 
phrase in Scottish law for a kind of out- 
lawry) against the ministers who should 
manifest reluctance to receive the Liturgy, 
ordering them to provide for the use of 
their parishes two copies of the Service 
Book each, within fifteen days after they 
received the order, on pain of being de- 
clared and treated as rebels against the 
king and the law.* 

But even in the moment of the closing 
struggle the spell of infatuation seemed 
to rest upon the prelates. In every stage 
of their proceedings something occurred 
which caused them to throw away the 
mask, and reveal their true motives, 
proving that self-interest, and not zeal for 
religion, was their ruling principle. The 
two archbishops of St. Andrews and 
Glasgow, Spots wood and Lindsay, were 
both at that time busily engaged in mak- 
ing such arrangements as would have 
largely increased their revenues, but 
would to the same extent have diminished 
those of the Duke of Lennox and the 
Earl of Traquair. To prevent this, Tra- 
quair exerted all his court influence ; and, 
about the middle of July, procured from 
the king an order to dissolve the commis- 
sion for teinds till further advisement. 
By this order all the schemes of the 
arch-prelates were at once suspended, 
and their golden harvest subjected to a 
fatal blight. Both resolved to journey to 
London for the purpose of endeavouring 
to procure redress, but thought that their 
prospect of succeeding with his majesty 
would be greatly promoted if they could 
carry with them the gratifying intelli- 
gence that the Liturgy had been actually 
introduced into the Church of Scotland. 
Up till this time they had been favourable 
to delay till the angry feelings of the peo- 
ple might subside; but now, when their 
pecuniary interests were affected, they be- 
came the most urgent to proceed imme- 
diately. They accordingly procured his 
majesty's letter, requiring the Liturgy to 
be used in all the churches of Edinburgh, 

* Baillie's Letters, vol. i. p. 3. 



146 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. V. 



and an act of the privy council to en- 
force obedience to the royal mandate. 
Spotswood, goaded on by his love of mo- 
ney, summoned the ministers together, 
announced to them his majesty's pleasure, 
and commanded them to give intimation 
from their pulpits, that or the following 
Sabbath, the public use or the Liturgy 
was to be commenced. One only of the 
ministers, Mr. Andrew Ramsay, refused ; 
the rest promised obedience. 

This announcement sounded to Scot- 
land like a trumpet-call to arms. During 
the intermediate week all was anxious, 
but no longer silent, expectation. Several 
brief but vigorous pamphlets appeared, 
condemning the Liturgy, and the prelates 
for urging forward that daring innovation 
without the sanction of either Parliament 
or Assembly ; numerous meetings for 
prayer and consultation were held simul- 
taneously, though not by concert ; and 
the low murmur of indignant Scotland's 
voice began to be heard like the awaken- 
ing thunders on far distant hills, or the 
deep sound of the advancing ocean-tide. 

The 23d day of July 1637 was the 
day on which the perilous experiment 
was to be made, whether the people of 
Scotland would tamely submit to see the 
religious institutions of their fathers wan- 
tonly violated and overthrown, for the 
gratification of a despotic monarch and a 
lordly hierarchy. Several of the prelates 
were in the capital, to grace the innova- 
tion with their presence. The attention 
of the public was directed chiefly to the 
cathedral church of St. Giles. There 
the dean of Edinburgh prepared to com- 
mence the intended outrage on the na- 
tional Church and the most sacred feel- 
ings of the people. A deep melancholy 
calm brooded over the congregation, all 
apparently anticipating some display df 
mingled wrath and sorrow, but none 
aware what form it might assume, or 
what might be its extent. At length, 
when their feelings, wound up to the 
highest pitch, were become too tremu- 
lously painful much longer to be endured, 
the dean, attired in his surplice, began to 
read the service of the day. At that mo- 
ment an old woman, named Jenny Ged- 
des, unable longer to restrain her indig- 
nation, exclaimed, " Villain, dost thou 
say mass at my lug !" and seizing the 
stool on which she had been sitting, 



hurled it at the dean's head. Instantly 
all was tumultuous uproar and confusion. 
Missiles of every kind were flying from 
all directions, aimed at the luckless leader 
of the forlorn hope of Prelacy ; and sev- 
eral of the most vehement rushed towards 
the desk, to seize upon the object of their 
indignation. The dean, terrified by this 
sudden outburst of popular fury, tore 
himself out of their hands and fled, glad 
to escape, though with the loss of his sa- 
cerdotal vestments. The bishop of Edin- 
burgh himself then entered the pulpit, 
and endeavoured to allay the wild tumult, 
but in vain. He was instantly assailed 
with equal fury, and was with difficulty 
rescued by the interference of the magis- 
trates. When the most outrag, his of the 
rioters had been thrust out of the church, 
the dean attempted to resume the service ; 
but the tumultuary din of the mob on the 
outside, shouting aloud their hostile cries, 
breaking the windows, and fiercely bat- 
tering the doors, compelled him to termi 
nate the mangled service abruptly. Great 
exertions were required to protect the 
prelates from the fury of the excited 
rioters, whose long-pent feelings had now 
burst forth in a torrent of ungovernable 
violence. 

This riot, as the reader will perceive, 
bears every mark of having been entirely 
an unpremeditated burst of popular indig- 
nation. Yet writers on the prelatic side 
have attempted to represent it as a pre- 
concerted scheme of the leading Presby- 
terian nobility and ministers. It does not 
seem necessary to enter into the contro- 
versy further than to state, that their as- 
sertions are directly contradicted by well 
authenticated facts ; and that although 
the most searching investigations were 
instituted by the magistrates of Edinburgh, 
immediately after the riot, not the slight- 
est trace was found of any pre-arrange- 
ments having been made, and none but 
the lowest of the people, whose passions 
are generally least under control, were 
found to have been concerned in it. In- 
deed it was almost wholly confined to fe- 
males ; and the utmost search of the 
magistrates enabled them to detect, appre- 
hend, and commit to prison, only some 
six or seven servant girls. It was, in 
fact, merely the result of a new outrage 
given to feelings long suppressed, and 
thereby collected into a degree of concen- 



A. D. 1637.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



147 



irated strength, making their final out- 
burst the more impetuous, but also the 
more natural, — like a spark of fire thrown 
into a high-piled mass of combustible 
materials, and causing a sudden and tre- 
menduous explosion. In the church of 
the Greyfriars, where the bishop of Ar- 
gyie officiated, no other interruption was 
that day experienced but groans of deep 
sorrow, and the shriller wailings of lam- 
entation ; but had one single word or 
act of violence been used, the sorrow 
might have been in an instant converted 
into the wild uproar of fury ; for in such 
a state of excited feelings the passions of 
the heart can change with the suddenness 
of lightning. 

Great was the consternation and aston- 
ishment of the prelatic party when this 
unexpected storm of popular wrath dash- 
ed the Liturgy from their trembling 
hands. They had calculated on nothing 
worse than a few weak and sullen mur- 
murs from the people, and perhaps the 
obstinate resistance of a portion of the 
ministers in different parts of the country, 
whom they could easily banish and re- 
place by creatures of their own. But 
when matters began to assume a more 
serious aspect than they had expected, 
they stood amazed and stupified. No 
preparation had been made to overawe 
and suppress popular tumult ; and al- 
though the rioters were mostly women of 
the lowest ranks, they began to suspect a 
more formidable body of antagonists ; 
and their fears exaggerated the nature 
and extent of their dangers. Spotswood, 
whose cupidity had induced him to urge 
forward the introduction of the Liturgy, 
and who had hoped to carry the tidings 
of its reception in triumph to London, 
now thought it expedient to extenuate his 
failure by transmitting to the king an in- 
flated account of the riot, casting all the 
blame of its occurrence upon Traquair, 
who had been detained from the capital 
on the eventful day by the marriage of a 
relation. At the same time he put forth 
his high commission powers in the most 
vehement manner, laying the town under 
an episcopal interdict, suspending all 
public worship, even on the hallowed 
day of God, because the Liturgy had 
been rejected. This he did without com- 
municating with the privy council, who, 
on their part, were sufficiently annoyed 



at what had taken place, and not in a 
temper to tolerate either the folly or the 
arrogance of the mortifletl and angry 
primate. They accordingly sent to his 
majesty their own account of what had 
taken place, extenuating the affair, and 
accusing the bishops of having caused it 
by all by their own vanity and rashness. 

These mutual recriminations between 
the privy council and the prelates tended 
to paralyze the executive at the very mo- 
ment when decision and energy were 
most required. Meanwhile, the intelli- 
gence of what had taken place in Edin- 
burgh spread throughout the kingdom 
like the kindling of a beacon-fire, and 
gave the signal of open resistance to this 
invasion of their sacred rights, — a signal 
most willingly received by a high-minded 
people, thus wantonly injured in what 
they held most precious. They seemed 
to perceive, in the paltry riot of Edin- 
burgh, the cloud like a man's hand rising- 
out of the sea, soon to cover the whole 
skies, and descend in showers of new life 
and energy. The thrilling fervour of 
the people told their long oppressed min- 
isters that the day of their deliverance 
was drawing near, and that they had now 
but to guide that strong national feeling 
which was rising in its might, and would 
soon, if rightly directed, burst through 
and sweep away those feeble barriers 
within which regal and hierarchical des- 
potism had striven to confine it. Nor 
were they wanting in their duty to the 
people, to themselves, and to the Church 
of their fathers, in this momentous crisis. 

Still it was prelatic infatuation that 
forced on the contest. Foiled in Edin- 
burgh, the prelates resolved to try wheth- 
er they might not be more successful in 
the country. Accordingly the two arch- 
bishops determined to compel all the 
ministers within their bounds to procure 
and use the Liturgy. Renewing the 
former imperious mandate, Spotswood 
charged Alexander Henderson, George 
Hamilton, and James Bruce, the three 
most eminent ministers within his diocese, 
to purchase two copies of the Service 
Book each, for the use of their parishes, 
within fifteen days after the date of the 
charge, under the pain of rebellion. The 
archbishop of Glasgow gave a similar 
charge to all the ministers within his 
bounds. This called into the field of 



148 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. Y, 



action the man who was destined to be- 
come the leader of his party. Alexander 
Henderson declared himself willing to 
purchase the book, that he might make 
himself acquainted with its contents ; but 
refused to promise that he would use it 
in public, boldly affirming, that in mat- 
ters which referred to the worship of 
God, no man could be bound to a blind 
and servile obedience. But as the danger 
to which they were exposed by this 
charge was both formidable and near at 
hand, the ministers resolved to apply to 
the privy council for a suspension of the 
charge itself Accordingly Henderson 
hastened to the metropolis, to present a 
petition in his own name, and in that of 
his two brethren. He there met with 
William Castelaw from Stewarton, Rob- 
ert Wilkie from Glasgow, and James 
Bonar from Maybole, who had been sent 
by their respective presbyteries for the 
same purpose, chiefly by the advice of 
David Dickson and the Earl of Loudon. 
This meeting, unanticipated, so far as ap- 
pears, encouraged the ministers to go for- 
ward with their petitions, by making 
them fully aware of the rapidly-extending 
harmony of sentiment and feeling through- 
out the kingdom. On the 23d of August 
they presented their petitions to the coun- 
cil ; and, at the same time, many letters 
were addressed to the councillors by no- 
blemen and gentlemen from all parts of 
the country, requesting that the reading 
of the Liturgy might not be forcibly im- 
posed on the ministers. The council, by 
an act dated the 25th, declared, that the 
letters and charges respecting the Service 
Book, extended only to the buying there- 
of, and no further. At the same time the 
council wrote to the king, giving him a 
tolerably full and fair account of the state 
of the country, of the universal dissatis- 
faction which the attempted forcible intro- 
duction of the Liturgy had caused, and 
of the dangerous consequences which 
might be dreaded were the attempt to en- 
force its reception immediately renewed, 
or punishment inflicted on those by 
whom it was opposed. It was left to his 
majesty, after taking these statements into 
consideration, to determine by what 
means these perilous commotions might 
be best allayed, and their cause removed 
or mitigated. To the petitioners the 
council gave the additional satisfaction of 



a promise, that their supplication should 
receive a full answer on the 20th of Sep- 
tember ensuing. 

The prelates were exceedingly disap- 
pointed and enraged by these proceedings 
of the council. They now saw them- 
selves deserted by the nobility, and they 
never had possessed the support of the 
people. But they relied upon the influ- 
ence of Laud over the king, and upon 
his majesty's despotic principles, which 
but too thoroughly coincided with their 
own ; and in the blind wrath of mortified 
pride they determined to persevere in 
their course. Partly by transmitting 
false accounts to the king, and partly by 
Laud's suppressing all the true accounts 
sent by others, the prelates deceived his 
majesty, and induced him to send a very 
sharp reply to the letter of the privy 
council. In that letter he severely re- 
proved the magistrates of Edinburgh for 
permitting the riot, and the privy council 
itself for its feeble management of public 
affairs; commanding further, that a suf- 
ficient number of the council should re- 
main in the capital till the reading of the 
Liturgy should be established ; that no 
magistrate should be chosen for any of 
the burghs who was not ready to con- 
form, and that the bishops should use the 
Liturgy in their own churches.* 

The king's severe and despotic letter 
again acted like a spark thrown upon a 
train of gunpowder, or like the kindling 
of a beacon. Roused, rather than intimi- 
dated, the Presbyterians crowded to Edin- 
burgh from all parts of the kingdom, as 
to the spot on which the country's wel- 
fare should be lost or gained. In the 
course of three days, twenty-four noble- 
men, many barons, about a hundred 
ministers, commissioners from sixty-six 
parishes, and also from a number of the 
principal burghs, with many of the gen- 
try from the counties of Fife, Stirling, 
Lothian, Ayr, and Lanark, arrived in the 
metropolis, all animated by the same 
spirit, and resolved to defend the purity 
and freedom of their national religion. f 
Less than a month had elapsed since the 
petitioners against the prelatic innovation 

* To this last command the bishop of Brechin yielded 
a singular compliance. He armed himself with pis> 
tols. and taking his own family, all likewise armed, to 
church before the people were resembled, fastened the 
doors, and so read the Liturgy in triumph. (Baillie. 
vol. i. p. 24.) 

t Baillie, p. 15. 



A. D. 1637 ] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



149 



were only four ministers ; and now the 
whole kingdom, as by a simultaneous 
impulse, had started from its apparent 
lethargy and poured its confluent streams 
of living energy into the capital. In 
such a mighty and universal movement a 
thoughtful statesman would have seen, 
as Sir Philip Sidney did in Holland, the 
manifested will of God, and would have 
bowed before the sacred majesty of what 
he thus perceived to be a spiritual ele- 
ment, which none but the Divine Spirit 
could have caused so to pervade the 
general heart of the community. But 
sacred principles are incomprehensible to 
men of secular minds. 

Instead of all these numerous petitions, 
it was thought expedient that one should 
be presented, in which all the petitioners 
should express their concurrence. This 
was done accordingly, and presented to 
the privy council by the Earl of Suther- 
land ; and although the council declined 
to give an answer till they should have 
received his majesty's instructions, the 
petitions were given to the Duke of Len- 
nox, to be by him presented to the king. 
Lennox had expressed himself much im- 
pressed by the extent of the national feel- 
ing, declaring that he was sure his ma- 
jesty was greatly misinformed, else he 
never could persevere in urging a mea- 
sure which was thus alienating the whole 
of his most faithful subjects ; and hopes 
were entertained that his mediation with 
the king would procure a favourable an- 
swer. But not trusting too much to the 
fallacious visions of hope and court fa- 
vour, the Presbyterians wisely improved 
the opportunity, when so many of them 
were together, and drew up several im- 
portant papers, detailing their principles 
and opinions, by which their unexpected 
spontaneous harmony of sentiment was 
confirmed into a thorough union of heart 
and mind. 

Soon after the departure of the numer- 
ous supplicants from Edinburgh, some 
popular commotions agitated the city, in 
consequence of the conduct of the pro- 
vost, who was a determined prelatist, and 
therefore strove to thwart the people, re- 
pressing their petitions, and still urging 
the use of the Liturgy, even while it was 
suspended in other parts of the kingdom. 
These commotions were not, however, 
now caused only by the sudden impulses 



of the lowest ranks, but were joined and 
guided by many 'of all classes, and were 
sufficiently formidable to overawe the 
council, and constrain them to comply 
with the wishes of the citizens. Their 
petitions w r ere received, and a promise 
was given that they should receive his 
majesty's answer against the 17th of Oc- 
tober. 

The intimation of this expected com- 
munication from the king- having been 
sent throughout the country by Archibald 
Johnston of Warriston, advocate, caused 
the immediate reappearance of the Pres 
byterians in Edinburgh, and in still great- 
er numbers than foii erly. Commission- 
ers from above two hundred parishes pre- 
sented petitions to the privy council, be- 
fore the tenor of the king's despatches 
had been divulged. The numerous peti- 
tioners then held meetings to deliberate 
what further steps were necessary to be 
taken. But as their numbers were now 
so great that they could not conveniently 
meet all in one place, they separated 
themselves into four divisions, and met 
in as many different places, each order — 
noblemen, gently, burgesses, and minis- 
ters — meeting apart from the others. 
Each of these meetings was opened with 
prayer ; after which all were asked indi- 
vidually, whether they disapproved of the 
Service Book. When all had answered 
that they did, both on account of its mat- 
ter, and the manner in which it had been 
attempted to be imposed on the country, 
the ablest and most intelligent proceeded 
to point out more specifically the erro- 
neous character of the book, and the ag- 
gravated nature of the grievances already 
sustained, and still further threatened. 
This judicious procedure tended still 
more completely to concentrate and unite 
the opinions of the petitioners.* 

While engaged in these deliberations 
they were suddenly informed, that an act 
of council, proceeding upon his majesty's 
letters, had been that instant proclaimed, 
dissolving the standing committee of 
privy council in so far as concerned the 
affairs of the Church, and commanding 
the supplicants to leave town within 
twenty-four hours, under pain of rebel- 
lion. Another proclamation almost im- 
mediately followed, intended as a punish- 

* In these discussions Baillie seems to have acquit- 
ted himself greatly to the satisfaction of his auditors, 
(Baillie, p. 17.) 



150 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. V 



merit to trie city, commanding the privy 
council and the Court of Session to be 
removed from Edinburgh to Linlithgow 
till November, and thereafter to Dundee. 
And still descending with their vindictive 
measures, another proclamation com- 
manded a book written by Gillespie, en- 
titled, " A Dispute against the English 
Popish Ceremonies," to be called in and 
burned. It was not difficult to perceive 
by what hands these proclamations had 
been fabricated. Indeed, some hints re- 
specting the probable character of the 
expected communications from his majesty 
had previously been uttered by the pre- 
lates, who were offended with the former 
leniency of the privy council, and had 
represented to the king, that the riots in 
Edinburgh had been caused by ill-affect- 
ed persons resorting thither from the 
country. 

These proclamations had the effect of 
constraining the Presbyterian petitioners 
to proceed to a bolder and more decisive 
step than any they had previously taken, 
and, instead of continuing to act merely 
on the defensive, to become themselves 
assailants. They resolved to lay before 
the privy council a formal complaint 
against the prelates, accusing them di- 
rectly of being the cause of all the trou- 
bles that disturbed the nation, by their 
lawless and tyrannical attempts to force 
the Book of Canons and the Liturgy 
upon an unwilling Church and people. 
Two forms of the proposed complaint 
were drawn up, the one by Lord Bal- 
merino and Alexander Henderson, the 
other by the Earl of Loudon and David 
Dickson, the latter of which was unani- 
mously adopted. Baillie acknowledges 
that he was himself the only person who 
felt any difficulty in agreeing to it, being 
apprehensive that it went too far; but 
after weighing it maturely in his mind, 
he subscribed it, and never repented of 
having done so.* It complained of the 
arbitrary nature of the proclamation com- 
manding them to leave the town, while 
they were peaceably waiting for an an- 
swer to their supplication. It then pro- 
ceeded to point out some of the pernicious 
characteristics of the Books of Common 
Prayer and of Canons, as containing the 
seeds of divers superstitions, idolatry, and 
false doctrine, and as being subversive of 

' Baillie, p. 19. 



the discipline established in the Church, 
and confirmed by many acts of parlia- 
ment ; and it concluded by declaring the 
belief of the complainers, that all these 
wrongs had been committed by the bish- 
ops, contrary to his majesty's intention, 
craving that these matters might be 
brought to trial, and decided according to 
justice, and that this complaint might be 
fully represented to his majesty, that 
their grievances and wrongs might be 
redressed, and religion permitted to re- 
main as it had been placed by the princi- 
ples and arrangements of the Reforma- 
tion.* 

This important document was, in the 
course of a few hours, subscribed by 
twenty-four of the nobility, several hun- 
dreds of gentlemen, all the ministers in 
town, amounting to about three hundred, 
and all the commissioners of burghs 
present. Soon afterwards, having been 
sent to the country, it was subscribed by 
fourteen nobles more, gentlemen without 
number, nearly all the ministers in the 
kingdom, and by every town except 
Aberdeen, which still continued to retain 
its most unenviable distinction. 

The vindictive proclamation removing 
the courts from Edinburgh caused ano- 
ther temporary riot, and was the means 
of procuring to the citizens the restora- 
tion of those ministers who had been de- 
posed on account of their opposition to 
the Liturgy, and also so much control 
over the town council as to secure some 
of that body to act as commissioners 
along with the other supplicants, thereby 
restoring the link uniting the metropolis 
to the rest of the kingdom. The favour- 
able results of this riot, if riot it ought to 
be termed, may be partly attributed to 
the open defence of the conduct of the 
citizens made by some of the most influ- 
ential of the nobility, as well as to the 
fact that people of the highest respecta- 
bility took part in the commotion, and did 
so avowedly on the most sacred grounds, 
in the defence of religious purity and 
freedom. " Let any one," said the Earl 
of Rothes, u who hath found the com- 
fort, and knoweth the binding power, of 
true religion, judge if this people deserve 
that censure and imputation which the 
bishops would cast upon them for oppo- 
sing their project. Who pressed that 

t Stevenson, pp. 181, 182. 



A. D. 1637.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 



151 



form of service contrary to the laws of 
God and this kingdom ? Who dared, in 
their conventicles, contrive a form of 
God's public worship contrary to that 
established by the general consent of this 
Church and state?" "If any fault or 
violence have been committed by any of 
the subjects in resisting or seeking the 
abolition of that book, they might retort, 
that the bishops framing, and the council 
authorizing it, were the first and princi- 
pal causes, necessitating either disobe- 
dience to God, and breach of our laws, 
or else resisting those evils which would 
bring the judgment of God on the land."* 
The next meeting of privy council was 
held on the 15th of November. Again 
did the Presbyterians assemble in the 
capital, and in still increased numbers. 
The council, apprehensive of a renewal 
of tumultuary commotions in the town, 
requested the nobles to use their influence 
with their friends to induce them to re- 
turn quietly to their homes. The peti- 
tioners signified their willingness to make 
such an arrangement as would allow the 
greater part to withdraw, no more re- 
maining than were requisite to conduct 
all necessary matters, and were empow- 
ered by the whole to act in their behalf 
Following up this suggestion, which had 
indeed been so far practically employed 
before as a matter of convenience, it was 
arranged, that as many of the nobility as 
pleased, two gentlemen from every coun- 
ty, one minister from every presbytery, 
and one burgess from every burgh, 
should form a general commission, re- 
presenting the whole body of the Pres- 
byterians. Still more to concentrate their 
efforts, it was resolved that the general 
body of commissioners should meet only 
on extraordinary occasions, and a smaller 
number should be selected, who might 
reside permanently at Edinburgh, watch- 
ing the progress of events, and ready to 
communicate with the whole body on 
any emergency. This smaller commit- 
tee was composed of sixteen persons — 
four noblemen, four gentlemen, four 
ministers, and four burgesses ; and from 
the circumstance of their sitting in four 
separate rooms in the parliament-house, 
they were designated The Four. Ta- 
bles. A member from each of these 
constituted a chief Table of last resort, 

* Rothes's Relation, p. 15. 



making a supreme council of four mem- 
bers. In this manner was constructed 
one of the most active and efficient coun- 
cils that ever guided the affairs of any 
community, vigilant, prompt, and ener- 
getic, placed in the very centre of the 
body politic, conveying life and intelli- 
gence through its entire frame, and able 
to rouse it into instantaneous action at one 
thrilling call. 

When these exceedingly judicious ar- 
rangements had been completed, the 
great body of the petitioners were solemn- 
ly exhorted to return to their homes, to 
reform their personal habits, to act accord- 
ing to their religious profession, and to 
be earnest and constant in faith and 
prayer to Him in whose hands are the 
hearts of kings, and from whom alone 
they could hope for safety to the crown, 
peace to the country, and deliverance to 
the Church. These exhortations pro- 
duced a deep impression upon the assem- 
bled thousands, and were at once obeyed. 
The people quietly withdrew from the 
scene of agitating anxiety, committing 
the cause of the distressed Church to the 
protection of its divine Head and King 
fearing God, and having no other fear. 

About the beginning of December a 
meeting of privy council was appointed 
to be held at Linlithgow, to receive the 
communications transmitted from his ma- 
jesty by the Earl of Roxburgh. The 
Tables were instantly on the alert, and 
summoned the whole of the commission- 
ers of the Church to the capital, to be 
prepared for any emergency, but at the 
solicitation of Traquair and Roxburgh, 
consented to abstain from going to Lin- 
lithgow. There is reason to believe that 
Roxburgh had it in charge to employ 
every method by which the Presbyteri- 
ans might be weakened : such as, to de- 
tach some of their supporters by bribes 
and promises of preferment, and to seize 
and imprison the leading men whom he 
could not otherwise influence; but the 
first method being indignantly rejected, 
the second was abandoned as too perilous. 
Three proclamations were, however, 
issued by the council ; in one of which 
his majesty declared his abhorrence of 
Popery, and his determination to allow 
nothing but what should tend to the ad- 
vancement of religion, " as it is presently 
professed within this his majesty's ancient 



152 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. V, 



kingdom of Scotland ; and that nothing 
is, or will be, intended to be done therein 
against the laudable laws of that his ma- 
jesty's native kingdom." With this 
proclamation the Presbyterians saw no 
reason to be satisfied. It was but too 
evident that its language was equivocal, 
and might be interpreted to mean, that 
his majesty would allow nothing but 
what should tend to the advancement of 
Prelacy, and that he regarded the laws 
establishing that system as k< laudable 
laws," which nothing should be done 
against. They resolved, therefore, to 
abide by their own plain and unequivo- 
cal complaints, and not to allow them- 
selves to be circumvented and deceived, 
either by the arts of courtiers or the king- 
craft of the sovereign. 

In vain did Traquair and Roxburgh 
endeavour to persuade the petitioners to 
rest satisfied with the proclamation. Find- 
ing them on their guard in this matter, 
the next attempt was to induce the peti- 
tioners to divide their petitions, and make 
application separately, on the plea that by 
doing so their conduct would bear less 
the appearance of combination, and be 
proportionally less offensive to the king. 
But the Tables were aware of the maxim, 
" divide and conquer," and therefore re- 
fused to expose themselves and their cause 
■to the danger of division and defeat. Yet 
once more did the council attempt to 
draw the Presbyterians into a snare, re- 
questing them to abandon their accusa- 
tion of the prelates, and to limit their pe- 
tition to the subject of die Book of Can- 
ons and the Liturgy. This stratagem 
also failed, in consequence of the unalter- 
able resolution of the Tables to adhere 
to the principles stated in their complaint, 
and to regard the prelates as parties ac- 
cused of high offences against the Na- 
tional Church, which they had striven to 
subvert by the introduction of a hierarchy 
not recognised in its constitution. The 
privy council then attempted to evade re- 
ceiving the general petition of the Tables; 
but such was the indefatigable persever- 
ance of the Presbyterian leaders, that the 
council was in a manner besieged, and 
compelled to receive the deputation, and 
listen to their complaint. Baillie has 
preserved the speeches of the deputation, 
which are indeed a noble specimen of 
high religious principle, loyalty, and elo- 



quence, honourable alike to the men and 
to the cause. They are said to have pro- 
duced such an impression upon Lord 
Lorn, afterwards Earl of Argyle, as to 
detach him from the prelatic party, and 
to incline him to that of the Presbyterians, 
of which he subsequently proved a steady 
and able supporter. 

Information of the state of affairs was 
sent by the privy council to the king, 
through the Earl of Traquair, accompani- 
ed by Hamilton of Orbiston, who was ap- 
pointed to take charge of the petition and 
complaint of the Presbyterians. Some 
faint hopes were entertained, that when 
his majesty should receive full and ac- 
curate accounts of the real state of affairs 
in Scotland, he might be induced to aban- 
don the pernicious attempt to violate the 
conscience of an entire kingdom, by forc- 
ing upon the people religious ceremonies 
to which they were determinedly oppos- 
ed; and a hierarchy which they both de- 
tested and feared. But unhappily for 
both the king and the kingdom, an evil 
agency was strenuously at work, prompt- 
ing the misguided and obstinate monarch 
to provoke his destiny. Sir Robert Spots- 
wood, president of the Court of Session, 
hastened to London, and, aided by Laud, 
prejudiced the mind of the king against 
all sound and wise council ; and the arch- 
bishop, seconding his son's misrepresenta- 
tions, suggested that the Presbyterians 
would submit, were his majesty to resort 
to measures more decisive than any he 
had yet adopted, — that it required but a 
proclamation condemning the proceeding 
of the Tables, and prohibiting them, un- 
der pain of treason, to put an end to the 
whole opposition. This advice was but 
too congenial to the despotic temper of 
Charles. It prevailed against the opin- 
ions of those who counselled a milder 
course ; and Traquair was commanded 
to be in readiness to return to Scotland 
early in the following year, to bear down 
all opposition, and see his majesty's or- 
ders carried into effect. 

[1638.] In the beginning of February 
1638, the Earl of Traquair returned from 
England, bearing with him those arbitra* 
ry commands with which his majesty 
hoped to dishearten and disunite the Pres- 
byterians. He was immediately request 
ed by some of the leading nobles to in 
form them respecting the nature of the 



A D. 1638.] 



HISTORY OF THE 



CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



153 



measures which he was empowered to 
propose ; but he declined to give any an- 
swer till the meeting of the privy council, 
which was appointed to be held at Ster- 
ling on the 20th of February. The Pres- 
byterians, however, had already received 
secret information respecting the real 
character of Traquair's commission ; and 
the intelligence having been speedily 
sent throughout the country, great num- 
bers began to flock to Sterling, to act as 
occasion might require. Traquair en- 
deavoured to dissuade them from thus as- 
sembling in dangerous numbers ; and 
u ey consented so far as to promise to 
send Rord Rothes and Lindsay only, as 
a deputation. Learning soon after that 
the intended proclamation would not only 
prohibit any supplicants from appearing 
before the council, but also would com- 
mand them to be incarcerated as traitors 
if they should attempt it, they changed 
their plan, and determined to repair to 
Sterling in such numbers as should prove 
a sufficient mutual protection. And as 
they were resolved that they at least 
would act honourably, whatever might 
be the conduct of their antagonists, they 
sent information of this change of purpose 
to Lord Traquair. Somewhat irritated 
at the failure of his stratagem, Traquair 
told them that by asking too much they 
were defeating their own object ; that if 
they had contented themselves with sup- 
plicating release from the Book of Can- 
ons and the Liturgy, they might have 
been successful ; but his majesty would 
not suffer one of his estates to be brought 
under subjection to them. This hasty 
answer confirmed all their apprehensions. 
It showed the king's determination to re- 
tain Prelacy under the designation of one 
of the estates of the kingdom, — an estate 
essentially subservient to him, by the dex- 
terous use of which he might vitiate every 
court, undermine all the bulwarks of lib- 
erty, and succeed in establishing a perfect 
and absolute despotism, civil and religious. 
This, indeed, there is every reason to be- 
lieve, was his majesty's unavowed but 
real design, — a design happily frustrated 
Dy the promptitude, firmness, and energy 
which God bestowed upon our Presbyteri- 
an ancestors. 

Traquair had now but one resource 
left, and that an abundantly mean one, — 
to attempt the accomplishment by stealth 
20 



of what dissimulation and threats had 
failed to effect. He resolved to hasten 
under night to Sterling, and there issue 
the proclamation, before the Presbyteri- 
ans could arrive, on the morning of the 
20th, which happened to be a Monday. 
Even this proved abortive. His design 
was detected ; the zealous Presbyterians 
sent two of their number to anticipate this 
new movement ; and when the members 
of privy council appeared in Sterling to 
publish the proclamation, they were met 
by the Lords Home and Lindsay, who 
read a protest, and affixed a copy of i on 
the market-cross, beside that of the pro- 
clamation, leaving them there, bane and 
antidote together. 

Nothing could have been more injudi- 
cious than his majesty's proclamation. 
The Presbyterians were all along ex- 
tremely unwilling to believe, and still 
more so to affirm, that they regarded the 
king as in any degree the direct cause of 
their troubles, accusing the ambitious and 
corrupt prelates of being both the instiga- 
tors and the agents in all the innovations 
which had been made, and the oppres- 
sions under which the country had groan- 
ed, ever since the institution of their in- 
quisitorial and despotic Courts of High 
Commission. But in this proclamation 
the king declared " that the bishops were 
unjustly accused as being authors of the 
service book and canons, seeing whatever 
was done by them in that matter was by 
his majesty's authority and orders." The 
proclamation further expressed entire ap- 
probation of these innocent books ; con- 
demned all meetings and subscriptions 
against them, prohibiting all such pro- 
ceedings, under pain of rebellion ; and 
ordaining that no supplicant should ap- 
pear in any town where the council were 
sitting, under pain of treason.* In this 
manner did the king openly take upon 
himself all the blame of those measures 
against which the great body of the nation 
had petitioned and complained, as if to 
tell the kingdom that no redress should 
be granted to any of their grievances. 

It might have been thought that the 
depths of meanness and duplicity had 
now been explored. But the council 
found a still lower deep. Great num- 
bers of the Presbyterians had arrived in 
Sterling before the day was far advanced , 

Baillie, pp. 32, 33. 



154 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND 



[CHAP. V, 



and the council entreated their leaders to 
persuade them to withdraw, lest any tu- 
mult should arise ; promising- that no act 
of ratification should be passed, and that 
their protest and declinature against the 
prelates sitting as members of council 
should be received. Yet no sooner had 
the mass of the supplicants withdrawn, 
than the council admitted two of the pre- 
lates, ratified the proclamation, and re- 
fused to receive the protest and declinature ; 
thus violating their own pledged honour, 
and degrading the faith of courts beneath 
the level of common falsehood. Several 
high-minded nobles, who had hitherto 
supported the prelatic measures, recoiled 
from the contamination of this act, and 
soon afterwards joined the Presbyterians. 
The publication of this proclamation in 
other towns was met with equal prompti- 
tude by a protest ; and thus, according to 
the received opinions on such matters in 
Scotland, the binding force of the procla- 
mation was neutralized, till the subjects 
of which it treated should be freely and 
fully discussed in Parliament and As- 
sembly. 

These proceedings hastened on the 
crisis. The Presbyterians now saw 
clearly that the king himself was deter- 
mined to support the prelates, and ruin 
them, if in his power. Unless, therefore, 
they were prepared to bow their necks 
beneath prelatic despotism in the Church, 
and arbitrary power in the State, they 
must maintain their position ; and to do 
so without a more decided and permanent 
bond of union than that which the Tables 
afforded was impossible. So reasoned the 
nobility. On the other hand, Henderson, 
Dickson, and some more of the leading 
men among the ministers, looking more 
deeply into the matter, became convinced 
that the Church and the nation were suf- 
fering the natural and penal consequences 
of their own defections. And calling to 
mind how greatly God had blessed the pre- 
vious Covenants, in which the nation had 
bound itself by the most solemn obligations 
to put away all idolatry, superstition, and 
immorality, and to worship God in sim- 
plicity and faithfulness according to his 
own Word, they arrived at the important 
conclusion, that their duty and their safety 
were the same, and would consist in re- 
turning to God, and renewing their cove- 



nant engagements to Him and His holy 
law. 

This great idea re-assured their minds ; 
yet they were aware that it would require 
to be cautiously introduced to the notice of 
the weaker and less decided of the bre 
thren. A public fast was intimated, in 
which the confession of the defections of 
the Church and nation formed naturally a 
leading subject of the addresses which the 
most eminent of the ministers were se- 
lected to deliver to crowded audiences of 
earnest and deep thinking men. In this 
manner the idea of renewing the Cove- 
nant was infused into their minds, while 
the sacred duties in which they were en- 
gaged had for a time entirely banished 
all narrow, selfish, and worldly consi- 
derations. On the immediately following 
day, Monday the 26th of February, the 
subject was openly mentioned ; and it 
was found that already there was a strong 
and very prevalent inclination to renew 
the Covenant. Alexander Henderson 
and Johnston of Warriston were ap- 
pointed to draw it up, and Rothes, Lou- 
don, and Balmerino to revise it. The 
utmost care was taken that it should con- 
tain nothing which could justly give 
offence to even the most tender and scru- 
pulous conscience. Objections of every 
kind were heard and considered, and 
forms of expression altered, so as to re- 
move whatsoever might seem liable to 
objection. JBaillie and the brethren of 
the west country appear to have been the 
most scrupulous, but all their difficulties 
were removed or answered. 

The Covenant consisted of three parts ; 
the first, the Old Covenant of 1581, ex- 
actly as at first prepared ; the second, the 
acts of Parliament condemning Popery, 
and confirming and ratifying the acts of 
the General Assembly, — this was written 
by Johnston ; and the third, the special 
application of the whole to present cir- 
cumstances, — this was the production of 
Henderson, displaying singular clearness 
of thought and soundness of judgment. 

At length the important day, the 28th 
of February, dawned, in which Scotland 
was to resume her solemn covenant union 
with her God. All were fully aware, 
that on the great transaction of the day, 
and on the blessing of God upon it, wauld 
depend the welfare or the wDe of the 



A. D. 1638.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND 



155 



Church and kingdom for generations to 
come. By day-break all the commis- 
sioners were met j and the Covenant 
being now written out, it was read over, 
and its leading propositions deliberately 
examined, all being invited to express 
their opinions freely, and every objection 
patiently heard and answered. From 
time to time there appeared some slightly 
doubtful symptoms, indicative of possible 
disunion ; but these gradually gave way 
before the rising tide of sacred emotion 
with which almost every heart was heav- 
ing. Finally, it was agreed that all the 
commissioners who were in town, with 
as many of their friends as could attend, 
should meet at the Grayfriars church in 
the afternoon, to sign the bond of union 
with each other, and of covenant with 
God. 

As the hour drew near, people from 
all quarters flocked to the spot ; and be- 
fore the commissioners appeared, the 
church and churchyard were densely fil- 
led with the gravest, the wisest, and the 
best of Scotland's pious sons and daugh- 
ters. With the hour approached the 
men ; Rothes, Loudon, Henderson, Dick- 
son, and Johnston appeared, bearing a 
copy of the Covenant ready for signa- 
ture. The meeting was then constituted 
by Henderson, in a prayer of very re- 
markable power, earnestness, and spirit- 
uality of tone and feeling. The dense 
multitude listened with breathless rever- 
ence and awe, as if each man felt him- 
self alone in he presence of the Hearer 
of prayer. When he concluded, the 
Earl of Loudon stood forth, addressed the 
meeting, and stated, explained, and vindi- 
cated the object for which they were as- 
sembled. He very judiciously directed 
their attention to the covenants of other 
days, when their venerated fathers had 
publicly joined themselves to the Lord, 
and had obtained support under their 
trials, and deliverance from every dan- 
ger : pointed out the similarity of their 
position ; and the consequent propriety 
and duty of fleeing to the same high 
tower of Almighty strength ; and con- 
cluded by an appeal to the Searcher of 
hearts, that nothing disloyal or treason- 
able was meant. Johnston then unrolled 
the vast sheet of parchment, and in a 
clear and steady voice read the Cove- 
nant aloud. He finished, and stood 



silent. A solemn stillness followed, 
deep, unbroken, sacred. Men felt the 
near presence of that dread Majesty to 
whom they were about to vow allegiance ; 
and bowed their souls before Him, in the 
breathless awe of silent spiritual adora 
tion. 

Rothes at length, with subdued tone, 
broke the silence, stating that if any had 
still objections to offer, they should repair 
if from the south or west parts of the 
kingdom, to the west door of the church, 
where their doubts would be heard and 
resolved by Loudon and Dickson ; if 
from the north and east, to the east door 
where the same would be done by Hen- 
derson and himself, "Few came, pro- 
posed but few doubts, and these few 
were soon resolved." Again a deep and 
solemn pause ensued ; not the pause of 
irresolution, but of modest diffidence, 
each thinking every other more worthy 
than himself to place the first name upon 
this sacred bond. An aged nobleman, 
the venerable Earl of Sutherland, at last 
stepped slowly and reverentially forward, 
and with throbbing heart and trembling 
hand subscribed Scotland's Covenant 
with God. All hesitation in a moment 
disappeared. Name followed name in 
swift succession, till all within the church 
had given their signatures. It was then 
removed into the churchyard, and spread 
out on a level grave-stone, to obtain the 
subscription of the assembled multitude. 
Here the scene became, if possible, still 
more impressive. The intense emotions 
of many became irrepressible. Some 
wept aloud ; some burst into a shout of 
exultation ; some, after their names, ad- 
ded the words, till death ; and some 
opening a vein, subscribed with their 
own warm blood. As the space became 
filled, they wrote their names in a con- 
tracted form, limiting them at last to the 
initial letters, till not a spot remained on 
which another letter could be inscribed. 
There was another pause. The nation 
had framed a Covenant in former days, 
and had violated its engagements : hence 
the calamities in which it had been and 
was involved. If they, too, should break 
this sacred bond, how deep would be their 
guilt! Such seem to have been their 
thoughts during this period of silent com- 
muning with their own hearts ; for, as if 
moved by one spirit,— and doubtless they 



156 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VI. 



were moved by the One Eternal Spirit, 
— with low heart-wrung groans, and 
faces bathed in tears, they lifted up their 
right hands to heaven, avowing, by this 
sublime appeal, that they had now "joined 
themselves to the Lord in an everlasting 
Covenant, that shall not be forgotten."* 



CHAPTER VI. 

from the subscribing of the covenant in 
1638, to the restoration of charles ii. 
in 1660. 

Th«* Covenant Subscribed throughout the Kingdom 
with great zeal— Plans of the Prelatists — Applications 
of both Parties to the King — The Covenant Subscribed 
in the Highlands — The King resolves to enter into 
temporizing Negotiations with the Covenanters — The 
Marquis of "Hamilton appointed Lord High Commis- 
sioner — Deceitful and fruitless Negotiations of Ham- 
ilton — Preparations for a Meeting of Assembly — The 
General Assembly of 1633 held at Glasgow — Struggles 
of Hamilton — Triumph of the Assembly — Summary 
of its most important Acts — Reflections — Supplication 
to the King — His Resentment, Schemes of Revenge, 
and Preparations for War — Deliberations and Prepa- 
rations of the Covenanters— Montrose at Aberdeen — 
The King resolves to invade Scotland — The Cove- 
nanters arm — Their appearance at Dunse Law — The 
King enters into a Treaty— Defection of Montrose — 
The King displeased with the Proceedings of the As- 
sembly and Parliament — Prepares again for War — 
The Covenanters prepare also — Contentions in the 
Assembly respecting Private Meetings of a Religious 
Character — Reflections — The Army of the Covenan- 
ters enter England — The Scottish Commissioners in 
London — The Idea of Religious Uniformity in the 
Two Kingdoms suggested — Repeated in the Assembly 
— Fir.-it Commission of Assembly — The Covenanters 
resolve to enter iuto Treaty with the English Parlia- 
ment— The Solemn League and Covenant — Re- 
flections — The Westminster Assembly of Divines — 
Contemporaneous Events in England and Scotland 
— Montrose— Charles in the Army of the Cove- 
nanters — The Confession of Faith — The Engage- 
ment — Divisions in Scotland — Death of Charles 
I. — Loyally of the Covenanters — Charles II. pro- 
claimed King — Signs the Covenant — Cromwell in 
Scotland — Suppression of the General Assembly — 
Internal State of the Church — Divisions — Resolution- 
ers and Protesters — Restoration of Charles II. 

Never, except among God's peculiar 
people the Jews, did any national trans- 
action equal in moral and religious sub- 
limity that which was displayed by Scot- 
land on the great day of her sacred Na- 
tional Covenant. Although it was com- 
puted that there could not be less than 
sixty thousand people from all parts of 
the kingdom assembled at that time in 
Edinburgh, there was not the slightest 
appearance of confusion or tumult ; and 
on the evening of that solemn day, after 
hours of the deepest and most intense 
emotion, when every chord of the heart 
and every faculty of the mind had been 

* For a more full account see Baillie's Letters, Rothe's 
Relation, Row's History, Alton's Life of Henderson, &c. 



excited to the utmost pitch of possible en- 
durance, the mighty multitude melted 
quietly and peacefully away, each to his 
own abode, their souls filled with holy 
awe and spiritual elevation, by the power 
of the sacred pledge which they had mu- 
tually given to be faithful to their coun- 
try and their God. What but the Spirit 
of God could have thus moved an entire 
people to the formation of such a bond, 
in which every worldly consideration 
was thrown aside, every personal interest 
trampled under foot, every kind of peril 
calmly confronted, solely for the main- 
tenance of religious truth, purity, and 
freedom ? Worldly politicians might 
well stand amazed ; selfish and ambitious 
prelates might be confounded and ap- 
palled ; and a despotic sovereign and his 
flatterers might cherish fierce resent- 
ment, when they heard of the wonderful 
transaction : and men of similar views, 
characters, and feelings, may still pour 
forth their virulent invectives against 
Scotland's Covenant, and the men who 
framed and signed it, obeying the divine 
impulse by which they were guided and 
upheld ; but we do not hesitate to state 
our opinion, that the sublime deed of that 
great day will ever, by all who can un- 
derstand and value it, be regarded as the 
deed and the day of Scotland's greatest 
national and religious glory. 

On the next day, the 1st of March, 
the Covenant was again publicly read 
in a large meeting of those who had 
come too recently to the capital to have 
had leisure to take its main propositions 
into sufficiently deliberate consideration.' 
Freely were its principles stated, that no 
man might bind himself to a measure the 
full nature of which he did not compre- 
hend ; and yet so remarkable was the 
unanimity of the meeting, that about 
three hundred ministers at once added 
their names to the large number already 
subscribed. The Covenant was then 
carried to the most public parts of the 
city, to afford an opportunity to people 
dwelling in the different districts of ad- 
ding to it their signatures ; and where- 
ever it appeared, it was hailed with joy- 
ful welcome, as a bond of unity and a 
pledge of sacred peace. Great numbers 
are said to have followed it from place to 
place, imploring the blessing of God 
upon it, with gushing tears and fervent 



A. D. 1638.] 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



157 



supplications, that this return of their 
country to its ancient covenant union 
with God might be the means of averting 
the Divine indignation, and procuring 
deliverance from their calamities. Copies 
of it were soon afterwards written, and 
sent to every part of the kingdom, that 
by being universally signed, it might be- 
come indeed a National Covenant. It 
was almost everywhere received with 
feelings of reverence and gratitude. No 
compulsion was required to induce men 
to subscribe a bond, the placing their 
names on which they held to be at once 
a high honour and a solemn duty ; nor 
would compulsion have been permitted, 
had it been required. " The matter was 
so holy," says the Earl of Rothes, " that 
they held it to be irreligious to use vio- 
lent means for advancing so good a 
work." And in his answer to the Aber- 
deen Doctors, Henderson says, that 
" some men of no small note offered 
their subscription, and were refused, till 
time should prove that they joined from 
love to the cause and not from the fear 
of man."* Before the end of April there 
were few parishes in Scotland in which 
the Covenant had not been signed by 
nearly all of competent age and charac- 
ter. It deserves to be stated, in confir- 
mation of the thoroughly religious 
character both of the Covenant itself, and 
of the feelings regarding it or those by 
whom it was subscribed, that Baillie, 
Livingstone, and every writer of the 
period of any respectability, agree in de- 
claring that the subscribing of the Cove- 
nant was everywhere regarded as a most 
sacred act, and was accompanied in 
many instances with remarkable mani- 
festations of spiritual influence, and in all 
with decided amendment in life and man- 
ners. It awed and hallowed the soul, 
imparted purity to the heart, and gave 
an earnest and foretaste of peace, — that 
peace which the world can neither give 
nor take away, — peace of conscience and 
peace with God. 

We do not affect to conceal that some 
slight instances of popular violence took 
place in some parts of the country, where 
either the people had previously suffered 
injurious treatment from the prelates and 
their partizans, or where attempts were 
made by that party forcibly to prevent 

* Answers to the Aberdeen Doctors, &c, p. 9. 



the signing of the Covenant. But these 
scenes of intemperate zeal or petty retali- 
ation were almost entirely the sudden 
ebullitions of passion among a few women 
and boys, unattended by serious conse- 
quences. Not an instance is recorded of 
personal injury having been sustained 
by a prelatist, but one, and that to a very 
trifling extent.* And when it is remem- 
bered how long the country had groaned 
beneath the prelatic yoke, — how many 
of the most faithful ministers had been 
banished from their attached congrega- 
tions, — and how much injurious and on- 
pressive treatment both ministers and 
people had suffered from the Court of 
High Commission, — the chief cause of 
wonder is, that so little of a vindictive 
spirit was displayed by the nation, when 
arising in its might, to shake off the gall- 
ing domination of its proud oppressors. 
But this truly glorious blending of 
strength and forbearance, of judgment 
and mercy, was merely a new manifesta- 
tion of the Presbyterian spirit and princi- 
ples, first shown at the Reformation, 
when Popery was overthrown, but the 
popish priesthood spared, — repeated in 
this, the Second Reformation, when Pre- 
lacy was condemned, but the prelatic fac- 
tion rarely exposed to the slightest degree 
of that retaliation which they had so 
wantonly provoked, — again to be re-ex- 
hibited in still more trying circumstances 
by the truly Christian-minded Presbyte- 
rians, but never imitated by their antago- 
nists in their periods of triumph. The 
Presbyterian Church of Scotland has 
often suffered persecution, but has never 
been guilty of committing that great 
crime. 

The prelates had always declared, 
when urging forward their innovations, 
that the greater part of the nation would 
readily receive the Canons and Liturgy, 
and that the opposition was that merely 
of a very few, who might be safely 
despised ; but now, when the Covenant 
was received with such cordiality and 
gratitude throughout the kingdom, they 
were overwhelmed with shame, conster- 
nation, and despair, mingled with bursts 
of fury and passionate longings for re- 
venge. Spotswood, who better under- 

* Even the prelates, in their artiches of information, 
mention only four instances of popular violence. 
(Burnet's Memoirs of the Duke of Hamilton, p. 41.) 
Other authors mention about as many more, but not so 
well authenticated. 



158 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND 



[CHAP. VI. 



stood the character of his countrymen 
than the younger prelates, exclaimed, 
" Now all that we have been doing these 
thirty years past is thrown down at once;" 
and, yielding to despair, he fled to Lon- 
don, and remaining chiefly there in a 
state of gloomy dejection, survived the 
ruin of his pride and power little more 
than a year. 

The privy council felt almost equally 
paralyzed. After a deliberation of four 
days at Stirling, during which they were 
receiving hourly intelligence of the rap- 
idly-extending influence of the Covenant, 
they resolved to send to the king informa- 
tion of the state of affairs, suggesting the 
necessity of listening to the remonstran- 
ces of the aggrieved nation, and giving 
promise of redress, to the extent at least 
of refraining from the enforcement of the 
Book of Canons and Liturgy, and miti- 
gating the despotic conduct of the High 
Commission. About the same time, the 
Covenanters, as they began to be desig- 
nated, and as we may henceforth term 
them, sent a deputation to London, to 
give his majesty a faithful representation 
of the real state of public matters, and of 
the views and wishes of his oppressed 
subjects. The prelates were already in 
London ; so that the representatives of all 
parties in Scotland were at one time 
within the precincts of the court, afford- 
ing an opportunity to his majesty of ob- 
taining full and accurate information of 
the condition of the kingdom, had he 
been disposed to seek it. But he had al- 
ready listened to the partial statements of 
the prelates, and formed his determina- 
tion. They, anxious to extenuate their 
own failure, had still represented the 
Covenanters as weak in station, influence, 
and numbers, and, however violent in 
their procedure, forming but a small fac- 
tion in the kingdom. They had sug- 
gested that the north was steady to his 
majesty's interest ; and that the south 
was so divided, that if the powerful fami- 
lies of Hamilton, Douglas, Nithsdale, and 
some others, should raise their forces, 
and form a junction with Huntly and the 
Highland chiefs, the Covenanters might 
be easily overpowered, and the whole 
kingdom brought into complete subjec- 
tion to his commands.* Such were the 
counsels of the prelates, who seem to have 

" Baillie, vol. i. pp. 70, 71. 



regarded a civil war as a slight matter, 
provided they could recover that wealth 
and power which they had so grievously 
abused. Unfortunately their pernicious 
advice sunk deep into the mind of 
Charles, impelling him to those measures 
which involved the kingdom in the mis- 
eries of revolutionary strife, and issued 
in the death of the beguiled and infatu- 
ated monarch. Well indeed may Pre- 
lacy canonize as a martyr the sovereign 
who perished, the victim of its dark, 
bloody, and fatal policy. 

The Earl of Haddington, to whom the 
Covenanters had sent their deputation, 
and with whom they maintained a secret 
but very constant correspondence, was 
aware of the advice which had been 
given to the king, and of the measures 
which were in contemplation. Orders 
had been given to seize Livingstone the 
moment he arrived, and to throw him 
into prison ; but Haddington concealed 
him, presented the supplication of the 
Covenanters, which was, however, re- 
turned unopened ; and sent the messen- 
ger back to Scotland, with private infor- 
mation of the secret designs of the court. 
The Covenanters lost no time in counter- 
acting the dangerous policy recommend- 
ed by the prelates. Deputations were 
sent to those districts of the country where 
the Covenant had been but partially 
signed, and on the support of which the 
prelates mainly relied for the ultimate 
triumph of their cause. These deputa- 
tions met with success beyond their most 
sanguine hopes. In some of the seats of 
learning, as at St. Andrews and Glasgow, 
the ministers and professors subscribed 
but partially ; but even in these towns, 
the magistrates, burgesses, and citizens 
joined their countrymen almost univer- 
sally. Even in the'Highlands the Cov- 
enant was welcomed with perfectly amaz- 
ing cordiality. Clans that rarely met 
but in hostile strife, and, if they did so 
meet, never parted without exchanging 
blows, met like brothers, subscribed the 
bond of national union, and parted in 
peace and love. Nowhere was this un- 
wonted but most lovely sight more sig- 
nally displayed than at Inverness. There 
the fierce feuds of ages melted and disap- 
peared beneath the warming and renew- 
ing power of that Divine influence which 
so strongly and brightly shone around 



A. D. 1637.] HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



159 



he Covenant, as the snows melt from 
their native mountains, when the summer 
sun is high in the smiling heavens. 

Thus did her sacred Covenant first 
make Scotland truly a nation, melting 
and fusing into one united mass the het- 
erogeneous and jarring elements which 
had previously lain partially compacted 
together in space, but uncombined, and 
mutually repelling and repelled. Then, 
too, was seen a portion of the good which 
God brings out of what man intends for 
evil ; for then was seen some of the fruits 
of the zealous and faithful labours, among 
these warm-hearted Highlanders, of the 
pious ministers who had been from time 
to time torn away from their own con- 
gregations, and banished to the remote 
regions of the north, there in tears to sow 
a seed which was now springing up in 
gladness. James and the prelates had 
sent Bruce, and Dickson, and Ruther- 
ford, and others, to Inverness, Aberdeen, 
and other Highland districts, as if to show 
the inhabitants what true religion was, 
and thus to prepare them for the Cove- 
nant, although they did not mean it so. 
But such has often been the mysterious 
course of all-wise Providence, to pour 
contempt upon the wicked desires of un- 
godly men, overruling their machination, 
and causing them to promote the very 
cause which they are seeking to destroy. 

Meanwhile the king was busily en- 
gaged in concerting his schemes ; and 
for a time it seemed as if he were truly 
desirous to learn the real state of matters 
before he should come to a final determi- 
nation. He sent orders to the Earl of 
Traquair, Roxburgh, and Lorn, to repair 
to London without delay ; and he re- 
quired from the most eminent Scottish 
lawyers a legal opinion whether the con- 
duct of the Covenanters were not treason- 
able. Sir Thomas Hope, then Lord Ad- 
vocate, and two other distinguished law- 
yers, gave their opinion, that there was 
nothing decidedly illegal in the proceed- 
ings of the Covenanters. Lord Lorn 
also spoke very strongly in defence of 
these injured and calumniated men ; and 
laid before his majesty a full account of 
the actual state of the country. About 
the same time the king received the un- 
welcome intelligence, that the Covenant 
had been received with enthusiastic de- 
light, even in those parts of the country 



where the prelates had assured him it 
would be indignantly rejected. This ren- 
dered the prelatic cry for war a more 
doubtful question ; especially as the En- 
glish nobility concurred in recommend- 
ing peace, being better aware of the 
wide-spnad discontent existing in that 
kingdom also, than was its blindly-obsti- 
nate sovereign. 

Perceiving that he must for the pres- 
ent abandon his warlike designs, the next 
care of the king was to engage the Cov- 
enanters in negociations, partly in the 
hope of dividing them, and partly to gain 
time till he might muster power enough 
forcibly to overwhelm them. He resolved, 
therefore, to appoint a commissioner to 
treat with his Scottish subjects, to hear 
their grievances, and, if he could not 
flatter and delude them into submission, 
at least to lull them into security, or wear 
them out by procrastination. The choice 
of a person to undertake this difficult task 
was a matter of vital importance, as its 
success would greatly depend upon his 
skilful management. At last the Mar- 
quis of Hamilton was appointed lord high 
commissioner, and intrusted with the haz- 
ardous and disreputable enterprise of at- 
tempting to deceive or overawe a nation 
famed for courage and sagacity, and now 
doubly vigilant and thoroughly united. 
Aware of the perilous nature of the task, 
Hamilton would willingly have declined 
it ; but the king would take no denial, 
and he was obliged to prepare to meet it 
as he might. For this reason he strove 
to secure himself against the possible 
consequences of the dark intrigues in 
which he must be involved ; and know- 
ing well the character of those who were 
urging the king to the adoption of hostile 
measures, one of Hamilton's first steps 
was to secure the absence from the court 
of all the Scottish courtiers, and espe- 
cially of the prelates. After he had seen 
them all sent ofT, he left London himself; 
but not thinking his protection yet suffi- 
ciently secure, he delayed his journey at 
Berwick, and remained there till he had 
procured from the king private instruc- 
tions, ample powers, and a secret pardon 
for whatever he might say or do in the 
matter, which might be represented by 
his enemies as contrary to the king's in- 
tentions. 

In that strange specimen of state diplo- 



160 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP, VI 



macy, the real intentions of the king are 
revealed, and are enough to cause any 
man of common honesty to blush for 
shame. It states, that Hamilton was ex- 
pected, and even required, to enter into 
the most intimate intercourse with the 
Covenanters, — to pretend friendship and 
compassion, — and to throw them off their 
guard and detect their schemes, that he 
might the more easily circumvent and 
overpower them. " For which end," 
says his majesty, u you will be necessi- 
tated to speak that language which, if 
you were called to account for by us, you 
might suffer for it. These are therefore 
to assure you. and, if need be, hereafter 
to testify to others, that whatsoever ye 
shall say to them to discover their inten- 
tions, ye shall neither be called in ques- 
tion for the same, nor yet it prove in any 
way prejudicial to you."* It may be 
hoped that a high-minded nobleman, 
such as Hamilton, would feel it indeed a 
degrading and irksome employment, 
when thus required to act the part of a 
spy and a deceiver ; and when courtly 
and prelatic historians assail the Cove- 
nanters in the language of vituperation 
and reproach, they may be reminded that 
the whole conduct of Charles was a 
tissue of despotism and treachery, fatal 
to his character and ruinous to his cause. 

The Covenanters received warning of 
the secret intentions of the king, and of 
the real object of Hamilton's commission ; 
but though thus aware of the treacherous 
devices to be put in motion against them, 
they resolved to act as became their sa- 
cred cause, and, whilst guarding against 
deceit and guile, to make their own 
course one of truth and rectitude. For 
this reason they drew up and promulga- 
ted two papers, of a public nature. The 
one was sent to the nobles at court, stating 
plainly the articles required for the peace 
of the Church and kingdom of Scotland, 
that they might be aware what was de- 
manded, and be prepared to advise his 
majesty accordingly. The other con- 
tained a general statement of the plan of 
procedure which would require to be 
followed in the approaching negociations 
with the high commissioner ; and was 
sent through the kingdom, to prevent di- 
vision of sentiment, and to secure that 

' Hardwicke's State Papers, vol. ii. p. 141. 



unity of heart, mind, and effort, which, 
was essential to their safety. 

On the 10th of May the king sent to 
the Scottish privy council intimation of 
his commission to the Marquis of Hamil- 
ton, requiring them all to meet his Grace 
at Dalkeith on the 6th of June, to render 
him all due honour, and to support him 
in the discharge of his high trust. The 
Covenanters, on their part, sent informa- 
tion of the approaching negociations to 
all their supporters, requiring them to 
come to Edinburgh in such numbers as 
should protect them from any meditated 
hostile attempt. And still placing their 
trust in the Divine guidance and support, 
a general fast was appointed to be held 
on the 3d of Jane, to humble themselves 
before God. and to supplicate his protec- 
tion. The fast was kept in the most sol- 
emn and impressive manner, and had a 
powerful effect in preparing the kingdom 
for the approaching struggle, enabling 
them to keep their position on ground 
avowedly sacred. At the same time, the 
Covenanters, whose councils were still 
guided by the Tables, resolved that they 
would not attend the commissioner at 
Dalkeith, but would remain in a united 
body at Edinburgh, and by that means 
avoid the danger of being divided by the 
subtle insinuations of their crafty oppo- 
nents. Having received information that 
the king meant to subdue them by force, 
they judged it expedient to prevent that 
force from being concentrated in the heart 
of the country ; and therefore placed a 
guard on the Castle of Edinburgh, that 
it might not receive any large supplies of 
provisions and military stores. 

Hamilton at first refused to come to 
Edinburgh, which was completely in the 
possession of the Covenanters ; but after 
some concessions had been made, he con- 
sented to make the Palace of Holyrood 
his residence. Accordingly it was con- 
certed that on the 19th of June the Mar- 
quis of Hamilton should make his public 
entry into Edinburgh in state, as lord 
high commissioner from the king. The 
Covenanters prepared to give him a state- 
ly reception. Both parties agreed that 
he should approach by Musselburgh 
along the level sea-line, — i. circuitous 
route, but one peculiarly adapted for dis- 
play. All the nobles who had signed 



A. D. 1638.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



161 



the Covenant, gentry from all parts of the 
kingdom, the magistrates of Edinburgh, 
all the ministers who had assembled in 
the capital, and an immense multitude, 
loosely calculated at about sixty thousand, 
went out to meet the commissioner, and 
arranged themselves along the beach, 
covering the undulating outline with a 
more numerous assemblage of people 
than had been seen in Scotland for centu- 
ries. As Hamilton rode slowly along 
the line of this vast mass of his collected 
countrymen, hearing on every side not 
the fierce battle-cry of armed men, nor 
the giddy shouts of mere holiday rejoic- 
ers, but earnest and fervent prayers for 
the preservation of the liberties and reli- 
gion of the country, he was deeply mov- 
ed, and could not suppress tears of sym- 
pathy, declaring his strong desire that 
King Charles himself had been present 
to witness a scene so affecting, and even, 
sublime." On a little eminence near the 
end of this extended multitude, stood up- 
wards of five hundred ministers, wearing 
their cloaks and bands, and prepared to 
address the commissioner ; but when he 
came to the place where they stood, he 
declined receiving their addresses in pub- 
lic, bowed to them, and uttering a single 
complimentary sentence, continued his 
progress. 

From what he had seen on that single 
day, the commissioner must have learned 
that the state of Scotland had been griev- 
ously misrepresented to his majesty; that 
there were not, in truth, two parties in 
the country, but on the one side a Presby- 
terian nation, and on the other a prelatic 
faction, contemptible in numbers, despica- 
ble in character, and detested on account 
of their long career of treachery and des- 
potism. But he knew that the king had 
placed himself at the head of that base 
and weak faction, and was prepared, for 
their sakes, and to gratify his own arbitrary 
temper, to trample upon the dearest rights 
and most sacred privileges of an entire 
kingdom ; and he was constrained to sup- 
press his generous sympathy, and to re- 
sume the course of heartless and tortuous 
policy with which he was commissioned. 

And now began the unequal contest 
between diplomatic craft and the straight- 
forward honesty of honourable and reli- 
gious men, — unequal, inasmuch as the 
wily dissimulation of designing craft 
21 



is perpetuaLy over-reaching or betraying 
itself, while unbending integrity of pur- 
pose goes right onward to its aim, and, 
having nothing to conceal, is in no dread 
of d-etection. We cannot afford space to 
follow the contending parties through the 
shifts and changes of their varying nego- 
tiations, but must confine ourselves to a 
brief statement of the most important points 
of the complicated proceedings of that 
eventful time. 

In an early interview which they ob- 
tained, the Covenanters informed the com- 
missioner that all negotiations would 
prove fruitless, unless he were empow- 
ered to grant a free General Assembly, 
in which their complaints respecting the 
innovations introduced by the prelates, 
and the conduct generally of those men, 
might be investigated, judged of, and, if 
proved culpable, censured and con- 
demned according to their demerits, — 
and a parliament, by which acts proved 
to be unconstitutional might be rescinded, 
and redresses authoritatively and conclu- 
sively granted. Hamilton replied, that 
he would answer their statements and re- 
quests by a proclamation. They prompt- 
ly gave him to know, that they would be 
in readiness to meet every proclamation 
with a distinct protest, to whatsoever ex 
tent it should fall short of the necessities 
of the case and the just demands of the 
nation. The commissioner seemed dis- 
posed to try the resolution of the Cove- 
nanters. He commanded preparations 
to be made for issuing the proclamation ; 
and the Covenanters made similar ar- 
rangements to meet it with their protest, 
the nobility and gentlemen mustering in 
considerable numbers around their offi- 
cial representatives, each man with his 
sword loosened in its sheath, in readiness 
to repel any sudden attack by the mili- 
tary attendants of the commissioner. See- 
ing the determined front displayed by the 
Covenanters, Hamilton changed his pro- 
cedure, abandoning the proclamation, 
and resuming the path of crooked, and 
wily dissimulation.* 

It is always more difficult for a cun.- 
ning man to understand honesty, than 
for an honest man to detect craft. Ham- 
ilton could not comprehend the designs of 
the Covenanters ; but they could easily 
see through his thin evasions. He now. 

'Baillie, Burnet, and Stevenson. 



162 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VI. 



thought it expedient to offer them both an 
Assembly and a Parliament, provided 
they would abandon the Covenant. They 
answered, that they would as soon re- 
nounce their baptism. And at the request 
of the Tables, Henderson wrote an able 
paper, containing a clear and strong 
statement of the reasons why they could 
neither rescind nor alter in the slightest 
degree their sacred Covenant. Still more 
completely to convince the commissioner 
of the futility of any such expectation, 
they prepared a supplication, in which 
the request of a free General Assembly 
and a Parliament was publicly and avow- 
edly stated as that without which they 
could not be satisfied ; and at the same 
time they caused another paper to be ex- 
tensively circulated, containing sugges- 
tions of the measures which it might be 
necessary to adopt, should the commis- 
sioner resort to force, or protract the ne- 
gotiations to an intolerable length. In 
these suggestions a significant hint was 
given, that both a General Assembly and 
a Parliament might possibly be called, 
without the royal authority, if that were 
much longer withheld ; and also, that if 
violence were used for enforcing obedi- 
ence, a committee might be chosen, to 
consider what was fit and lawful to be 
done for the defence of their religion, 
laws, and liberties. 

These bold and energetic measures 
startled the commissioner, and convinced 
him that any longer continuation of his 
temporizing policy would be in vain, 
and that his majesty must either yield to 
every one of the main points demanded 
by the Covenanters, or must prepare to 
subdue them by open force. And as his 
instructions did not enable him to proceed 
to either o; these alternatives, he deter- 
mined to return to London, give the king 
a full account of Scottish affairs, ascertain 
the state of the royal preparations for the 
commencement of hostilities, and return 
fully empowered to act as necessities 
might require. This was indeed the 
only course which he could now pursue ; 
but even this was to be marred by double 
dealing. On one day he left town, and 
proceeded a few miles on his journey: on 
the next, supposing the Covenanters now 
off their guard, he hastily returned, and 
proceeded to publish a declaration of his 
majesty's intentions, plausible, but char- 



acteristically evasive. It promised that 
the Liturgy should not be pressed but in 
a fair and legal way; that the High 
Commission should be rectified by the 
aid of the privy council, so that it should 
not impugn the laws, nor be a just griev- 
ance to loyal subjects ; and that whatso- 
ever concerned the peace and welfare of 
the Church should be taken into consid- 
eration in a free Assembly and Parlia- 
ment, which should be called with his 
majesty's first convenience. The Cove- 
nanters had experienced his majesty's du- 
plicity too often to be deluded by so flimsy 
a pretext. They met it therefore by a 
protestation, which had been previously 
prepared for any sudden emergency, and 
which this weak stratagem gave them a 
fair opportunity to publish. Hamilton 
seems, nevertheless, to have imagined he 
had gained his point, and pressed the 
privy council to ratify this declaration. 
Many consented ; but the Covenanters 
having given to each member of council 
a paper containing reasons against its 
ratification, they were induced by its pe- 
rusal to rescind the act of ratification. 
Rothes, Montrose, and Loudon obtained 
an interview with the commissioner him- 
self, presented to him these reasons, and 
urged upon him the necessity of a more 
frank and conciliatory course. Hamilton, 
irritated by his failure, replied to them 
in a haughty and dictatorial tone. This 
drew from Loudon the bold declaration, 
that they knew no other bands between a 
king and his subjects but those of religion 
and laws : if these were violated, men's 
lives were not dear to them. Overborne 
by threatenings they would not be, for 
such fears were past with them.* After 
this abortive attempt, the Marquis of Ham- 
ilton left Scotland on the 8th of July, and 
went to London for fresh instructions. 

During the course of these fruitless ne- 
gotiations the king maintained a constant 
intercourse by letters with the commis- 
sioner ; and it is painful to peruse these 
glaring proofs of the infatuated monarch's 
disgraceful and perfidious dissimulation. 
A few instances must be given, in proof 
of this assertion, and in vindication of the 
Covenanters. " I give you leave to flat- 
ter them with what hopes you please; 
your chief end being now to win time, 
until I be ready to suppress them." — " I 

* Baiflie, vol. i. p. 92. 



A. D. 1638.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 



163 



have written this to no other end than to 
show you that I will rather die than yield 
to those impertinent and damnable de- 
mands." — " I do not expect that you 
should declare the adherers to the Cove- 
nant traitors, until you have heard from 
me that my fleet hath set sail for Scotland. 
In a word, gain time by all the honest 
means } r ou can, without forsaking your 
grounds." — " There be two things in 
your letter that require answer, to wit, 
the answer to their petition, and concern- 
ing the explanation of their damnable 
Covenant." In another letter, after stating 
how far his military preparations were in 
readiness, and what was their amount, 
his majesty adds, — " Thus you may see 
that I intend not to yield to the demands 
of those traitors the Covenanters."* All 
these and many similar instructions to the 
commissioner to prevaricate, to deceive, 
and to gain time, while the king was busy 
levying forces, collecting military stores, 
preparing a fleet, and hiring foreign 
troops to suppress his faithful subjects by 
this combination of treachery and power, 
were sent to the Marquis of Hamilton 
privately, while that nobleman was en- 
gaged in pacific negotiations with the 
Covenanters. History can scarcely fur- 
nish an equal instance of a monarch's 
faithlessness, dissimulation, and fore- 
thought despotism. Bolder tyranny the 
world has often seen, but rarely any so 
deliberately dishonourable. And as 
these private instructions to the commis- 
sioner were all to a considerable extent 
known to the Covenanters, it cannot ap- 
oear strange tna. they received every pro- 
posal with suspicion, and expressed dis- 
trus. of every declaration, how strong 
soever might be its asseveration, and to 
whatsoever extent it might wear the as- 
pect of sincerity. 

While the king and the marquis were 
using every " honest means" to gain 
time, the covenanters took care to lose 
none. Aware that the king intended to 
send some forces to the north, to co-oper- 
ate with those which Huntly was ex- 
pected to raise, they resolved to paralyze 
effectually that right arm of prelatic and 
regal tyranny, during the breathing 
space allowed by the absence of the com- 
missioner. And as Aberdeen, by the in- 
fluence of Huntly and of its cloistered 

• Burnet's Memoirs of the Hamiltons, pp. 46-68. 



sages, had yet stood out against the Cov- 
enant, Henderson, Dickson, and some 
others, were sent to try whether th© 
dreary darkness which brooded over that 
town and neighbourhood, might not be 
partially dispelled. The deputation was 
at first but coldly welcomed ; permission 
to preach in the city churches was re- 
fused ; and the doctors strove to engage 
them in a fruitless scholastic disputation. 
But the deputation was composed of men 
of energy and decision. They returned 
brief answers to the sophistic subtleties 
of their learned opponents ; and since 
the churches were refused, they preached 
in the open air, explained the Covenant, 
and produced arguments for its subscrip- 
tion. At the close of their addresses the 
Covenant was produced for signature ; 
and that evening about five hundred re- 
spectable citizens adhibited their names. 
They then traversed the adjacent coun- 
try ; and within little more than a week, 
forty-four ministers, many gentlemen, 
and a large proportion, of the people, 
signed the Covenant. Returning to Aber- 
deen, they again preached where they 
had done before, and obtained a consid- 
erable number of additional adherents to 
the sacred cause. Having thus, by the 
powerful demonstration of the Divine 
Spirit accompanying their exertions, suc- 
ceeded in pouring a stream of light and 
life into those regions of previous gloomy 
stagnation, they returned to Edinburgh, 
leaving in the town and vicinity of Aber- 
deen a power sufficient to prevent the 
possibility of any great hostile combina- 
tion there. 

The Marquis of Hamilton returned to 
Holyrood-house on the 10th of August, 
furnished, indeed, with ampler powers to 
treat than before, but still enjoined to use 
ever}' diplomatic stratagem. One new 
artifice by which it was hoped the Cove- 
nanters might be divided, was the re-pro- 
mulgation of the Confession or Covenant 
of 1581. If this could be got numer- 
ously signed, it might either neutralize 
the Covenant recently produced, or so di- 
vide the nation as to enable his majesty 
to balance one part of the kingdom 
against another, and so to reduce both un- 
der his power. But that which was first 
put in operation was a set of demands 
which Hamilton gave to the Tables, re- 
quiring written answers to them before 



164 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 



CHAP. VI. 



he would consent to call an Assembly. 
These demands were at first eleven in 
number, but subsequently were reduced 
to two ; first, that no layman should have 
voice in choosing the ministers to be sent 
from the presbyteries to the General As- 
sembly, nor any but the ministers of the 
same presbytery ; the second, that the 
Assembly should not go about to deter- 
mine things established by act of parlia- 
ment, otherwise than by remonstrance or 
petition to parliament. If Hamilton could 
have obtained the assent of the Covenant- 
ers to these propositions, his victory over 
them would have been secure. By the 
first, the ministers would have been di- 
vided from the laity, and left powerless 
in the hands of their enemies ; by the 
second, all the innovations of James's 
reign would have been confirmed, as 
they had all been ratified by parliament. 
But although the leading Covenanters 
easily perceived the fatal character of 
these propositions, it was not so easy to 
unite the whole body in returning proper 
answers. The first had nearly accom- 
plished the commissioner's insidious de- 
sign. Many of the ministers looked with 
some degree of jealousy upon the power 
of the laymen, and would not have been 
displeased to see that power diminished. 
For that reason they were disposed to as- 
sent to the first proposition ; while the 
other three Tables would by no means 
comply with any such measure. At 
length, chiefly by the skilful manage- 
ment of Henderson and Dickson, this 
dangerous discussion terminated in the 
rejection of the commissioner's demands, 
and in the restoration of that unanimity 
of sentiment and purpose among the Cov- 
enanters which constituted their strength. 

The danger thus encountered, and the 
re-union thus produced, both tended to 
point out to the Covenanters the path at 
once of duty and of safety. They now 
resolved to bring matters to a crisis, and 
to compel the commissioner to abandon 
his deceitful policy, by avowing their de- 
termination, that if the royal mandate 
were further delayed, they would call a 
General Assembly, on the sole authority 
which every Christian Church must be 
held intrinsically to possess, for the pur- 
pose of regulating all matters of worship 
and discipline, according to the institu- 
tions of the gospel, and the example of 



the apostles. The reasons ol which this 
decisive resolution was based were pub- 
lished in their own defence, and for the 
instruction of all their adherents, and are 
still deserving of a thoughtful perusal by 
every true Presbyterian.* 

Hamilton now felt that temporizing 
policy would no longer be endured, and 
also that his anticipations of creating a 
disunion among the Covenanters were at 
an end. But their demand went beyond 
his powers to grant, and was perilous to 
refuse, lest a refusal should impel them 
to put their purpose into immediate exe- 
cution. He requested, therefore, a delay 
of twenty days, that he might return to 
the king, and obtain a final answer, prom- 
ising to be again in Scotland with his 
majesty's ultimate decision before the 
20th of September. The Covenanters 
consented to this delay, and employed 
the intermediate time in sending instruc- 
tions to every presbytery how to proceed 
in the election of members for the ap- 
proaching Assembly. This was neces- 
sary, in consequence of the lengthened 
period which had elapsed since an As- 
sembly had been held at all, there hav- 
ing been none since 1618 ; and as aL 
the Assemblies since 1597 had been more 
or less corrupted by regal interference, 
the proper course of procedure, in the 
calling of a free Assembly according to 
pure Presbyterian principles, had almost 
sunk into oblivion. These instructions 
were of the utmost importance, both in 
guiding the proceedings of the Cove- 
nanters throughout the kingdom, and in 
furnishing them with information on to- 
pics certain to come under discussion in 
the ensuing Assembly, with which many 
were at that time very little acquainted. 
Having taken these preliminary steps, the 
Covenanters waited calmly the return of 
the commissioner, and the ultimate an- 
swer of the king. 

When the commissioner returned from 
London, a deputation from the tables 
waited on him at Dalkeith, and were told 
in general terms that his majesty had 
granted all their request?, but that the 
particulars could not with propriety be 
divulged till they i ad been communicated 
to the privy council. The council met 
the same day, when his majesty's letter 

* These reasons are to be seen in Jstevenjcn, edit. 1340. 
pp. 243, 246. 



A. D. 1638 ] HISTORY OF THE CI 

was produced, requiring them to sub- 
scribe the Covenant or Confession of 
1581, which, as it contained chiefly an 
abjuration of Popery, was often termed 
the Negative Confession. The utmost 
efforts of Hamilton could not prevail upon 
more than about thirty of the council to 
subscribe, and that not till a clause was 
added, declaring that the subscribers un- 
derstood it according to its original mean- 
ing, when, as the reader will recollect, 
even tulchan Episcopacy had been con- 
demned and abolished, presbyteries 
erected, and the Second Book of Disci- 
pline entered on the records of the As- 
sembly. Even thus explained, the com- 
missioner entertained some hope that it 
might either cause division among the 
Covenanters, or at least produce a similar 
compact union of the royal and prelatic 
party ; and with this view he published 
an act of council, calling upon all loyal 
subjects to subscribe the king's Covenant, 
w r ith a general bond, resembling that of 
1589. Commissioners were appointed 
to convey this rival Covenant through- 
out the kingdom, and every artifice was 
employed to procure the utmost possible 
number of signatures. But the Presby- 
terian Covenanters, perceiving clearly 
the intention of the commissioner, met 
the proclamation of the king's Covenant 
by a protestation and a warning against 
the ensnaring tendency of this new de- 
vice ;* and sent a deputation to every 
presbytery, with a copy of the protesta- 
tion, and instructions how to act. So 
successful were these precautionary mea- 
sures, that the king's Covenant obtained 
no more than about twenty-eight thou- 
sand signatures, of which number twelve 
thousand were procured in Aberdeen and 
its vicinity by the strenuous exertions of 
Huntly. This new stratagem had con- 
sequently no other effect than that of 
proving, even by an arithmetical demon- 
stration, the weakness of the prelatic 
faction. 

The next step of the privy council was 
the publication of two important acts, — 
the one calling a General Assembly to 
be held at Glasgow on the 21st of No- 
vember, and warning the bishops and 
other commissioners of kirks to attend ; 
he other summoning a parliament to 

' This a' le document is prese. ved by Stevenson, pp. 



[URCH OF SCOTLAND. 165 

meet at Edinburgh on the 15th day of 
May 1639, for settling and confirming 
peace in Church and State. The king's 
declaration was then publicly proclaimed, 
in which his majesty prohibited the en- 
forcement of the Book of Canons, the 
Liturgy, and the Five Articles of Perth ; 
abolished the Court of High Commis- 
sion ; declared all persons subject to the 
trial and censure of the competent judica- 
tory ; allowing free entrance into the 
ministry without the taking of any other 
oath than that contained in the act of 
parliament ; granted a general pardon of 
all offences which had arisen out of the 
recent contentions ; appointed a fast to 
avert the Divine displeasure, and pro- 
cure a peaceable end to the distractions 
of the Church and kingdom ; and re- 
commended the subscription of the Con- 
fession and Covenant of 1581. 

Had these terms been granted at the 
beginning of the negotiations between the 
king and the Covenanters, they would 
have given universal satisfaction, and 
been received with equal joy and grati- 
tude. But after the many repeated in- 
stances of tergiversation and insincerity 
which had been detected, the Covenan- 
ters were compelled to regard every de- 
claration of the king's with suspicion, and 
to look narrowly into every one of his 
promises, lest it should contain some 
evasive expression, by which it might be 
nullified, or even reversed. And un- 
happily even this plausible declaration of 
his majesty's sentiments did contain such 
neutralizing and evasive elements. It 
was understood to subject the prelates to 
the trial and censure of the Assembly ; 
but it cited them to appear as constituent 
members of that very court by which they 
were to be tried ; and the urgency with 
which the king pressed the subscription 
of the Covenant of 1581, showed clearly 
that he expected, by its instrumentality, 
to divide and conquer the Presbyterian 
Covenanters ; besides that the bond con- 
tained an insidious clause for the mainte- 
nance of religion " as at present pro- 
fessed," — a clause manifestly susceptible 
of such a construction as would convert 
it into one for the defence of Prelacy. 
The Presbyterians, therefore, resolved 
that they would no longer submit to such 
paltering in a double sense ; that they 
would take care to have the Assembly 



166 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VI. 



framed and constituted according- to the 
fundamental and imperishable principles 
of the Presbyterian Church ; and that 
the prelates should be tried and censured 
according to their demerits, and Prelacy 
itself entirely abolished, so that their Na- 
tional Church might be delivered from 
bondage and oppression, and established 
once more on a basis which no law can 
give, and ought not to attempt removing, 
— the warm affections of an intelligent, 
truly loyal, and earnestly religious people. 

Great anxiety was felt by all parties, in 
the interval between the calling and the 
meeting of this most important General 
Assembly. Notwithstanding the artifices 
of the commissioner, and the exertions of 
the'prelatic party, the Covenanters were 
eminently successful in securing the re- 
turn of the most able and faithful of the 
ministers as commissioners, and the most 
zealous ana influential of the nobility and 
gentry as ruling elders ; so that before 
the Assembly met they were assured of 
its freedom and integrity, so far as de- 
pended upon the majority of its members. 
The mode in which they were to proceed 
against the prelates was a matter which 
required much and careful deliberation. 
The Earl of Rothes, and some other lead- 
ing men of the Tables, petitioned the com- 
missioner for a warrant to command the 
prelates to appear before the Assembly to 
stand trial for the offences charged against 
them ; but this he refused to grant. The 
Covenanters were not, however, to be 
thus defeated in a point of such vital mo- 
ment. It was arranged that a complaint 
should be prepared in form of a libel or 
regular accusation, to be laid before the 
Assembly by a considerable body of the 
nobility, gentry, burgesses, and ministers, 
who were not members of that court. 
The accusation embraced both their offi- 
cial and personal delinquencies. The 
first part of the charge referred to the 
" caveats " or cautiens passed in the As- 
sembly 1600, and ratified by King James, 
the ostensible object of which was to 
guard against the abuse of their powers 
by the prelates and commissioners of the 
Church, at that time introduced to parlia- 
ment ; but the real intention having been 
to delude the Church by the semblance 
of a security which could be easily bro- 
ken through or set aside. These ca- 
veats, however, had been allowed to 



remain unrepealed, and now formed a 
leading element in the accusation against 
the prelatic party, by whom every one of 
them had been repeatedly violated. The 
prelates were accordingly charged col- 
lectively with having transgressed these 
caveats, usurped a lordly supremacy 
over the Church, taught heretical and 
false doctrines, and, personally, with 
having been guilty of irreligious conduct, 
and the perpetration of the grossest im- 
moralities, which were distinctly specified 
according to each individual case. The 
accusations were sent to each of the pre- 
lates, and also to all the presbyteries, 
where they were directed to be read pub- 
licly in every church. 

The prelates prepared an elaborate de- 
fence, bearing the general form of a de- 
clinature of the Assembly's jurisdiction, 
with their reasons for that line of proce- 
dure ; which were said to have been sent 
to court, and revised by the sovereign's 
own hand. All being now nearly pre- 
pared, and the time at hand, the commis- 
sioner made his last attempt to interfere 
with the construction of the Assembly, 
by endeavouring to bring as many of the 
members as possible under such legal 
processes as might incapacitate them from 
taking their seat. This was instantly 
met by a remonstrance so strong, pointed, 
and resolute, that Hamilton felt the inex- 
pediency, and even danger, of carrying 
this last scheme into effect. 

The only remaining part of the pre- 
parations made by both parties is one 
which scarcely falls within our province 
to relate, as being more of a civil, or ra- 
ther military, than of an ecclesiastical 
character. Allusion has already been 
made to the large naval and military 
armaments in preparation by the king. 
These were vigorously prosecuted by his 
majesty, in the midst of all his pacific de- 
clarations ; and as this was well known 
to the Covenanters, they began to consi- 
der themselves entitled to prepare for the 
defence of their civil and religious liber- 
ties, so manifestly endangered. With 
this view, arms, ammunition, and provi- 
sions were quietly collected by the no- 
bility and many of the towns ; and Gene- 
ral Leslie, a veteran officer of great skill 
and courage, who had served long under 
Gustavus, king of Sweden, was called 
home to take command of the army, if 



A. D. 1638.] 



HISTORY OP THE 



CilURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



167 



they should finally be compelled to rise 
in self-defence. 

The Marquis of Hamilton was well 
aware that the crisis could no longer be 
retarded ; but how best to meet it cost 
him many an anxious thought. Gladly 
would he have prorogued the meeting of 
Assembly, but that he was aware that the 
Covenanters had determined to hold it, 
even though he should attempt its proro- 
gation. He resolved, therefore, at last to 
allow it to be held according to the pro- 
clamation already issued, and to do his 
utmost to bias, control, or overawe it, so 
as to prevent, if possible, the condemna- 
tion of the prelates ; and should all his 
efforts prove ineffectual, he wouid dissolve 
it, with this advantage, that time had been 
gained, and his majesty's preparations for 
actual war would be in a state of greater 
forwardness. 

On the Friday before the meeting of 
Assembly, the Covenanters, both those 
who were members of Assembly and 
those who were their friends and sup- 
porters, came in great crowds to Glas- 
gow ; and on the next day the commis- 
sioner and his friends entered town from 
Hamilton, and were met with much ap- 
pearance of respectful and stately courtesy 
by the Presbyterian chiefs. The mar- 
quis had then another opportunity of see- 
ing how completely the cause which he 
was commissioned to circumvent or op- 
press was the cause of the Scottish nation. 
Little more than a year had elapsed from 
the time when four humble petitioners 
met at the door of the privy council, to 
supplicate for protection against the op- 
pressive conduct of the prelates ; and now 
his majesty's lord high 'ommissioner be- 
held arrayed against these men, or rather 
against that abjured system, the irresisti- 
ble might of all the physical, mental, 
moral, and religious strength of a united 
people. We may imagine how his heart 
must have sunk within him when he 
contemplated tne task imposed upon him 
by his infatuated sovereign,— the task of 
deluding or coercing his sagacious and 
high-minded countrymen, and of tram- 

fding in the dust those civil and religious 
iberties which were to them dearer than 
life itself, — a task which no foreign 
power had been ever able by its utmost 
efforts to achieve, and which he must 



have seen to be equally ungracious and 
desperate. 

The Assembly had been indicted to 
meet on the Wednesday ; and the three 
intervening days were spent in making 
preliminary arrangements, and espe- 
cially, on the part of the Covenanters, in 
humbling themselves before God, and 
imploring his direction and support 
through the arduous duties in w r hich they 
were about to engage, and for the right 
discharge of which they felt their own 
wisdom to be indeed utterly insufficient. 
And it ought to be carefully remarked, 
for the instruction of all succeeding ages, 
that during the whole course of their ne- 
gotiations and deliberations, humble ac- 
knowledgments of their own folly and 
weakness, earnest prayer to God, and 
strong faith in his heavenly guidance, 
were always the master elements by 
which their actions were guided and 
their hopes upheld. 

On Wednesday the 21st of November 
1638, the General Assembly met, and 
commenced the discharge of its all-im- 
portant duties. We cannot afford space 
to give more than the briefest outline of 
its proceedings ; which, however, is the 
less to be regretted, since the very fact of 
their extreme importance has caused them 
to be very fully recorded by many authors 
whose works are in general circulation.* 
Both parties, the commissioner and the 
Covenanters, acted warily, yet firmly, 
from the very first hour on which the 
Assembly met. They were equally well 
aware, that a false movement on either 
side would give to the antagonist an ad- 
vantage which it might not be possible to 
counteract ; and, like two contending 
armies led by skilful generals, they 
watched each other's operations with 
deep, calm, forecasting prudence, cool re- 
solution, and deliberate energy. The 
choice of a moderator was to the Assem- 
bly, in such a juncture, a matter of great 
moment, but not of doubt, except on one 
account. Alexander Henderson was uni- 
versally admitted to be beyond all com- 
petition the fittest man, for knowledge, 
gravity, self-command, and soundness of 
judgment; but they dreaded to lose his 
ability in debate by placing him in the 

* See Baillie. Stevenson, Burnet, Peterkin's Records 
of the Kirk of Scotland, &c, &c. 



168 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. [CHAP. VI. 



moderator's chair. Yet the necessity of 
having- at their head a man who could 
both direct their own deliberations and 
defend them to the commissioner with 
courtesy and firmness, overruled all other 
considerations, and he was unanimously 
chosen to occupy that post of honour, 
toil, and danger. 

The commissioner wished to have had 
the commissions of the members scruti- 
nized before the choice of a moderator ; 
but this the Assembly very properly re- 
sisted, as without a moderator their pro- 
ceeding would have been informal and 
invalid. Again, the regular course of 
proceedings was interrupted by a propo- 
sal from his grace to have the declinature 
of the prelates read, before the Assembly 
had been duly constituted ; but this, too, 
was rejected on the same general princi- 
ple. Yet once more did Hamilton at- 
tempt to vitiate the court, by demanding 
six assessors with him, to take part in the 
deliberations, and to vote on all questions ; 
and still the Assembly kept its position, 
and would enter on no public business 
till a moderator of their own choice had 
been formally placed in the chair. The 
marquis at length gave way, protesting, 
meanwhile, against the decision of the 
Assembly on each of these points, and 
being met by counter protestations ; and, 
as above related, the Assembly chose for 
its moderator, Alexander Henderson. 
The choice of a clerk caused a new strug- 
gle ; but again the Covenanters prevailed, 
and Archibald Johnston was placed in 
that office. 

The contest still continued, and on what 
appeared mere matters of arrangement. 
The declinature of the prelates was now 
brought forward by the commissioner, 
and requested to be read before proceed- 
ing with the trial of the commissions of 
members ; but as this paper contained a 
protestation against the whole members, 
and would have borne the aspect of a dis- 
qualification of them all, the Assembly re- 
fused to hear the declinature till the com- 
missions had been all tried, that the court 
might be placed in a state of valid integri- 
ty before hearing a paper on the contents 
of which it must pass judgment. 

These preliminary points having been 
thus arranged, the decisive movement 
could no longer be delayed. The declina- 
ture of the prelates was presented to the 



Assembly by Dr. Hamilton of Glassford, 
who appeared as their procurator. An in- 
stantaneous effect took place, which they 
appeared not to have foreseen. The Cov 
enanters took instruments, that by this ve 
ry declinature the prelates had acknow- 
ledged their citation, had appeared by 
their procurator, and that therefore, their 
personal absence was wilful. Dr. Hamilton 
was accordingly cited apud acta, and they 
were recognised as at the bar of the As- 
sembly. A committee was then appoint- 
ed to answer the declinature ; and when 
the marquis protested against this proce- 
dure, a councer protest was immediately 
produced. The next was the seventh 
day of the Assembly's meeting ; and 
both parties were conscious, that upon 
the events of this day would depend the 
issue of their long and arduous struggle. 
A slight preliminary skirmish engaged 
their attention on the early part of the 
day. This was caused by the Assemb- 
ly's committee pronouncing their opinion 
that the five books which had been pro- 
duced, purporting to be the records of the 
Church from the time of the Reforma- 
tion, were genuine and authentic. This 
the lord high commissioner opposed, well 
knowing that if these records were sus- 
tained as authentic and authoratative, they 
would furnish principles, regulations, and 
precedents amply sufficient to justify the 
condemnation of the prelates. But the 
Assembly, deeply grateful to that divine 
Providence which had signally preserv- 
ed these records, aud caused their resto- 
ration to the Church in such a momen- 
tous crisis of its history, received these 
precious volumes gladly, and gave to 
them the stamp of unanimous approba- 
tion. The answers to the declinature of 
the prelates were then read, and approv- 
ed of by the Assembly, although Dr. 
Balcanquhal, the commissoner's clerical 
adviser, attempted to lead the discussion 
away from the matter in hand, and to in- 
volve them in scholastic subtleties. The 
moderator now put the question to the As- 
sembly whether they found themselves 
competent to sit in judgment on the case of 
the prelates, notwithstanding their decli- 
nature. The commissioner immediately 
declared, that he could not permit the As- 
sembly to persevere in this course of pro- 
cedure, so contrary to the express inten- 
tions of his majesty. He complained that 



A. D. 1638.] 



H_ STORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



169 



the Assembly was vitiated by the intro- 
duction of what he termed lay elders, and 
by undue influence used in the election 
of members ; and he required the Assem- 
bly to dissolve, promising to procure from 
the king authority for the meeting of an- 
other, in which all such evils might be 
avoided. Against this Henderson, Rothes, 
and Loudon reasoned and protested, ex- 
pressing at the same time their deep re- 
gret if his grace should forsake the As- 
sembly, but their determination to con- 
tinue its sittings till it should have accom- 
plished those important duties for the dis- 
charge of which it had been called. The 
commissioner put an end to the discussion 
by saying, " I stand to the king's prerog- 
ative, as supreme judge over all causes 
civil and ecclesiastical: to him the Lords 
of the clergy have appealed, and therefore 
I will not suffer their cause to be further 
reasoned here." This he uttered with 
great apparent emotion, even with tears, 
in which he was joined by many, who 
thought they saw in his departure the 
final dispelling of all their hopes of a pa- 
cific settlement to those troubles by which 
the Church and the kingdom had been 
so long afflicted and oppressed. 

The Marquis of Argyle (the same no- 
bleman hitherto designated Lord Lorn, 
but who had succeeded to the higher title 
by the recent death of his father) attempted 
to avert or delay the crisis, by introduc- 
ing a discussion respecting the two ap- 
parently conflicting Covenants ; but Ham- 
ilton waived the subject, and called on the 
moderator to dissolve the meeting by 
prayer. This Henderson refused to do ; 
upon which the commissioner protested 
in his majesty's name against whatever 
might be done by the Assembly, declared 
it dissolved by the same authority, and 
prohibited all further proceedings. The 
Earl of Rothes immediately produced a 
protestation against the departure of the 
commissioner, and his attempt to dissolve 
the meeting in this summary manner, 
while its most important duties were still 
unfulfilled. Argyle remained after the 
commissioner retired, and thus gave his 
countenance to the Assembly in this hour 
of peril. Nothing daunted or confused 
by what had taken place, Henderson ad- 
dressed the Assembly in a very noble 
speech, full of the calm magnanimity of 
the Christian character, and instinct with 
22 



the sacred principles of spiritual and eter- 
nal truth. Several other eminent mem- 
bers of this great Assembly spoke, and 
all in a similar spirit of Christian faith 
and Christian fearlessness. At this mo- 
ment of deep and wide-spread emotion, an 
incident occurred, simple in itself, yet 
rising into the region of true moral sub- 
limity. Lord Erskine, son of the Earl 
of Mar, a young nobleman of high char- 
acter and distinguished talents, rose from 
the gallery where he was seated among 
the youthful nobility, and requested per- 
mission to address the Assembly. He 
then declared, while the starting tears at- 
tested the sincerity of his declaration, that 
he had hitherto abstained from subscrib- 
ing the Covenant, against the light and 
the conviction of his own conscience ; 
begged that he might now be allowed to 
affix his name to that sacred bond ; and 
implored the Assembly to pray that his 
sin in resisting the call of duty might be 
forgiven him. Several others followed 
the example of this noble youth ; so that, 
at the very moment when the frowns of 
royal wrath were darkening over the As- 
sembly, the light of God's favour shone 
upon it, and the impelling power of the 
Spirit of truth, in answer to their earnest 
prayers, sent to the rescue the glowing 
energies of ingenuous youth, like a fresh 
stream of new life pouring its warm 
might into the sacred bosom of Scotland's 
reviving Church. 

The moderator, availing himself of 
this encouraging event, put the question, 
Whether the Assembly would adhere to 
the protestation against the commissioner's 
departure, and continue together till they 
should have concluded the important busi- 
ness on account of which they had met? 
This was carried almost unanimously ; 
there being only three or four opposing 
votes. The next question was, Whether 
the Assembly found themselves compe- 
tent judges of the prelates and their ad- 
herents, notwithstanding their declina- 
tures and protestation ; and this also w r as 
unanimously carried in the affirmative, or, 
if not unanimously, with only three or 
four dissentient voices. 

The struggle was now at an end ; and 
the Assembly proceeded regularly and 
calmly forward to the completion of its 
remaining business. Next day the Mar- 
quis of Hamilton issued a proclamation, 



170 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VI. 



commanding the Assembly to dissolve ; 
which was, as usual, met by a protesta- 
tion, and no further notice was taken of 
the matter. The remaining deeds of the 
Assembly may be stated in a few senten- 
ces. An act was passed, annulling all 
the corrupt Assemblies by which Prelacy 
had been introduced, — those, namely, of 
the years 1606, 1608, 1610, 1616, 1617, 
and 1618. Asa necessary consequence, 
all the innovations and changes made by 
these Assemblies were declared illegal, 
and all the obligations imposed on ministers 
by their authority pronounced no longer 
binding. An act was passed, condemn- 
ing the Five Articles of Perth, the Book 
of Canons, the Liturgy, and the Book of 
Ordination, as introduced without war- 
rant of either civil or ecclesiastical autho- 
rity ; and the Court of High Commission 
also, as having neither act of Assembly 
nor of Parliament in its support, and re- 
gulated by no law, human or divine. 
Then directing their attention to the de- 
ceptive use which had been attempted to 
be made of the Confession or Covenant 
of 1581, it was clearly proved from the 
language of acts of Assembly before and 
at that time, that diocesan Episcopacy 
had been and was then abjured and con- 
demned by the Church ; and upon this 
demonstration the Assembly passed an 
act, declaring, "that all Episcopacy dif- 
ferent from that of a pastor over a parti- 
cular flock was abjured in this Kirk, and 
is to be removed out of it." Baillie in- 
forms us, that he was himself the only 
person who hesitated to vote for this mo- 
tion ; and that his hesitation went no fur- 
ther than to give a brief explanation of 
his views.* This trial of the prelates 
had been prosecuted for many days with 
great care and deliberation ; and all the 
accusations having been fully proved, the 
moderator was appointed to pronounce 
the sentence of Assembly. This he did, 
after having preached a sermon suitable 
to the occasion, in what Bailie terms, "a 
very grave and dreadful manner." Eight 
were deposed and excommunicated ; four 
merely deposed ; and two deposed from 
the prelatic station, but allowed to offici- 
ate as pastors of single congregations. 
Diocesan Episcopacy, or rather Prelacy 
(as we have all along preferred to term 
it, as its proper designation), having been 

* Bailtie, vol. i. p. 158. 



thus condemned and abolished, the next 
step naturally was the passing of an act 
restoring to kirk-sessions, presbyteries, 
synods, and General Assemblies, the full 
enjoyment of those constitutional privi- 
leges, liberties, powers, and jurisdictions, 
according to the Book of Discipline, of 
which they had been deprived by prelatic 
usurpation. In completing the restoration 
of the Presbyterian Church, the Assem- 
bly did not forget certain points which at 
such a time might have seemed of com- 
paratively minor importance. The prin- 
ciple that no person be intruded into any 
parish contrary to the will of the congre- 
gation, was re-enacted ; and presbyteries 
were directed to see that schools were 
provided in every landward parish, and 
such support secured to schoolmasters as 
should render education easily accessible 
to the whole population of the kingdom. 
Many other beneficial enactments were 
made, which our limits will not permit 
us to enumerate. 

At length, on Thursday the 20th of 
December, this great and truly noble 
General Assembly having brought all 
these important matters to a satisfactory 
conclusion, prepared to close its labours. 
The next Assembly was appointed to 
meet at Edinburgh on the third Wednes- 
day of July, 1639, in virtue of its own 
intrinsic powers, whether it should be 
called by his majesty or not ; with this 
reservation, that if the king should of his 
own accord call a meeting of the Assem- 
bly on a different day, they should with 
all diligence and respect attend the time 
and place of his majesty's appointment. 
Several grave addresses and admonitions 
were then delivered by the moderator and 
other venerable members ; and after 
prayer, praise and the apostolical bene- 
diction, Henderson pronounced the As- 
sembly concluded, adding these remark- 
able words, " We have now cast down 
the walls of Jericho. Let him that re- 
buildeth them beware of the curse of Hul 
the Bethelite" 

We have traced with some minuteness, 
and with feelings of deep veneration and 
gratitude, the proceedings of this ever- 
memorable General Assembly. And 
when our readers mark with what calm- 
ness, prudence, solemnity, and earnest- 
ness of devotional feeling its whole pro- 
ceedings were conducted, — how much 



A. D. 1638.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



171 



patience, in the midst of innumerable 
attempts to retard, violate or disturb its 
progress, — how little of vindictive spirit 
against the prelates from whom many of 
the members had sustained great personal 
injury, — how steadily they maintained 
the principles of loyalty to a monarch by 
whom, at the same time, they had too 
much reason to believe they were both 
hatred and betrayed, willing to regard 
him as deceived, and not intentionally 
tyrannical, — how generously, in the 
midst of all their harassing anxieties, 
they directed their attention to the wants 
and the welfare of the whole population 
of their beloved native land, securing, to 
the utmost of their power, to the poor 
man those inestimable blessings, the free 
and pure preaching of the Gospel, and 
the education of his children, — and, above 
all, how nobly, fearlessly, and piously, 
Scotland's National Church vindicated 
the sole sovereignty of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, her only and Divine Head and 
King, — it must, we think, be humbly and 
gratefully owned, that much of the pres- 
ence and the power of the Spirit of wis- 
dom, peace and truth, was there ; and 
•that a glory, sacred and imperishable, 
must ever rest on the memory of that ven- 
erable General Assembly whom God 
honoured to accomplish Scotland's Sec- 
ond Reformation. 

It would be inexpedient to interrupt the 
progress of the narrative by any pro- 
tracted disquisitions ; but we trust we 
may be forgiven for directing the atten- 
tion of the reader to one or two important 
lines of thought. The whole proceed- 
ings of the Assembly of 1638 present the 
most signal illustration that could be con- 
ceived of one of our introductory remarks, 
namely, the re-appearance at peculiar 
junctures, of those great principles which 
constitute the moral and religious life of 
a nation, although they may have been 
for a time so much obscured and over- 
borne, that a superficial observer might 
have thought them sunk into entire and 
perpetual oblivion. 

The great principles of the Reforma- 
tion had pierced into the very core of 
Scotland's heart, and had there deposited 
their vital energies ; but their growing 
development had been at first obstructed 
by the selfishness and rapacity of the no- 
bles, and subsequently fettered and cast 



into dark imprisoned torpor by the king 
himself, who wished to substitute a frame 
of church government and discipline of 
an entirely different and uncongenial na- 
ture. But though thus repressed, and ap- 
parently dormant, these principles were 
not extinct. They formed the hidden life 
of Scotland still ; awaiting but the time 
when the Divine Spirit, by whom ihey 
had been breathed into the nation, should 
again revive, awaken and call them forth, 
and the hand of Providence should rend 
asunder the fettering cerements within 
which they had been starkly swathed, 
and bid them live and act anew. In the 
second Reformation there was not one 
principle called into action which had 
not been either in active operation, or at 
least distinctly stated, in the first. Nor 
was there a single step taken for which 
there could not be shown both a prece- 
dent in the previous history of the Pres- 
byterian Church of Scotland, and a direct 
authority from Scripture. And even in 
those parts of their proceedings which to 
some have appeared most questionable, 
such as continuing to sit notwithstanding 
the departure of the commissioner, and 
the deposition and excommunication of 
the prelatic party, their conduct will be 
found, when fairly examined, to have 
been altogether beyond the reach of cen- 
sure, — nay, deserving of the highest ap- 
probation. To the king, imall civil mat- 
ters,- they rendered the most implicit obe- 
dience ; while they calmly but resolutely 
refused to yield him that obedience in re- 
ligious matters, which could not have 
been granted without violating their alle- 
giance to Christ, as the only Head and 
King of the Church. At the same time 
they most pointedly not only admitted 
the right, but asserted the duty, of a 
Christian sovereign to defend the liber- 
ties and maintain the purity of a Christian 
Church. They clearly distinguished be- 
tween his power in the Church, as a 
member of it and nothing more, and his 
power to regulate external arrangements, 
and enact and enforce national laws, con- 
cerning the Church, as a Christian king, 
bound by his own solemn oaths to be a 
nursing father to the Church, to protect 
and cherish it, and by that means, and 
through its unfettered instrumentality, 
best to promote the moral and religious 
welfare of the kingdom. And in the de- 



172 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. [CHAP, VI 



position and excommunication of the pre- 
tatic party, nothing was done but what 
was in direct accordance with many acts 
ooth of Assembly and of Parliament ; 
and, what is of infinitely greater impor- 
tance, all was founded on the explicit au- 
thority of the Word of God. Before a 
single prelate was deposed or excommu- 
nicated, he was proved, by incontrover- 
tible evidence, to have been guilty of 
false doctrine, of introducing popish cere- 
monies, of attempts to subvert the church 
government and discipline which he had 
sworn to maintain, of tyrannical viola- 
tions of national laws, and of such gross 
personal crimes and immoralities as ren- 
dered him utterly unworthy to hold any 
office in a Christian Church. Even then, 
so tenderly were those abandoned men 
treated, that a regular form of procedure 
was appointed for their expression of pen- 
itence and restoration to the Church, as 
members and ministers, should they be 
moved to repentance, and seek to be re- 
stored. Pride is not a sentiment which 
any human being ought ever to cherish, 
and therefore we dare not say that Scot- 
land has reason to be proud of the great 
men who composed that Assembly and 
conducted its proceedings ; but we will 
say, that every true Presbyterian must 
ever hold them in the highest esteem and 
veneration, while with humble gratitude 
we adore the gracious and merciful Re- 
deemer, who shed down on them so 
abundantly the promise of the Father, 
the Holy Spirit, enlightening, guiding, 
and supporting them in their truly glori- 
ous defence of the unalienable preroga- 
tives of his spiritual kingdom. 

[1639.] The Covenanters had now 
completely taken their ground, from 
which they well knew that they could 
not retreat ; but they were anxious to 
avoid hostilities if possible. For this rea- 
son, several of their leading men waited 
on the Marquis of Hamilton, before his 
departure from Edinburgh, to entreat his 
friendly mediation with the king. Ham- 
ilton was too well acquainted with his 
majesty's sentiments and intentions to an- 
ticipate any favourable result; and there- 
fore not only refused to undertake the 
task of attempting to mitigate the king's 
resentment, but replied to the Covenant- 
ers in terms of reproach and threatening. 
But they were too earnestly desirous of 



peace to be deterred from prosecuting 
their loyal and pacific course by one un- 
gracious refusal; and they accordingly 
determined to send their supplication to 
his majesty himself, by one of their own 
body, however perilous the enterprise. 
The supplication was couched in the most 
dutiful and submissive language, putting 
it in the king's power to come to an ami- 
cable arrangement with his faithful sub- 
jects, not only without submitting to any 
humiliating conditions, but with ample 
security to his honour and dignity. A lit- 
tle, a very little, more judgment and less 
passion on the part of his majesty might 
even then have put an end to all existing 
contentions, and prevented the subsequent 
miseries and sufferings both of the nation 
and of the ill-starred monarch. Mr. 
George Winram of Liberton undertook 
the hazardous duty of carrying the sup- 
plication to London, and of attempting to 
have it presented to the king, although 
aware that his life would be endangered 
by the unwelcome mission. His majesty 
thought proper to permit it to be read to 
him by the Marquis of Hamilton ; but 
the only answer he returned was by ut- 
tering, in a tone between indignation and' 
mockery, the Scottish proverb, " When 
they have broken my head, they will put 
on my coul." The supplication was pre- 
sented on the 15th of January; and al- 
though Winram waited till the middle of 
March, he could obtain no other answer ; 
but his presence in London so long ena- 
bled him to transmit to Scotland valuable 
information respecting the king's designs 
and preparations. 

As the displeasure of the king was so 
great, so his preparations for war were 
on a scale so extensive as to indicate 
clearly that he intended nothing less than 
the complete subjugation of the kingdom. 
His majesty's plan was, to levy an army 
of thirty thousand infantry and six thou- 
sand cavalry ; to put strong garrisons in 
Berwick and Carlisle ; to send a division 
of five thousand men to Aberdeenshire 
to form a junction with the Marquis of 
Huntly, who might either divide the 
Covenanters, or operate on their rear ; 
to send a strong fleet under the Marquis 
of Hamilton to the Frith of Forth, for 
the purpose of blockading the harbours, 
intercepting supplies of arms and ammu- 
nition, and spreading alarm along the 



A. D. 1639.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



173 



coasts of Fife and Lothian ; and having 
completed these arrangements, to place 
himself at the head of his main army, 
and advance into Scotland in such force 
as to bear down all opposition. To com- 
plete the scheme, the Earl of Antrim 
was to raise at least ten thousand men, 
and invade Argyleshire ; and the Earl 
of Stiarford was to take the command of 
a naval armament, and with it to sail up 
the Frith of Clyde, to rouse and encour- 
age the Marquis of Hamilton's adher- 
ents, and to sweep the seas and devastate 
the shores ot the west of Scotland.* To 
meet the heavy expenditure of such ex- 
tensive preparaiions, the king resorted to 
the natural but unconstitutional process 
of procuring supplies of money from the 
private resources of those who approved 
of the object for which war was to be 
waged ; and, as was to be expected, the 
English bishops contributed liberally for 
the support of this hierarchical war. 

Nor were the Covenanters blind to 
their perilous condition. However re- 
luctant to resort to even a defensive war, 
they felt it to be their duty to put them- 
selves into the best state for either defend- 
ing their civil and religious liberties, like 
men who knew their value, or at least ex- 
hibiting such a resolute and imposing 
front as should induce his majesty to 
grant favourable terms rather than haz- 
ard an encounter where victory was un- 
certain and defeat would be ruinous. But 
as it was in their estimation a matter of 
the utmost importance to clear their pro- 
ceedings from the imputation of rebellion 
so pertinaciously charged upon them by 
their enemies, they published an "In- 
formation to all good Christians within 
the kingdom of England," vindicating 
their past conduct and their present in- 
tentions from the calumnious aspersions 
of the prelatic party. This paper was 
extensively circulated in England, and 
was successful in removing many preju- 
dices, and awaking a considerable feel- 
ing of approbation. To counteract this, 
the king employed Dr. Balcanquhal, 
who had been Hamilton's clerical advi- 
ser at the Glasgow Assembly, to write 
an account of the whole of the proceed- 
ings in Scotland which had led to the 
present state of affairs. This paper, after 

* Burnet's Memoirs, p. 113. 



being revised by Charles himself, was 
published as a royal manifesto, and is 
known by the title of " The Large De- 
claration." A proclamation was about 
the same time published by the king, of 
the same purport, which was also speedily 
answered by the Covenanters ; and the 
answer was perused whh great attention 
and considerable sympathy in England. 

Having thus done every thing in their 
power to prove the goodness of their 
cause and their own earnest desire of 
peace, the Covenanters proceeded to de- 
liberate concerning the propriety of even 
a defensive war. Considerable numbers 
of them entertained the opinion, that re- 
sistance to the civil magistrate was un- 
lawful for Christians, how despotic and 
oppressive soever might be his couduct. 
And so far as suffering the penalties of 
even an unjust and tyrannical law 
was involved in the question, the majori- 
ty would have submitted, with no other 
kinds of opposition than those of remon- 
strances and supplications, though there 
were others who held bolder opinions on 
that subject. But all were compelled to 
perceive that the king had much more 
in view than to allow them even the hard 
alternative of obedience or punishment, 
which in matters distinctly religious 
must always subject men to penalties, till 
the civil magistrate can be prevailed on 
to relax his requirements. The inten- 
tion of his majesty, it was easily seen, 
was positively, to compel them to adopt 
all those changes in religious worship 
which he might think proper to intro- 
duce, and to prohibit absolutely and un- 
conditionally those modes of worship 
which they believed to be most accordant 
with the Word and will of God. The 
alternative was not obedience, or the for- 
feiture of certain civil advantages and the 
infliction of certain temporal penalties ; 
but obedience, or imprisonment, exile and 
death ; or rather it was, obey the king 
though you should thereby be disobe- 
dient to God. With deep and anxious 
solicitude they set themselves to the in- 
vestigation of this momentous question ; 
and, after the most profound and studious 
perusal of eminent divines and jurists, 
and especially of the Bible, they arrived 
at the conclusion, that a Christian people 
were entitled to take up arms in defence 



174 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VI. 



of their religious liberties against any as- 
sailant.* 

We do not attempt to give even an out- 
line of the elaborate writings of the Cove- 
nanters on this highly important ques- 
tion ; chiefly because the most of their 
leading propositions have long been re- 
ceived into the national mind, and even 
form essential elements in the British 
constitution, so far at least as civil liberty 
is concerned. They were, however, at 
the time, far beyond the general senti- 
ments of the age, — loftier, nobler, and 
more true than those, the defence of 
which rendered illustrious the boasted 
Hambdens and Sidneys of England. 
But we deem it right to direct the atten- 
tion of the reader to this almost startling 
truth, that while the empire at large has 
imbibed and ratified their sentiments with 
regard to civil liberty, which was with 
them in reality a subordinate considera- 
tion, those sacred principles of religious 
freedom, of sole allegiance to Christ in 
matters of faith, in defence of which 
alone they resolved to confront their 
earthly sovereign, have not yet been 
thoroughly received into the national 
mind, and have never been regarded 
with equal favour by the historian, 
the philosopher, or the statesman. 
Why has this been the case? Be- 
cause, while all men can so far under- 
stand their natural rights, and value their 
civil liberties, no man can understand 
sacred rights and value spiritual liberties 
till he has been made a freeman of the 
Lord. Therefc-e is the main principle 
of the Covenanters still assailed, and 
must be still defended, though we trust 
no longer with the weapons of earthly 
warfare. A man may lose his civil 
liberties, or submit to civil wrongs, and 
be a Christian still ; but a Christian can- 
not yield up his religious liberty without 
committing grievous sin, sinking into the 
condition of a slave, and forfeiting his 
Slopes of heaven. 

Having thus arrived at the important 
conclusion that it was their clear and im- 
perative duty to defend their religious 
liberties, the Covenanters commenced 
their preparations for defence with great 
promptitude and energy. A committee, 
on the plan of the Tables, was appointed 
to sit at Edinburgh, and to exercise full 

Baillie, vol. I p. 189. 



executive powers, holding correspon- 
dence with subordinate committees in 
every county, and giving simultaneous 
directions to the kingdom. And as the 
ministers had now become almost univer- 
sally convinced of the lawfulness of a de- 
fensive war, they no longer felt any hesi- 
tation in recommending that measure to 
the people, rousing their courage, and 
stimulating their religious zeal. Arms 
and ammunition were procured in consi- 
derable quantities ; the most experienced 
officers were distributed throughout the 
kingdom, to instruct others, and to begin, 
if not the actual levies of troops, at least 
the occasional training of such men as 
expressed willingness to serve when re- 
quired. It was debated whether assis- 
tance should be sought from foreign 
powers; but this was overruled, as of a 
more questionable character than merely 
standing on their own defence ; and the 
utmost that was permitted was, that let- 
ters might be written to certain continen- 
tal kings and states, requesting them to 
intercede with Charles on behalf of his 
Scottish subjects. Even this was very 
partially done. The letter to the king 
of France was written and subscribed by 
a few of the nobles, but never forwarded 
to its destination, though the bare fact of 
its havi-ng been written and signed ex- 
posed the Earl of Loudon to the extreme 
peril of his life a short while afterwards. 

But while the country was thus rapid- 
ly arming in self-defence, it was resolved 
that theirs should not be the first overt 
act of hostility. They even submitted to 
several minor outrages of a warlike na- 
ture, willing to postpone the actual colli- 
sion to the latest possible period, in the 
faint hope that some pacific arrangement 
might yet be made. Many Scottish mer- 
chants and travellers were seized in Eng- 
land and Ireland, and treated as rebels; 
the Marquis of Huntly seized upon the 
city of Aberdeen, and put it in a state of 
fortified defence; and the Popish lords 
began to arm in different quarters of the 
kingdom ; while English troops were not 
only assembling rapidly at York, but 
also hovering in threatening bands along 
the borders, and the Irish were preparing 
to invade the western coasts. At this 
time the castles of Edinburgh and Dum- 
barton were both in the hands of the roy- 
alists; but as the Covenanters perceived 



A. D. 1639.] 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



175 



the danger of leaving these strong fortress- 
es in the possession of their enemies 
when they should be compelled to march 
southward to repel the invaders, it was 
determined to anticipate and remove that 
peril. They were accordingly both 
seized on the same day ; and so well had 
the Covenanters laid their schemes, that 
these important strengths were secured 
without the loss of a single life. Dalkeith 
was also taken without a blow, and a 
large quantity of military stores fell into 
the hands of the captors. The Earl of 
Montrose was sent to the north, to coun- 
teract the influence of Huntly ; and as 
Montrose was not so scrupulous as the 
other leaders of the Presbyterians, he 
speedily reduced Aberdeen, forcibly com- 
pelled the citizens to subscribe the Cove- 
nant,* and having obtained possession of 
Huntly himself, not by the most honoura- 
ble means, carried that dangerous noble- 
man with him to Edinburgh. 

To complete their defensive arrange- 
ments, they resolved to fortify Leith, and 
by that means to protect the capital from 
assault by sea. As this was an object of 
great importance, it was undertaken and 
carried forward with corresponding en- 
ergy. The nobles of the Covenant began 
the works with their own hands, which 
were prosecuted night and day without 
intermission, all classes and ranks vieing 
with each other in carrying forward the 
labour, and even ladies of distinction 
stimulating the enthusiastic ardour of the 
men by personally sharing in their toils. 
In an almost incredibly short period Leith 
was completely fortified ; and the towns 
along the Fifeshire coast were put in a 
state of defence by the erection of batteries 
on the most commanding positions. 

These prompt and decisive measures 
put an end to the king's hopes of paralyz- 
ing the Covenanters by internal disunion, 
and there remained but two alternatives, 
— either to subdue Scotland by the force 
of English and Irish arms, or to treat 
with it on fair and equal terms. Unhap- 
pily Charles chose the former alternative, 
even though there were not wanting 
symptoms which ought to have caused 
him to pause in his perilous enterprise. 
Indications sufficiently intelligible were 

* It deserves to be noted, that this was the first in- 
stance in which any were compelled to subscribe the 
Covenant, and that this was done by Montrose on his 
own sole authority. 



given to him, that the high heart of Eng- 
land was disinclined to the invasion of 
Scotland in such a cause. Many saw 
clearly that the king's success in subju- 
gating the Scottish Covenanters would 
enable him to forge for themselves the 
fetters of absolute despotism ; and not 
few entered more deeply into the question, 
and perceived in his attempt the real 
spirit of Popery, regarding it as a distinc- 
tion of little moment whether a foreign 
prelate or a native monarch should as- 
sume and exercise that lordship over the 
conscience which belongs to God alone. 
Some of the nobility declared that they 
would not aid in the invasion of Scotland 
till the consent of parliament had been 
sought and obtained ; and, in general, the 
supplies of both men and money fell far 
short of the king's expectations. Still, as 
Charles could not believe that the Cove- 
nanters would dare to meet him on the 
field, he adhered to his warlike resolu- 
tions ; and, having mustered his forces at 
York in the beginning of April, he sent 
the Marquis of Hamilton with a fleet to 
the Frith of Forth, and began his own 
march at the head of his army, to invade 
his ancient kingdom. 

After a series of ominous delays, the 
Marquis of Hamilton arrived with his 
fleet in the Frith ; but no sooner was he 
descried, than the beacons were lighted, 
and brave men rushed from all quarters 
to the points of danger, like descending 
mountain torrents. Instead of being able 
to effect an " awful diversion," as the king 
had commanded him, by landing and 
laying waste the country " with fire and 
sword,"* he found himself actually sur- 
rounded by forces immensely superior to 
his own. All his efforts were therefore 
reduced to a paper warfare, in which, as 
formerly, he found himself overmatched 
by his able antagonists. At length he 
was summoned to meet the king near 
Berwick, to strengthen the operations by 
land, since his attempts by sea were so 
ineffectual. When the parliament met in 
Edinburgh, it was immediately prorogued 
by the king ; and to this prorogation they 
yielded without the slightest opposition, 
contrary to the expectation and the wish 
of their enemies. But in this they merely 
acted in accordance with their own high 
and well-defined principles ; they yielded 

" Burnet's Memoir, pp. 121-123. 



176 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. [CHAP. VI. 



to the king all due and constitutional obe- 
dience in matters purely civil, refusing 
only that obedience in spiritual matters to 
which he was not entitled, and which 
they could not render without sin. 

Another slight alarm was raised in the 
north by the reising of Huntlys adher- 
ents, who seized Aberdeen, and threaten- 
ed a descent upon the southern provinces. 
This was again speedily suppressed by 
Montrose, who now treated the inhabit- 
ants of Aberdeen and the adjacent coun- 
try with considerable severity, levying a 
heavy contribution, and committing some 
acts of pillage upon the defenceless inhab- 
itants, inconsistent with his present reli- 
gious profession, though sufficiently na- 
tural to his real character, as afterwards 
developed. 

War was now begun ; but still the 
Covenanters were anxious for peace, if it 
could be obtained without the sacrifice of 
religious purity and truth. Repeatedly did 
they send deputations to his majesty, while 
on his march ; but the haughty monarch 
refused to listen to their supplications, 
and would hear of nothing but the renun- 
ciation of the Covenant and the. Glasgow 
Assembly, and an unconditional submis- 
sion to his royal will. It was now time 
to move forward in their united might ; 
but, animated by the same religious spirit 
which had guided all their past conduct, 
they would not go till they had done 
their utmost to secure the hope that God 
had gone before them. A solemn fast 
was held, and many earnest prayers were 
offered up to the Lord of Hosts, implor- 
ing Him to guide all their movements, 
and to crown them with victory in that 
sacred cause which they regarded as 
most truly His own. The committee 
next issued directions to the kingdom to 
regulate the conduct of their adherents in 
the muster and the march to head-quar- 
ters. They then marched forward in 
two divisions ; the main body, under 
General Leslie, halted at Dunglas ; and 
a strong detachment, under Monro, took 
up a position at Kelso. The latter body 
came first into contest with a division of 
the king's forces, which had been sent 
forward to publish a proclamation, and at 
sight of the Scottish troops, turned and 
fled with great precipitation ; — proving 
thereby, no' their want of courage, but 



their want of inclination to fight in such 
a quarrel. 

The result of this rencounter, and the 
nature of the royal proclamation com- 
manding them to lay down their arms 
within eight days, on pain of being de- 
clared rebels, their lands forfeited, and a 
price set on their heads, convinced the 
Scottish leaders that their reluctance to 
proceed to hostilities was regarded by the 
king as caused by fear, and not the effect 
of conscientious loyalty. They determin- 
ed to relieve his majesty from this mis- 
take, and accordingly advanced to Dunse 
Law, where they encamped within sight 
of the royal army, at a distance of little 
more than six miles. When they first 
pitched their tents on Dunse Law, on the 
1st of June, the army was about twelve 
thousand strong, but in a few days it was 
increased to nearly twice that number, full 
of courage, and confident in the goodness 
of their cause. 

The army of the Covenanters present- 
ed such a spectacle as has been rarely 
witnessed. The hill on which they 
had taken up their position is of a conic 
form, about a Scottish mile in circumfer- 
ence, rising gradually to the height of a 
bowshot, where it terminates in a plain of 
nearly thirty acres in extent. This level 
summit was bristled round with forty 
field-pieces, commanding the two roads 
that led to the capital. Around the sides 
of the hill were pitched the tents of the 
army, each regiment in its own respect- 
ive cluster. A banner-staff was planted 
firmly at each captain's tent-door, from 
which floated the Scottish colours, dis- 
playing not only the national arms, but 
also this inscription in golden letters, 
"for Christ's crown and covenant," 
explanatory of the sacred cause for which 
this dauntless banner was again spread 
on the winds. A minister of the highest 
character and abilities was attached to 
each regiment ; and regularly as morn- 
ing dawned and evening fell, the troops 
were summoned, by beat of drum, or 
sound of trumpet, to their devotional du- 
ties, which were conducted generally by 
the same reverend pastors to whose pray- 
ers and exhortations they had listened on 
days of Sabbath stillness, among their 
own rural and peaceful homes. The 
army was chiefly composed of Scotland's 



A. D. 1639.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 



177 



thoughtful and high-souled peasantry, — 
men strong of frame and bold of heart, to 
whom religious liberty was dear because 
they had felt and known its priceless val- 
ue, and therefore were prepared to peril 
life itself in its defence. Led on by their 
time-honoured nobility, encouraged by 
their beloved pastors, and convinced by 
the goodness of their cause that Heaven 
was on their side, these dreadless men 
looked forward to the hour of battle as to 
that of certain victory. Theirs was not 
the fiery courage of untamed blood and 
reckless hardihood, but the calm, deliber- 
ate fortitude of men who feared God, and 
knew no other fear. It was not strange 
that Charles recoiled from encountering 
such a foe.* 

Perceiving the formidable strength and 
dauntless resolution of the Scottish army, 
Charles became anxious to treat with men 
on whom he now saw that he could not 
trample. Yet pride withheld him from 
making the first proposals otherwise than 
by stealth. No sooner did the Covenant- 
ers learn that the king might now listen 
to overtures for the peaceful termination 
of the struggle, than they sent an embassy 
to supplicate his majesty to bestow on 
their requests and statement of grievances 
a favourable audience. Both parties be- 
ing now willing to come to pacific terms, 
the adjustment of preliminaries was not 
a matter of extreme difficulty, although 
the king was careful to maintain such 
punctilious forms as should, in his opin- 
ion, save his honour, and not too greatly 
mortify his pride. As it was not pride, 
but religious principle, by which the 
Covenanters were actuated, they were 
content to make e\ery reasonable conces- 
sion, and to soothe the monarch's wounded 
feelings to the utmost. Yet the negotia- 
tions were at one time nearly interrupted 
at the instigation of the Scoitish prelates, 
who were willing to peril their sove- 
reign's life, and the peace of their native 
land, in the prosecution of their own ava- 
ricious and revengeful desires. But a 
significant hint from Leslie of his inten- 
tion to advance his army within cannon- 
shot of the royal camp, caused an imme- 
diate change in the lowering aspect of 
affairs, and the negotiations were not 
only resumed, but brought to a speedy 

* For a more full account, see Baillie, pp. 210-2L4 ; 
Stevenson, pp. 373, 374. 

23 



conclusion. Although the king would 
not grant directly the requests of the 
Covenanters, he thought it prudent to ac- 
cede to articles of pacification in which 
they were virtually involved. He con- 
sented to the ratification of all that had 
been deceptively promised by the Mar- 
quis of Hamilton to the Glasgow Assem- 
bly, though he would not allow that As- 
sembly to be specifically named. To this 
was added, that an Assembly should be 
held at Edinburgh on the 6th of August, 
to which all ecclesiastical matters were 
to be referred for decision ; and a Parlia- 
ment was to sit on the 20th of the 
same month, to determine civil affairs, 
and to ratify the acts of Assembly. On 
these terms it was further agreed that the 
forces on both sides should be disbanded, 
the fleet leave the shores, and the castles 
be rendered back to the king. To ex- 
press his royal gratification, his majesty 
expressed his intention to honour both 
the Assembly and the Parliament with 
his presence, — an intention which he did 
not carry into effect. This treaty was . 
signed on the 1 8th of June, and publicly 
proclaimed in both camps the same day. 

It is painful to be obliged to state, that not 
only during these negotiations did the king 
too manifestly degrade himself by double- 
dealing and treachery, but that even in 
concluding the treaty of pacification, he 
entertained the fixed determination to vi- 
olate all its most important stipulations as 
soon as his power should ever be equal 
to his will. This perfidious conduct was 
not unknown to the Covenanters ; and 
although they did not publicly avow dis- 
trust of the king, nor declare their jeal- 
ousy of his dissimulation, it would argue 
a degree of imbecility of which they 
cannot be suspected, if they had allowed 
themselves to be circumvented by such 
manifest deceit. Their part of the treaty 
they performed by instantly breaking 
up their encampment, disbanding their 
troops, and placing the fortresses in the 
hands of the royalists ; but they retained 
their veteran officers in pay, and broke 
not up that internal organization by 
means of which they were able almost 
instantaneously to raise and re-concen- 
trate the power of the kingdom. Charles 
lingered some time before he disbanded 
his army ; and after that had been par- 
tially done, sent for the leading Cove- 



178 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VI 



nanters to wait on him at Berwick. Bur- 
net admits that he did so with the inten- 
tion of trying what fair treatment might 
do with them. Six only of them went, 
or rather were allowed to go, as the prob- 
able object of the king was suspected. 
Of these Montrose was one ; and so ef- 
fectual were the king's arguments or 
promises with him, that before he left the 
royal presence, that ambitious nobleman 
had pledged himself to promote his sove- 
reign's designs, and to remain among 
the Covenanters that he might the more 
effectually betray them It is difficult to 
say whether the conduct of the king or 
of Montrose was most dishonourable, — 
the one in persuading to treachery the, 
other in consenting to become a traitor ; 
or jnost criminal, the king in violating 
the faith of the recent treaty, Montrose 
in committing perjury by breaking his 
solemn Covenant engagement. 

Defeated in all his intentions, and dis- 
appointed in all his hopes, the king de- 
clined to go to Edinburgh according to his 
promise ; but before his return to Eng- 
land, appointed a lord high commissioner 
to represent him in the Assembly and in 
parliament. Hamilton declined holding 
this high office, though requested by the 
king ; and the Earl of Traquair was ap- 
pointed. A list of instructions were 
given by the king to Traquair, for the 
direction of his conduct in the Assembly, 
in which a spirit of even mean and bitter 
spite against the last Assembly is betray- 
ed, and its whole character is that of 
shifting and deceitful evasiveness. The 
last article of it requires Traquair to pro- 
test, that in case any thing has escaped 
his notice, prejudicial to his majesty's 
service, " his majesty may be heard for 
redress thereof, in his own time and 
place." By this it is manifest that the 
king intended to revoke every concession 
which the commissioner had made, when- 
ever it should be in his power. With 
regard to the parliament, he felt even 
more at liberty, as Traquair had suggest- 
ed that none of its acts could be valid 
without the presence of the prelates, as 
the third estate, and, therefore, they might 
be passed and afterwards thrown aside 
whenever his majesty thought proper.* 

The General Assembly met on the 
1 2th of August. In such an outline as 

* Burnet's Memoir, pp. 149, 150. 



the present work, we cannot record more 
than the most important acts passed by 
this Assembly. As the king had ex- 
pressed his determination not to ratify the 
acts of the Glasgow Assembly, which, on 
the other hand, the Covenanters would 
not disavow, the expedient was adopted of 
re-enumerating its acts in the preambles 
of those now to be passed. In this man- 
ner the corruptions which had so long 
troubled the Church, were re-stated, and 
formally condemned, by which means all 
the prelatic innovations were once more 
abolished, and a clause was added, se- 
curing the annual meeting of Assem- 
blies, and the regular meeting of synods, 
presbyteries, and kirk-sessions. Con- 
siderable difficulty was experienced in 
dealing with the recusant prelatists, but 
this, too, was surmounted by hearing the 
accusations against them afresh, framing 
a condemnation of the errors of which 
they were accused, and dealing leniently 
with those who expressed contrition for 
their faults, and submitted to the Assem- 
bly. The Large Declaration, written by 
Balcanquhal, but published as the king's 
manifesto, was condemned, and a suppli- 
cation was prepared, requesting his ma- 
jesty to cause the offensive book to be 
suppressed. The National Covenant 
was next renewed ; and the Assembly 
petitioned the privy council to give it the 
sanction of an act of council, requiring 
it to be subscribed by all his majesty's 
subjects. This was accordingly done, 
the whole council subscribing, and Tra- 
quair himself subscribing as commission- 
er, that it might have as full sanction as 
the representative of royalty could give 
it, with this explanatory declaration, that 
it was one in substance with the Confes- 
sion or Covenant of 1581. The minor 
acts of this Assembly were a proposal by 
Henderson for a committee to frame a 
full Confession of Faith — another for a 
Catechism, — and an act resembling that 
since called the Barrier Act, prohibiting 
any change in the laws of the Church 
till the motion to that effect had been 
communicated to all synods and presby- 
teries, and returned to the next Assembly 
ripely considered. The next Assembly 
was appointed to meet at Aberdeen ; and 
after warm and earnest expressions of 
gratitude to the king and his commission- 
er, and of fervent thanksgiving and 



A. D. 1640.] HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



179 



praise to God for his countenance and 
support, was formally dissolved in the 
usual manner. 

Information of the proceedings of the 
Assembly had been sent to the king from 
time to time during its sittings, and his 
majesty's comments were returned to his 
commissioner. Whether from inadver- 
tence, or thinking that since the king's 
whole concessions were deceptive, it could 
not much matter about the strictness of 
the language, the commissioner had per- 
mitted himself to subscribe and ratify the 
act condemning the prelatic innovations, 
although it contained the following strong 
statement : " That Episcopal government, 
and the civil places and power of kirk- 
men, be holden still as unlawful in this 
Kirk." The word unlawful the king 
could not tolerate, though he would not 
have objected to the condemnation of 
Prelacy as " contrary to the constitution 
of the Church of Scotland ;" and, there- 
fore, he " absolutely commanded" Tra- 
quair not to ratify that act in parliament, 
unless the language were changed ac- 
cording to his suggestion.* One might 
be disposed to regard his majesty's dis- 
tinction as merely a petty quibble, since 
what is unconstitutional ought to be held 
as more than unlaivful by every man of 
sound judgment ; but it is too well known 
that many men pay more respect to the 
letter of the law than to the spirit of the 
constitution ; and besides, Charles held 
that he possessed, in virtue of his high 
prerogative, the power of altering the 
constitution of both Church and State, ac- 
cording to his own arbitrary will ; conse- 
quently, the word unconstitutional was a 
much less formidable obstacle in his esti- 
mation than the word unlawful. Like 
superficial thinkers in general, he did not 
perceive that constitutional principles are 
the life-powers of a community, while 
laws are but the variable forms through 
which they manifest their essential ener- 
gies. Under the strong coercion of his 
majesty's " absolute command," Traquair 
endeavoured to prevail upon the parlia- 
ment to amend the errors which he had 
permitted to pass the Assembly ; but 
after much intriguing and successive ad- 
journments, he was obliged to prorogue 
its further sitting till the 2d of June 1640, 
and to hasten to court for the purpose of 

* Burnet's Memoir, p. 158. 



endeavouring to appease the royal indig- 
nation. 

[1640.] The Scottish parliament sent 
the Earls of Loudon and Dunfermline to 
London for a similar purpose ; but the 
king was so highly incensed with their 
pertinacious adherence to their own 
views, that after having reluctantly 
granted them audience, and listened to 
the statement which they were commis- 
sioned to make, he commanded the Earl 
of Loudon to be committed to the Tower, 
on a charge of treason, founded on the 
letter to the King of France, of which 
mention was made above. So vehement 
was the wrath of the king, that he issued 
the tyrannical order, that Loudon should 
be beheaded within the Tower before 
nine o'clock of the following morning, 
and without the formalities of a trial. 
This bloody warrant the lieutenant of the 
Tower carried to the Marquis of Hamil- 
ton, who, aware of the fearful conse- 
quences which would inevitably ensue, 
hastened to the king, and earnestly be- 
sought him to recall the warrant. At 
first he sternly, and with violent language, 
refused to comply ; but at length the 
marquis prevailed, chiefly by pointing 
out the dire effects to himself and his 
cause which such a deed would certainly 
produce, and with suppressed and sullen 
revengefulness he permitted the victim to 
be rescued from his deadly gripe. 

The king was now resolved once more 
to take the field, and reduce the Cove- 
nanters to subjection by force of arms. 
But the main obstacle to the accomplish- 
ment of this sanguinary resolution con- 
sisted in the difficulty of meeting the 
expenditures in which he would be neces- 
sarily involved. All his resources were 
drained by his previous ineffectual at- 
tempt; and he saw no method of obtain- 
ing a sufficient sum of money but that of 
calling an English parliament, and en- 
deavouring to procure a grant of adequate 
supplies. Above eleven years had 
elapsed since a parliament had been 
held ; during which period the arbitrary 
conduct of the king, and the hideous 
cruelties perpetrated by the Star-Cham- 
ber, had so alienated the kingdom, that 
Charles dreaded to call a parliament, lest, 
instead of granting a subsidy, it should 
proceed first to the consideration of griev- 
ances. What could not be avoided must 



180 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VI 



be met ; but what was dreaded took 
place. When the parliament met, they 
would not listen to the demand of a sub- 
sidy till they had inquired into their own 
wrongs, and sought redress. The king 
indignantly dissolved the parliament, and 
set himself to raise the necessary funds 
by every means in his power. By the 
most strenuous exertions he so far re- 
plenished his treasury as to be able to 
take the field in the month of July, at 
the head of 19,000 foot and 2,000 cav- 
alry.* 

Although perfectly aware of all the 
king's proceedings, the Covenanters ma- 
nifested no rash eagerness to resort to 
defensive warfare, till every pacific method 
had been tried. They held the parlia- 
ment on the day to which it had been 
prorogued ; and, notwithstanding the ab- 
sence of the Earl of Traquair, they 
calmly and regularly proceeded with the 
transactions for which the parliament had 
met, and ratified all the acts of the pre- 
ceding Assembly, besides reforming their 
own constitution. At the same time they 
made repeated applications to the Marquis 
of Hamilton, and to several of the Eng- 
lish nobility, that they would intercede 
with the king, and, if possible, persuade 
him to consent to a peaceful settlement 
of the nation's troubles. Some private 
intercourse appears to have taken place 
between the Covenanters and the disaf- 
fected party in England, by which the 
movements of the former were not a little 
influenced f Being convinced that hos- 
tilities were inevitable, the Covenanters 
again sounded the alarm, and were an- 
swered immediately by the mustering 
thousands of the bold and religious 
peasantry, and the gallant nobles of 
Scotland, accompanied, as before, by 
many faithful and zealous ministers. 

In the meantime the General Assem- 
bly met at Aberdeen on the 28th of July, 
and began their duties, while all around 
them was ringing with the din of war. 
Unhappily, all was not peace within the 
Assembly. The absence of many of the 
leading men left the business to be con- 
ducted by others of inferior talents, and 
less tact in the management of a popular 
assembly. The cause of the contention 

• Burnet's Memoirs, p. 173. f Burnet's Own 
limes, p. 17. 



was not new ; it had come before the 
preceding Assembly, but had been partly 
soothed down by the sagacious manage- 
ment of Henderson, and partly repressed 
into a subordinate position by the presence 
of matter of more urgent character. 
During the domination of the prelatic 
party, many religious people had with- 
drawn from the ministry of men from 
whom they derived no spiritual instruc- 
tion ; but to supply the want to the ut- 
most of their power, they had adopted the 
measure of meeting together in private, 
and engaging in reading of the Scrip 
tures, exhortation, and prayer, for their 
mutual edification. Several of those who 
had been in Ireland and other countries 
for a considerable time, had become so 
confirmed in this custom, that even after 
the Glasgow Assembly, the abolition of 
Prelacy, and the restoration of the purer 
and simpler modes of Presbyterian wor- 
ship, they still continued their practice of 
holding these private religious meetings. 
The most pious ministers saw nothing 
offensive or improper in such j^rivate 
meetings of Christian worshippers ; but 
there were others who looked on them 
with less favourable regard. Some of 
the ministers had, while on the Conti- 
nent, witnessed scenes of gross profanity 
among the Aanabaptists, and other igno- 
rant and enthusiastic sects, and dreaded 
that similar abuses would spring up in 
the prayer-meetings of their grave and 
sober countrymen. Others were still so 
deeply tainted with the prelatic leaven, 
that they viewed these meetings as so 
many conclaves of conspiracy against 
their own ecclesiastical dignity and privi- 
leges. There were others also, among 
the ministers, men of more comprehen- 
sive and far-seeing minds, who dreaded 
from such meetings the rise of a species 
of Independency in Scotland, which., 
they were aware, was beginning to raise 
its head very powerfully in England. 
Undoubtedly the wisest measure would 
have been either to have taken no public 
notice of such meetings, or to have done 
so in terms of approbation ; and for the 
ministers themselves to have attended 
them, joined in them, given to the humble 
and pious worshippers all the instruction 
in their power, and thus not only to have 
prevented schism and alienation, but to 



A. D. 1638.] 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



181 



have re-directed all those streams of pri- 
vate devotion into the channels of the 
National Church. 

It may be remarked in passing, that 
the number of sects which spring up in 
any country, the erroneous nature of the 
tenets held by these sects, and the wild 
extravagance into which they rush, sup- 
ply, when fairly and judiciously investi- 
gated, so many almost infallible tests of 
the real character of the Church of that 
country. For if that Church has done 
its duty in communicating religious in- 
struction to the people, they will carry 
with them, even should they leave its 
pale, the sacred knowledge which they 
had acquired, and will retain such an 
amount of sacred principles, and present 
such an aspect of regulated propriety, 
that no large-hearted Christian will feel 
himself at liberty to speak of them in 
terms of scorn. While, on the other 
hand, if they have been neglected and 
left in ignorance, they will infallibly dis- 
play that ignorance in their insanely de- 
lusive, or darkly fanatical notions, and in 
the glaring absurdity or profane impiety 
of their conduct. This test we may have 
occasion hereafter to apply with regard 
to the Churches both of England and of 
Scotland ; at present it is enough to sug- 
gest it, partly as connected with the con- 
tentions in the Assembly at Aberdeen, 
and partly for a subject of reflection to 
the reader. 

The person by whom this subject w T as 
brought before the Assembly was Henry 
Guthry, at that time one of the ministers 
of Stirling.* His character is well known 
by all who are acquainted with Scottish 
ecclesiastical history, by whom his eager- 
ness to repress private religious worship 
will be sufficiently understood. To those 
who may not have access to other sources 
of knowledge, it will probably be enough 
to state, that his subsequent conduct 
caused him to be deposed from the min- 
istry in 1648 ; that after the restoration 
of Charles II. he was made bishop of 
Dunkeld ; and that he wrote memoirs of 
Scottish affairs in his own times, which 
abound in misrepresentations and calum- 
nies. Such was the man who took it 
upon him to act the part of a discourager 
of private religious meetings for worship, 
and a maker of strife in church courts. 

* Baillie, vol. L pp. 249-255. I 



Owing to the various causes already spe- 
cified, his attempts were but too success- 
ful ; and after some days of bitter conten- 
tion, the Assembly passed an act respect- 
ing family worship, limiting it to the 
members of each family, and prohibiting 
the expounding of the Scriptures, except 
by ministers or those in training for the 
ministry, of whose qualifications the Pres- 
bytery had expressed approbation. This 
unseemly and ill-omened contention may 
be regarded as the first insertion of that 
wedge by which the Church of Scotland 
was afterwards rent asunder ; and it de- 
serves to be remarked that it was pointed 
and urged on by a prelatist. 

The army of the Covenanters had 
again mustered at their former station on 
Dunse Law ; but after remaining there 
about three weeks, and feeling that their 
resources would soon be exhausted should 
they continue inactive, they deliberated 
seriously on advancing into England to 
meet their assailants. This was a more 
questionable measure than their former 
defensive position, and they felt all the 
responsibility in which it might involve 
them.* But they felt also, that there 
were but two alternatives, the one or the 
other of which they must adopt, — either 
to advance in a peaceful manner towards 
the royal army, or to disband their forces, 
and submit to the mercy of an enraged 
monarch, and his cruel instigators, the 
relentless prelates. Many reasons might 
be adduced why the Covenanters ought 
not to have entered England ; but their 
best vindication will be found in the dire 
necessity which compelled them either to 
advance and secure their religious and 
civil liberties, or to remain and bow their 
degraded necks beneath the yoke of dou- 
ble despotism. They chose the nobler 
alternative : prepared and published man- 
ifestoes explaining the reasons of their 
expedition, and most solemnly disclaim- 
ing all hostile intentions against the Eng- 
lish nation ; then, humbly committing 
their cause to God, they crossed the 
Tweed, and marched towards Newcastle, 
as peacefully as if they had been passing 
through the heaths and valleys of their 
beloved native land. 

We shall not further trace the move- 
ments of the Scottish army. Its success 

the crossing of the Tyne — its march 

* Rushworth, vol. iii. p. 1223, et seq. 



182 



HISTORY OF THE CHUJtCH OF SCOTLAND. [CHAP. VI. 



towards York, — the reluctance of the 
English to support the king's despotic 
designs, — the pacification of Ripon, — 
the transfer of the place of treaty to Lon- 
don. — and the first meeting of the long 
parliament, — must all be left to the civil 
historian, as not legitimately within our 
province, further than that, in tracing the 
reflex influence which these events exer- 
cised on ecclesiastical matters, so much 
must be stated as to render the subject in- 
telligible. 

[1641.] The residence in Scotland of 
the Scottish Commissioners for the 
Treaty, from the latter part of the year 
1640 till August 1641, when the treaty 
was finally concluded, was productive of 
the most important consequences to both 
countries. Henderson, Baillie, Blair, and 
Gillespie, some of the most eminent of the 
Scottish ministers, were appointed to ac- 
company the commissioners to London, 
and to remain with them in the capacity 
of chaplains.* The great abilities of 
these distinguished men attracted the at- 
tention of the English of all ranks in 
a very remarkable manner, and recom- 
mended the Presbyterian system of 
Church government much more effectu- 
ally than arguments alone could have 
done. Nor was this strange. Hender- 
son was a man of uncommon prudence 
and sagacity, profound judgment, decided 
eloquence, and the most attracting amen- 
ity of manners. Baillie, though greatly 
inferior to Henderson in mental powers, 
and somewhat fickle in disposition, aris- 
ing from a facile temper and constitu- 
tional timidity, was one of the most 
learned men of his time. Blair was also 
a very learned man, had passed through 
many sharp trials, and, having been 
brought much into contact with the Inde- 
pendents, had thoroughly studied the 
questions in controversy with that reli- 
gious body, on which account he was 
made one of the deputation. And Gilles- 
pie, though still a very young man, had 
already proved himself to be endowed 
with powers and possessed of acquire- 
ments of the very highest order ; his 
learning was both extensive and singu- 
larly minute ; his intellect clear, acute, 
and powerful, qualifying him for emi- 
nence in debate ; and his high and fervid 

* Baillie, vol. i p. 269. 



eloquence was pervaded by 'that electric 
energy which is an essential attribute of 
true genius. The presence of such men 
in London for so many months, and the 
free intercourse which they enjoyed with 
all classes of society, gave an impulse to 
the heart of England which proved irre- 
sistible. 

During this residence of the Scottish 
commissioners in the English capital, the 
views of all parties expanded ; and an 
idea which had been previously but dimly 
entertained by many, began to assume a 
definite form in the minds of the leading 
men. That idea was, the possibility 
which such a juncture seemed to present 
of establishing uniformity in the religious 
worship of the three kingdoms. In one 
respect this was no new idea. It had 
been entertained by both King James and 
the present sovereign ; but they both 
sought to realize it by the strong compul- 
sion of civil power, forgetting that men 
may be reasoned into the reception of 
opinions, but cannot be compelled ; and 
proceeding upon the utterly false notion 
that the civil magistrate has a right to 
dictate in matters of religion. -Viewing 
this great question in a very different 
light, and perceiving that the English 
nation was now wellnigh as weary of the 
despotic rule of Laud as they had been 
of their own prelatic tyrants, the Scottish 
commissioners began to hope that Eng- 
land might be persuaded to change her 
Church government, and bring it into 
closer uniformity with that of Scotland's 
National Church. They did not enter- 
tain the presumptuous wish to dictate to 
England in so grave a matter ; the whole 
amount of the influence which they ever 
dreamt of exercising was, to suggest the 
measure to the English mind ; and, if it 
should be favourably received and under- 
taken, to aid their English brethren by 
those advices and that information which 
their own experience might enable them 
to give. That these were in reality the 
sentiments of the Scottish Covenanters, 
however much they have been misrepre- 
sented by party writers, the following ex- 
tract from a paper entitled " Arguments 
given in by the Commissioners of Scot- 
land unto the Lords of the Treaty, per- 
suading Conformity cf Church govern- 
ment as one principal means of a con« 



I 



A. D. 1641.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



183 



tinued Peace between the two Nations," 
will, we trust, clearly prove. 

" As we account it no less than usur- 
pation and presumption for one kingdom 
or church, were it never so mighty and 
glorious, to give laws, and rules of re- 
formation to another free and independent 
church and kingdom, were it never so 
mean, civil liberty and conscience being 
so tender and delicate that they cannot 
endure to be touched hut by such as they 
are wedded unto, and who have lawful au- 
thority over them ; so have we not been 
so forgetful of ourselves, who are the 
lesser, and of England, which is the 
greater kingdom, as to suffer any such 
arrogant and presumptuous thoughts to 
enter into our minds ; our ways also are 
witnesses of the contrary, against the ma- 
licious, who do not express what we are 
or have been, but do still devise what 
may be fuel for a common combustion. 
Yet charity is no presumption, and the 
common duty of charity bindeth all Chris- 
tians at all times, both to pray and profess 
their desire, that all others were not only 
almost but altogether such as themselves, 
except their afflictions and distresses ; 
and, besides common charity, we are 
bound as commissioners in a special duty 
to propound the best and readiest means 
for settling of a firm peace. As we love 
not to be curious in another common- 
wealth, nor to play the bishop in another 
diocese, so may we not be careless and 
negligent in that which concerneth both 
nations. We do all know and profess, 
that religion is not the only mean to serve 
God and to save our own souls, but that 
it is also the basis and foundation of king- 
doms and states, and the strongest band 
to the subjects under their prince in true 
loyalty, and to knit their hearts one 
to another in true unity. Nothing is so 
powerful to divide the hearts of people as 
division in religion ; nothing so strong to 
unite them as unity in religion ; and the 
greater zeal in different religions, the 
greater division ; but the more zeal in 
one religion, the more firm union. In 
the paradise of nature the diversity of 
flowers and herbs is pleasant and useful ; 
but in the paradise of the Church, differ- 
ent and contrary religions are unpleasant 
and hurtful. It is therefore to be wished, 
that there were one Confession of Faith, 
one form of Catechism, one Directory, 



1 for all the parts of the pub ic worship of 
God, and prayer, preaching, administra- 
tion of sacraments, &c, and one form of 
j Church government in all the churches 
of his Majesty's dominions."* 

Even before these views were commu- 
! nicated to the Lords of the Treaty by the 
| Scottish commissioners, great numbers 
! of petitions had been presented to parlia- 
i ment from different parts of England, 
some praying for the total extirpation of 
Prelacy, and others for a reformation in 
the liturgy, discipline, and government 
j of the Chruch ; but all agreeing in repre- 
' senting some decided change as neces- 
sary for the peace of the kingdom. The 
parliament indicated no unwillingness to 
have the question of Church government 
fully investigated, and no peculiar desire 
to maintain the prelatic hierarchy; but 
gave no intimation of their own ultimate 
I intentions on the subject, if, indeed, they 
had already framed any definite design, 
which they probably had not. So far the 
i subject was in a proper train ; for while 
a civil government may with perfect pro- 
! priety either repeal the laws which have 
! respect to the civil status of a national 
Church, or frame new enactments for the 
' purpose of giving civil effect to ecclesias- 
! tical arrangements, it would be an uncon- 
! stitutional overstepping of its own pro- 
vince to dictate to a Church in what 
manner to construct its government, to 
frame its creed, and to determine its dis- 
cipline. 

While the treaty was proceeding 
slowly at London, interrupted by the trial 
of Strafford, the General Assembly met 
at St. Andrews, 20th July 1641 ; but as 
the Scottish parliament was to meet at 
Edinburgh about the same time, the As- 
sembly adjourned till the 27th July, on 
which day it was to resume its sittings at 
Edinburgh. Before that day several of 
the Scottish commissioners had returned ; 
and Henderson was appointed moderator, 
on account of several difficult matters, 
which, it was felt, would require the guid- 
ing hand of such a man to conduct with 
safety. The contest of the preceding 
year respecting private meetings was 
renewed, Henry Guthry being still bent 
on their entire suppression, to which 
others would not consent. By the wise 

* Extracted from a very interesting volume of jublic 
documents printed at the time. 



184 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VI 



and temperate management of Hender- 
son a peaceful settlement of this irritating 
topic was affected ; the Aberdeen act was 
consigned to oblivion, and a new act 
passed, giving sanction to all that pious 
private Christians could wish, and guard- 
ing against the dangers of abuses in their 
religious meetings. A communication 
was received from several ministers in 
England, requesting the opinion of the 
Assembly respecting Church govern- 
ment, especially with reference to the 
system of Independents, or, as it may be 
termed, the Congregational system. The 
Assembly, as might be expected, gave its 
approbation strongly in favour of the 
Presbyterian system. Following out the 
idea which had been suggested by the 
commissioners in London, Henderson 
nroposed to the Assembly the propriety 
of framing a full and systematic scheme 
of all things required in a regularly-con- 
stituted Church, namely a Confession of 
Faith, a Catechism, and a Directory for 
all parts of the public worship of God. 
The Assembly not only admitted the de- 
sirableness of such a measure, but as- 
signed the task of executing it to Hender- 
son himself, permitting him to retire from 
his pastoral duties, that he might devote 
his whole time and strength to the dis- 
charge of so important a duty, and em- 
powering him to call to his assistance 
such of his brethren as he knew to be 
most highly qualified.* 

One constitutional element was intro- 
duced by this Assembly, which has been 
productive of much good to the Church, 
and also of some harm. This was the 
appointment of a Commission of Assem- 
bly, empowered to finish the- business 
which the Assembly had not been able 
to accomplish during its regular sitting, 
to attend during the meeting of parliament, 
to visit the universities, and generally to 
attend to the welfare of the Church. 
This Commission was at first to consist 
of about forty ministers and sixteen elders; 
but subsequently it was so enlarged as to 
include all the members of Assembly, to 
have four regular meetings, with power 
to adjourn, and its quorum to amount to 
thirty-one, of whom twenty-one were to 
be ministers. 

King Charles had been no inattentive 
spectator of the respect shown to the 

* Baillie, vol. i. p. 365 



Scottish commissioners in London ; and 
he was perfectly aware that his discon- 
tented subjects in England hoped for sup- 
port from the Scottish army, should their 
disagreement with their sovereign pro- 
ceed to an open rupture, as it threatened 
to do. He formed, therefore, the resolu- 
tion to visit Scotland once more in person, 
and attempt either to disunite the Cove- 
nanters, or to prevent them from entering 
into a closer union with the English par 
liament. He had, on a former occasion, 
gained over Montrose, and he probably 
anticipated equal success with a consider- 
able number more of the ambitious Scot- 
tish nobility, if he were once among 
them. He had determined to act a part; 
but to such vigilant eyes as were around 
him it was too apparent that he was only 
acting. He was courteous to the Cove- 
nanters, almost to flattery. He lavished 
honours on those who had been in arms 
against him ; but he remained sternly 
unforgiving to Balmerino, whose life he 
had formerly sought. He was so eager 
to sign and ratify every act of parliament 
and Assembly, that he could scarcely be 
prevailed upon to give them a first curso- 
ry perusal. The Covenant was subscri- 
bed by the parliament openly, and with 
his majesty's consent ; and during the 
whole time of his residence in Scotland, 
the king conformed to the Presbyterian 
mode of worship, expressing no longing 
for the Liturgy. There was in all this 
too much compliance to argue full sin- 
cerity ; and the Covenanters had experi- 
enced too much of the unhappy king's 
dissimulation on former occasions, to be 
able at once to throw aside all suspicion. 
Even if they had, they must have been 
startled from credulous security, first by 
some slight indications of danger, and 
finally by one terrific and portentous event, 
enough to rouse and appal the most le- 
thargic. 

The Earl of Montrose was at that time 
a prisoner in Edinburgh, accused of a 
treacherous correspondence with the 
king. An alarm, known in history by 
the name of the " Incident," startled the 
capital with terror, and caused the sudden 
flight of Hamilton and Argyle from the 
apprehended danger of assassination.* 
And their souls were horrified by the in- 
telligence from Ireland, that the Papists 

* Burnet's Memoirs, p. 186. 



A- D. 1642.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



185 



had arisen in a body, and massacred 
countless thousands of the unsuspecting 
and defenceless Protestant inhabitants.* 
While their hearts were throbbing at the 
recital of the atrocious barbarities perpe- 
trated by Irish Papists, they could not 
forget, that on several previous attempts 
of insurrection by these deluded and 
blood-thirsty men, Charles had refused to 
proclaim their conduct rebellious : and 
yet that, when they in the most peaceful 
manner asserted their own religious free- 
dom, they were instantly proclaimed 
rebels, and orders issued for their destruc- 
tion by fire and sword. They cannot, 
therefore, be blamed, — they ought rather 
to be praised, — that while they accepted 
gladly their monarch's ratification of their 
religious liberties, they were not deluded 
by his " king-craft." 

When the king returned to London, 
he was assailed by the unwise complaints 
of the prelates, that his concessions to the 
Scottish Church had rendered the over- 
throw of Episcopacy almost inevitable in 
England also. At the same time the 
English parliament laid before him a 
statement of national grievances, which 
still more increased his dissatisfaction 
with their conduct and with his own. 
The jealousy between the king and the 
parliament had now reached that extreme 
point which the slightest increase would 
convert into avowed hostility. By that 
fatality which attended the whole of the 
royal and prelatic measures, the provoca- 
tion was given by the very parties who 
should have been most anxious to avoid 
it. The bishops left the House of Lords, 
on the pretext that they could not attend 
it with personal safety ; protesting, at the 
same time, that whatever legislative en- 
actments should take place in their ab- 
sence should be null and void. This 
was instantly resented by the Commons 
as a treasonable attempt to paralyze the 
government of the country, and throw the 
kingdom into anarchy. The king's al- 
most simultaneous attempt to seize forci- 
bly the persons of some of the leading 
members of parliament, completed the 
breach between him and them, and drove 
their quarrel to the dread arbitrament of 
war. In vain did the Scottish commis- 
sioners offer their mediation, and strive to 
procure an amicable adjustment of all 

* Burnet's Memoirs, p. 137; Baillie, vol. i. |. 396. 

24 



disputed points. Their mediation was 
rejected indignantly by the king, who re- 
garded them as in a great degree the 
prime movers of all these contests, by 
having set the example of successful re- 
sistance to his arbitrary will. 

The Covenanters had now a very dif- 
ficult part to act. Their loyalty to the 
king had never been shaken, even when 
in arms against his despotic attempts ; 
and they were unwilling to contribute to- 
wards overwhelming him in that struggle 
which he had himself provoked. At the 
same time, the contest in which the Eng- 
glish parliament was engaged bore so 
close a resemblance to their own, that 
their sympathies naturally flowed towards 
men contending for civil and religious 
liberty. An uneasy neutrality was all 
they could for a time determine to main- 
tain, watching anxiously the progress 
of events, and feeling deeply interested in 
both of the contending powers. 

[1642.] When the assembly met at St 
Andrews, on the 28th of July 1642, it 
began to be apparent that the political 
movements in England were about to in- 
volve Scotland also in the wild and mad- 
dening whirl of civil war. Both the 
king and the parliament addressed letters 
to the Assembly, each blaming the other 
for the fierce collision which had taken 
place, and both endeavouring to obtain 
the support of the Covenanters. The 
more wary of the leading men were 
averse from taking any precipitate step ; 
and the answers to these letters were 
written by Henderson in the most guarded 
terms. But there were others who were 
eager to encourage the English parlia- 
ment, regarding it but an act of gratitude 
to lend assistance to that body from whom 
they had obtained aid in their own hour 
of need. The General Assembly at this 
time, and for several subsequent years, 
manifested its sympathy for the distressed 
state of the Presbyterian Church in Ire- 
land, by sending ministers to that country 
to administer the ordinances of religion 
among the destitute congregations ; and 
from This time forward a warm recipro- 
cal attachment subsisted between the Pres- 
byterians of Scotland and Ireland, and a 
deep interest in each other's welfare, 
which recent circumstances have greatly 
strengthened. Little else of public mo- 
ment was transacted at this Assembly, 



186 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VI. 



with the exception of some discussion re- 
specting patronage, which the Church 
wished to modify, so far, at least, that the 
patron might not present whomsoever 
he pleased, but select one out of a list 
of six to be furnished to him by the pres- 
bytery. 

At a subsequent meeting of Commis- 
sion a communication was received from 
the English parliament, intimating their 
intention to call an assembly of divines, 
to deliberate respecting the formation of 
such a Confession of Faith, Catechism, 
and Directory, as might lead to the de- 
sired uniformity between the Churches 
of the two kingdoms, and requesting com- 
missioners from the Scottish Church to 
assist in their deliberations. Commis- 
sioners were nominated to be in readi- 
ness, but their departure was delayed till 
the English Assembly should actually 
meet, which, however, did not take place 
till the following year. 

Before the king left Scotland in 1641, 
he had empowered a semi-parliament, or 
convention of estates, to meet from time 
to time in Edinburgh, for the conserva- 
tion of the public peace ; and this con- 
vention naturally assumed the whole con- 
duct of public affairs. There had always 
been a considerable number of the nobili- 
ty strongly opposed to the Covenanters 
and devoted to the king, and several more 
had been gained to that side during his 
majesty's late visit. The consequence 
was, that party spirit divided all their de- 
liberations, and tended to drive them both 
to extremes. They ceased to consider 
whether they ought to remain in a state 
of neutrality during the war between the 
king and the parliament or not, and were 
only anxious to determine which party 
they should assist. In the meantime, the 
king had been generally successful in his 
military operations, and the parliament 
was reduced to a state of great danger. 
Had the Scottish army then joined the 
king, there can be little doubt that by 
their assistance he would speedily have 
reduced the insurgents to subjection. But 
the Covenant rs knew well that he would 
be no sooner placed firmly on his seat of 
power than he would trample them be- 
neath his feet and overthrow all the work 
of religious reformation which they had 
been toiling to erect. 

[1643] Such was the perilous state of 



public affairs, and such the views and 
feelings of the Covenanters, when vari- 
ous proofs of additional dangers came to 
light. A plot was discovered, in which 
the royalists were to have raised an army 
hi Scotland, to be headed by Hamilton 
and Montrose, and led to the assistance 
of the king. Another of a still more for- 
midable nature was also detected, from 
which it appeared that the king had en- 
tered into a combination with the perpe- 
trators of the recent fearful massacre in 
Ireland, for the purpose of inducing them 
to invade Scotland, effect a junction with 
the royalists there, suppress the Cove- 
nanters, and then advance into England, 
and assist him against the parliament * 
These discoveries alarmed the convention 
to such a degree, that they resolved to 
abandon their neutral ground, and enter 
into a treaty with the English parliament 
as soon as commissioners from it should 
arrive. 

The General Assembly met at Edin- 
burgh on the 2d of August ; and feeling 
that they were on the brink of another 
eventful crisis, they began by setting 
apart a day for solemn fasting and sup- 
plication for Divine guidance through the 
perils of such dark and troublous times. 
Henderson was again chosen moderator. 
After a few days spent in routine business, 
the English commissioners arrived, con- 
sisting partly of civilians to transact busi- 
ness with the Scottish convention, and 
partly of ministers to confer with the As- 
sembly. The result of these conferences 
was, the framing of that well-known bond 
of union between the two countries, The 
Solemn League and Covenant, — a doc- 
ument which we may be pardoned for 
terming the noblest, in its essential nature 
and principles, of all that are recorded 
among the international transactions of 
the world. It was written by Alexander 
Henderson, read by him to the Assembly 
on the 1 7th August, received and ap- 
proved of with emotions of the deepest 
solemnity and awe, with whispered 
prayers and thanksgivings and outgush- 
ing tears, then carried to the convention 
of estates, and by them unanimously rati- 
fied, f It was subsequently sent to Lon- 
don, where on the 25th of September, it 

* Baillie, vol. ii. pp. 73, 74. 
t Records of Church of Scotland, p. 253; Baillie vol. 
ii pp. 90, 95. 



A. D. 1613.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



187 



was accepted and subscribed by the Eng- 
lish parliament and the Westminster As- 
sembly of Divines. The Solemn League 
and Covenant bound the united kingdoms 
to endeavour the preservation of the re- 
formed religion in the. Church of Scot- 
land, in doctrine, worship, discipline, and 
government, and the reformation of reli- 
gion in the kingdoms of England and 
Ireland, according to the Word of God, 
and the example of the best-reformed 
Churches, — the extirpation of Popery and 
Prelacy, — the defence of the king's per- 
son, authority, and honour, — and the pre- 
servation and defence of the true religion 
and liberties of the kingdom in peace and 
unity. 

Perhaps no great international transac- 
tion has ever been so much misrepresent- 
ed and maligned as the Solemn League 
and Covenant. Even its defenders have 
often exposed it and its authors to severe 
censures by their unwise modes of de- 
fence. There can be no doubt in the 
mind of any intelligent and thoughtful 
man, that on it mainly rests, under Provi- 
dence, the noble structure of the British 
constitution. But for it, so far as man 
may judge, these kingdoms would have 
been placed beneath the deadening bond- 
age of absolute despotism ; and in the fate 
of Britain, the liberty and civilization of 
the world would have sustained a fatal 
paralyzing shock. This consideration 
alone might bid the statesman pause be- 
fore he ventures to condemn the Solemn 
League and Covenant. But to the Chris- 
tian we may suggest still loftier thoughts. 
The great principles of that sacred bond 
are those of the Bible itself. It may be 
that Britain was not then, and is not yet, 
in a fit state to receive them, and to make 
them her principles and rules of national 
government and law j but they are not 
on that account untrue, nor even imprac- 
ticable ; and the glorious predictions of 
inspired Scriptu re foretell a time when they 
will be more than realized, and when all 
the kingdoms of this earth shall become 
the kingdoms of Jehovah and of his 
Anointed, and all shall be united in one 
solemn league and covenant under the 
King of kings and Lord of lords. And 
though that time may be yet far distant, 
who may presume to say that the seem- 
ingly premature and ineffectual attempt 
to realize it by the heavenly-minded pa- 



triarchs of Scotland's Second Reformation 
was not the first faint struggling day- 
beam piercing the world's thick darkness, 
and revealing to the eye of faith an earn- 
est of the rising of the Sun of righteous- 
ness? True, the clouds soon darkened 
down and hid that herald day-beam ; but 
not less certainly does the day approach, 
although its dawning hour be shaded in 
the deepest gloom. A sacred principle 
was then infused into the heart of nations, 
which cannot perish ; a light then shone 
into the world's darkness, which cannot 
be extinguished ; and generations not re- 
mote may see that principle quickening 
and evolving in all its irresistible might, 
and that light bursting forth in its all- 
brightening glory. 

But we must not further pursue this 
line of thought, however attractive. An- 
other and a less delightful course of re- 
flection demands our notice. It has often 
been said, that the Covenanters were cir- 
cumvented by the English parliament, 
and were drawn into a league with men 
who meant only to employ them for their 
own purposes, and then either cast them 
off, or subdue them beneath a sterner 
sway than that of Charles. Were it even 
so, it might prove the treachery of the 
English, but would expose the Covenant- 
ers to no heavier accusation than that of 
unsuspecting simplicity of mind. They 
ought to have first ascertained, men say, 
what form of Church government Eng- 
land intended to adopt, before they had 
consented to the league. And yet the 
same accusers fiercely condemn the Scot- 
tish Covenanters for attemping to force 
their own Presbyterian forms upon the 
people of England. The former accusa- 
tion manifestly destroys the latter. That 
the Covenanters did not attempt to force 
Presbyterians upon England, is proved 
by the fact, that they entered into the 
league without any such specific stipula- 
tion ; and they sought no such stipulation, 
because it was contrary to their principles 
either to submit to force in matters of re- 
ligion, or to attempt using force against 
other free Christian men. It argues, 
therefore, ignorance both of their princi- 
ples and of their conduct, to bring against 
them an accusation so groundless and sc 
base. They consented to lend their aid 
to England in her day of peril, in which 
peril they were themselves involved : bu 



188 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VI. 



they left to England's assembled divines 
the grave and responsible task of reform- 
ing their own Church ; lending merely, 
as they were requested, the assistance of 
some of their own most learned, pious, 
and experienced ministers, to promote the 
great and holy enterprise. For that they 
have been and they will be blamed by 
witlings, sciolists, and infidel philoso- 
phers ; but what England's best and 
greatest men sought with earnest desire, 
and received with respect and gratitude, 
Scotland need never be ashamed that her 
venerable covenanted fathers did not de- 
cline to grant. 

Yet in one respect they did, in our 
opinion, err. They allowed their Solemn 
League to involve them too deeply in 
matters of a strictly civil character. This 
was, indeed, what England chiefly 
sought ; but the very fact that in their 
preliminary conferences the English com- 
missioners argued for a civil league alone, 
ought to have made the Scottish doubly 
wary of the dangers into which they 
might be drawn. Their best apology, 
however, consists in the fact, that they 
were compelled by stern necessity to save 
the civil liberties of England, or to incur 
the eminent hazard of losing speedily 
their own religious freedom. They had 
gained, by a long and arduous, but blood- 
less struggle, all for which they strove ; 
and they might naturally cherish the 
hope that the same result would crown 
the efforts of their English brethren. 
Thus were they, by necessity and hope, 
drawn into a new and more desperate 
contest, destined to have a very different 
termination, which their utmost efforts 
were not able to avert. Being once en- 
gaged in this new conflict, they were in- 
evitably borne along in the mighty move- 
ments of the more powerful nation, and 
made to share, with equal unwillingness, 
in its crimes and in its self-inflicted pun- 
ishment. And let it be carefully observed, 
that the difference between the conduct 
of the English parliament in the great 
civil war, and of the Covenanters, in their 
time of struggle, consisted in, and was 
caused by this, — that in England it was 
essentially a contest in defence, or for the 
assertion of civil liberty, — in Scotland for 
religious purity and freedom. In Eng- 
land, therefore, it was guided by a secu- 
lar principle, =nd permitted the free de- 



velopement of all the stormy passions that 
rage within the heart of striving and re- 
vengeful human nature ; in Scotland, it 
was governed, chastened, and even hal- 
lowed, by the controlling presence of a 
sacred principle, by which man's wrath 
was checked, subdued, or turned aside, 
till truth prevailed, and victory was 
crowned with peace. England's fierce 
wars for civil liberty laid her and her un- 
fortunate assistant prostrate beneath the 
feet of an iron-hearted usurper and des- 
pot. Scotland's calm and bloodless de- 
fence of religious purity and freedom se- 
cured to her those all-inestimable bless- 
ings, broke the chains of her powerful 
neighbour, revealed to mankind a princi- 
ple of universal truth and might, and 
poured into her own crushed heart a 
stream of life, sacred, immortal, and di- 
vine. 

As the very object for which the 
Solemn League and Covenant was 
framed was to secure the utmost practica- 
ble degree of uniformity in the religious 
worship of both countries, and as the Eng- 
lish divines had already met at West- 
minster to take the whole subject into the 
most deliberate consideration, and had re- 
quested the assistance of commissioners 
from the Church of Scotland, the General 
Assembly named some of the most emi- 
nent of their ministers and elders as com- 
missioners to the Westminster Assembly. 
These were, Alexander Henderson, Rob- 
ert Douglas, Robert Baillie, George 
Gillespie, and Samuel Rutherford, minis- 
ters : and the Earl of Cassilis, Lord Mait- 
land (afterwards Lauderdale), and Sir 
Archibald Johnston of Warriston, elders. 
It does not appear that either the Earl of 
Cassilis or Robert Douglas attended the 
Westminster Assembly during its pro- 
tracted labours ; but so efficient were the 
other commissioners, that their absence 
produced no injury to the cause of Pres- 
bytery. We have already briefly char- 
acterised Henderson, Baillie, and Gilles- 
pie ; and few need to be informed respect- 
ing the character of Rutherford, his well 
known " Letters" being in almost univer- 
sal circulation, and held in the highest 
esteem by all who are able to appreciate 
their merits. But even these " Letters" 
convey an inadequate view of that extra- 
ordinary man. His writings on the great 
controversial subjects of the period show 



A. D. 1613.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



189 



him to have been not only very learned, 
but also and especially to have been one 
of the deepest thinkers of that or any age. 
Many have asserted that his work called 
ts Lex Rex" is of anti-monarchical, and 
even democratic character; and on the 
strength of such an accusation it was con- 
demned and burnt by the sycophantic 
minions of Charles II. That it is opposed 
to despotism is very certain ; but it is as 
certain that it contains no principle con- 
trary to those embodied in the British 
constitution. Such principles, indeed, had 
not been then recognised and assented to 
by either kings or parliaments ; but if 
their statement by Rutherford was pre- 
mature, let it always be remembered that 
some person must sow the seed of which 
others may reap the fruit ; and it ill be- 
comes those who are practically enjoying 
what he theoretically maintained, to re- 
peat even yet the slanderous accusations 
uttered by the enemies of liberty against 
a work which they have not done them- 
selves the justice to peruse. 

It would lead us into what might seem 
a digression beyond our province, and 
certainly beyond our limits, to attempt 
any adequate account of the Westminster 
Assembly. As, however, it is intimately 
connected with the history of the Church 
of Scotland, we must very briefly give an 
outline of its character and proceedings. 
Before the arrival of the Scottish com- 
missioners, both the English parliament 
and the Westminster Assembly had de- 
termined on the abolition of Prelacy in 
the Church of England. It was also fully 
resolved, that a great reformation should 
take place in all religious matters ; but 
what form of Church government, and 
what rules of discipline should be adopted, 
were subjects on which the greatest dif- 
ferences of opinion prevailed. There 
were three great parties in the Westmin- 
ster Assembly: — First, the Erastians, 
who held that it belonged only to the 
civil magistrate to inflict church censures, 
as well as civil punishments ; and, gen- 
erally, that the civil magistrate is the 
proper head, the source and ruler of all 
power, ecclesiastical as well as civil. 
That party was active and vehement, but 
not numerous, consisting chiefly of law- 
yers, and only one or two ministers. 
Secondly, the Independents, who held that 
every individual congregation of Chris- 



tians has an entire and complete power 
of jurisdiction over its members in all re- 
ligious matters, to be exercised by its 
elders within itself, and by its own sole 
authority. These amounted to ten or 
twelve, and were men of considerable 
ability, and exceedingly pertinacious in 
maintaining their opinions. Thirdly, 
the Presbyterians, who formed the ma- 
jority of the Assembly, and generally 
coincided with the opinions of the Scot- 
tish commissioners. But as this latter 
party, though most numerous, was but in- 
differently acquainted with the Presbyte- 
rian polity, having little knowledge of 
any other than the Prelatic form of 
Church government, the task of explain- 
ing and vindicating Presbytery devolved 
chiefly upon the Scottish divines, who 
were admirably qualified for the impor- 
tant duty.* 

The first struggle in the Westminster 
Assembly was with the Erastians, and 
took place at the very commencement of 
their labours. In preparing for their 
great task, they had stated that, " in in- 
quiring after the officers belonging to the 
Church of the New Testament, we find 
that Christ, who is Priest, Prophet, King, 
and Head of the Church, hath fulness of 
power, and containeth all other offices by 
way of eminency in himself. He being 
ascended far above all heavens, and fill- 
ing all things, hath given all officers ne- 
cessary for the edification of his Church."f 
From this preface necessarily followed 
the proposition, that the government of 
the Church was distinct from that of the 
civil magistrate, — neither derived from 
it, nor subordinate to it. This the Eras- 
tians opposed ; but though they were 
easily defeated in the Assembly, they tri- 
umphed in the parliament, which, after 
many evasions, finally refused to sanc- 
tion that important proposition. The 
struggle with the Independents was of 
much longer duration. Many weeks 
were often expended in debating a single 
topic, for that party within the Assembly 
were in a state of intimate connection 
with the political Independents in the 
army, who dreaded nothing so much as 
the conclusion of the Assembly's labours, 
their possible ratification by the parlia- 
ment, and the consequent termination of 

* Baillie, passim. 
t Lightfoot, Pitman's edit., vol. xiii., p. 23 



190 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VL 



hostilities before their own schemes were 
ready for execution. We cannot prose- 
cute the task of tracing the intrigues of 
the Independents in the Assembly, in 
parliament, and in the army, but we may 
briefly state the result. They contrived 
to embarrass, retard, and overreach the 
Assembly, till they were able to subvert 
all its labours, so far as England was 
concerned ; they kept the parliament in 
a state of confusion and indecision with 
their intrigues, till they had the power to 
suppress it altogether ; and they contrived 
so to balance the king's obstinacy against 
both Assembly and parliament, as to par- 
alyze both him, and them, till having ob- 
tained the opportunity which they sought, 
they put the unhappy monarch to death, 
and placed the sceptre in the iron grasp 
of military despotism. 

There is one point on which an almost 
universal misunderstanding, to give it the 
most gentle designation, prevails. The 
Presbyterians are perpetually accused not 
only of wishing to force their peculiar 
ecclesiastical polity upon England, but 
also of such extreme intolerance, that 
they would not permit that liberty of 
conscience to others which they so 
strenuously demanded for themselves. In- 
to a full discussion ot this subject our 
limits will not permit us to enter ; but 
truth and duty compel us to offer a few 
remarks. It will be remembered that 
the Independents formed only a small 
minority in the Westminster Assembly, 
and consequently it was impossible that 
their form of Church government could 
obtain the sanction of that body. Find- 
ing their endeavours unsuccessful in the 
Assembly, they had recourse to political 
intrigues, and to give the most plausible 
aspect to their proceedings, they put forth 
a claim for general toleration of all forms 
and kinds of religious worship. Be it 
observed, that they became advocates of 
toleration only after they had failed in 
obtaining the ascendency of their own 
opinions. And to what did this tolera- 
tion amount 1 ? To the unrestrained 
license of every man, or knot of men, to 
utter sentiments in public, however 
blasphemous and revolting to reason 
and common sense ; and to practise, 
in the name of worship, immoralities 
and indecencies of a nature too gross 
to be men'ioned! That we do not 



characterise too strongly the tenets 
and conduct of the almost innumerable 
sects whom this plea of general toleration 
would have included, must be obvious to 
every person tolerably acquainted with 
the history of the period.* Against a 
toleration of this kind not only the Pres- 
byterians, but also the most respectable 
and religious of the Independents them- 
selves, strenuously protested. But the 
political party prevailed • the cry of to- 
leration was a specious war-cry ; and 
even to the present day is often raised by 
people in whose mouths it means mere, 
licentiousness. 

Allusion has already been made to a 
principle which accounts for the number 
of strange fanatical sects which appeared 
in England at this period. The prelatic 
Church of England had allowed the 
body of the community to remain in deep 
ignorance ; and when that Church was 
overthrown so suddenly, and nothing 
ready to supply its place, the people were 
left to follow all the wild and enthusias- 
tic fancies which such a time of intense 
excitement was certain to produce in 
strong but uncultivated minds. In Scot- 
land, on the other hand, the overthrow 
of Prelacy had no other effect than that 
of permitting the Presbyterian Church to 
put forth its native powers among a 
people by whom its principles were un- 
derstood and cherished, and its discipline 
beloved and revered. And notwithstand- 
ing all the calumnies which have been 
heaped upon our Presbyterian ancestors, 
it may be safely and most truly averred, 
that intolerance, in the right sense of the 
word, never was the characteristic of the 
Presbyterian Church. Expressions of a 
severe aspect against that toleration 
which included all kinds of blasphemous 
and immoral licentiousness, may be found 
in the writings of our fathers, and may 
be warped and misinterpreted by party 
writers ; and we may even admit that 
they were not at all times sufficiently 
guarded in their language ; but if any 
thing like a fair allowance be made for 
the spirit of the times, and the peculiar cir- 
cumstances amidst which they acted and 
wrote, they will stand completely vindi- 
cated from the charge of intolerance and 
spiritual despotism. 

* For a sufficient account of this subject, let the 
reader consult Edward's Gangrena. 



A. D. 1645.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



191 



[1644.] But we must leave the West- 
minster Assembly, and return to what 
more particularly concerns the Church of 
Scotland. The subscribing of the 
Solemn League and Covenant bound the 
' two kingdoms of England and Scotland 
by a mutual defensive bond, in all that re- 
garded religion, which both thus vowed 
to maintain. In consequence of this mu- 
tual league, the Scottish army again en- 
tered England, for the purpose of co- 
operating with that of the parliament. 
This took place on the 19th of January 
1644, under the command of General 
Leslie, now Earl of Leven, Lieutenant 
General Baillie, and Major-General 
David Leslie. A great change speedily 
took place in the state of affairs in Eng- 
land, the king being unable to make 
head against the combined armies. The 
course of the military operations which 
took place we do not intend to trace. It 
may, however, be stated, that the English 
parliament was warm or cold in its pro- 
fessions of regard to the Solemn League 
and Covenant, and to the uniformity of 
religion in the two kingdoms exactly in 
proportion to its need of Scotland's mili- 
tary aid ; * — proving completely what has 
been suggested, that the contest in Eng- 
land was chiefly waged for the sake of 
civil liberty, but in Scotland for the puri- 
iy and freedom of religion. 

Nothing of peculiar importance was 
transacted in the General Assembly which 
met at Edinburgh on the 31st of May 
1644. Its time was occupied chiefly with 
letters from the Scottish commissioners at 
Westminster, and from the English di- 
vines, and with returning answers to these 
,etters. A new presbytery was erected 
at Biggar ; the declaration of the Scot- 
tish royalist nobles at Oxford was cen- 
sured ; and some additional salutary acts 
were passed for the encouragement of 
learning, similar to those of former As- 
semblies. 

[1645,] The Assembly met on the 22d 
of January 1645, earlier than had been 
intended, on account of urgent business 
which demanded its attention. Baillie, 
Gillespie, and Warriston, had come to 
give an account of the progress made by 
the Westminster Assembly; and Mon- 
trose was spreading terror and devastation 
through the kingdom, which was com- 

* Baillie, passim. 



paratively defenceless, in consequence of 
its most experienced generals and best 
troops being in England. The report of 
the commissioners was received with 
great approbation, and the directory for 
public worship which they brought with 
them received the sanction of the Assem- 
bly. A very important act was passed 
for the advancement of learning, the 
principles and regulations of which re- 
flect great credit on the enlightened men 
by whom it was framed. Another very 
remarkable act was that entitled " A So- 
lemn and Seasonable Warning," &c, in 
which a clear and strong view is taken 
of the causes of the national disasters by 
which they were at that time agitated and 
alarmed. A remonstrance was also writ- 
ten, addressed to the king, in which the 
Assembly expressed the most earnest de- 
sire for peace on religious terms ; and let- 
ters were* sent to the Westminster As- 
sembly. 

All historians admit that the meteor- 
like career of Montrose was one of the 
causes of his sovereign's ruin. It gave 
the unfortunate king so much confidence 
in what he esteemed a propitious change 
in the aspect of his affairs, that he broke 
off negociations with his antagonists ; 
and it furnished another proof of the de- 
ceitful character of his whole dealings, 
endeavouring to keep them in terms of 
treaty till he might be able to overpower 
them. The career of Montrose, if what 
his admirers call brilliant, was but brief. 
He was surprised and defeated by David 
Leslie, at Philiphaugh, near Selkirk, on 
the 13th of September, and with his de- 
feat vanished the last hopes of Charles to 
re-establish his power by force of arms. 
With regard to the military achievements 
of Montrose, the barbarities which he 
perpetrated, and the retaliations alleged 
to have been committed by the army of 
the Covenanters, we do not think it ne- 
cessary to occupy space, further than to 
state, that while we have no sympathy 
with those who luxuriate over tales of 
wholesale butchery on the battle-field, and 
cities sacked amid all the nameless atro- 
cities of civil war, we have as little with 
those who either wail piteously over the 
death of the chief murderer, or exult in 
that melancholy fate which generally 
overtakes the bloody and deceitful man. 

[1646 ] The defeat of his own army 



192 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. Vt 



and of that of Montrose also, reduced the 
unhappy king to a state of desperation ; 
and after a few miserable months of irre- 
solution, he at last fled in disguise to the 
Scottish army, early in May 1646. Ru- 
mours had previously been spread that he 
might possibly take that very step, and 
the Covenanters were particularly anx- 
ious that he should not, foreseeing clear- 
ly the dangerous position into which it 
would throw them.* Soon after the 
king's arrival in the Scottish army they 
marched northwards to Newcastle, where 
they remained during the tedious nego- 
tiations which followed. The Scottish 
nobility, army, and nation in general, 
would most willingly have encountered 
every danger in his defence, if he could 
have been prevailed upon to ratify the 
Covenant. But the infatuated monarch 
remained obstinate ; and as they regarded 
the sanctity of an oath as more binding 
than the mere feelings of natural loyalty 
and affection to the person of their sove- 
reign, they felt themselves constrained to 
leave him to his fate. Yet they perceived 
both his danger and their own ; and in 
order to save him, if possible, Alexander 
Henderson left London and hastened to 
Newcastle, for the purpose of endeavor- 
ing to persuade the obstinate king to 
abandon his inveterate prejudices, sub- 
scribe the Covenant, and rally round him 
the brave hearts and strong arms of his 
faithful and unconquered Scottish subjects. 
Charles would not be persuaded. He 
was possessed by the idea, that neither of 
the contending parties could do without 
him, and consequently that, even though 
he had been beaten in the field, they must 
yield to him when they found that he 
would not yield to them. 

The English parliament sent proposi- 
tions to his majesty, by acceding to which 
he might obtain peace, and the restoration 
to a large measure of regal power ; but 
he would not accede to their propositions, 
any more than to the Scottish Covenant. 
Henderson, worn out with his many and 
arduous toils, and overwhelmed with af- 
fliction on account of the miseries which 
the infatuated king was so manifestly 
bringing upon himself and the kingdom, 
relinquished his hopeless task, returned to 
Edinburgh in a state of great weakness, 
and on the 19th of August yielded up 

* Baillie, vol. ii. p. 341. 



his spirit to Him who gave it. Thus 
passed away from earth one of those 
gifted men whom the Ruler of all events 
sends forth in time of great emergency, 
to mould the minds of his fellow-men, 
and aid in working out the will of the 
Most High. He was one of the most 
distinguished of an age fertile in great 
men ; and with all due veneration for the 
names of Knox and Melville, we do them 
no discredit when we place that of Hen- 
derson by their side, — the " first three" 
of the Church of Scotland's worthies. 

The General Assembly met at Edin- 
burgh on the 3d of June 1646. Its acts 
were neither numerous nor important, 
having reference chiefly to the troubled 
state of the kingdon, and to such acts of 
fasting, humiliation, and prayer, as might 
tend to avert the judgments of God from 
a guilty and suffering land. A short but 
respectful letter was sent to the king, ex- 
pressing the earnest wish that God would 
incline his majesty's heart to the speedy 
following of the counsels of truth and 
peace. 

For a short time there was calmness 
and silence in the kingdom, — not the si- 
lence of peace, but that of breathless ex- 
pectation. All men perceived that upon 
the determination of the king would de- 
pend the cessation of the struggle, or its 
fresh outburst into tenfold violence. The 
revolutionary party in England dreaded 
that his majesty might yield, and gradual- 
ly recover his power, limited undoubtedly, 
but rendered thereby the more secure. 
The Presbyterians hoped and prayed 
that he might submit so far as that with a 
safe conscience they might indulge their 
loyal feelings. The prelatists alone iden- 
tified his cause and their own, seeing no 
prospect of restoration to wealth and 
power unless he should regain unlimited 
ascendency. And the king knew well, 
that no other party but the prelatic would 
submit to that arbitrary prerogative which 
he was determined to forego only with 
his life. In vain did the Scottish' noble- 
men and ministers implore him with tears 
to subscribe the Covenant. He peremp- 
torily refused ; and as they could not de- 
fend him without incurring the fearful 
guilt of perjury, they were compelled to 
leave him to perish in his blind wilfulness. 

Into the controversy respecting the 
question whether the Scottish army was 



A. D. 1647 ] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



193 



induced to yield Charles to the English 
parliament by the payment of the arrears 
due to them, we do not enter, further than 
to say, that there is not, in our opinion, 
the slightest ground in genuine historical 
documents to prove that there was any, 
connection whatever between the receiv- 
ing of the arrears and the yielding up of 
the king ; while there is ample evidence, 
that Charles, having lost all hope of be- 
guiling the Scots into an act at once of 
perfidy and perjury, was himself desirous 
of attempting to negotiate separately with 
his English subjects, believing them to 
be more tractable. If there was infamy 
in the transaction, that infamy ought to 
rest solely and exclusively upon the Eng- 
lish parliament and army, who strained 
every nerve and employed every artifice 
to compel or delude their Scottish breth- 
ren into compliance with their pernicious 
schemes, and rested not till they had ad- 
ded to the guilt of a broken Covenant the 
murder of a dethroned king. 

(1647.] The General Assembly which 
met at Edinburgh on the 4th of August 
1647, is chiefly memorable for its ratifi- 
cation of the Confession of Faith of the 
W estminister Assembly of Divines, and 
for the adoption of that translation and 
metrical version of the Psalms which is 
still used in the Church of Scotland. 
This, therefore, may be regarded as the 
Assembly by which was completed the 
Second Reformation of the Scottish 
Church, and the full arrangement of its 
Confession, form of Worship and Disci- 
pline, as they exist at the present day, and 
as we trust they will ever exist, till the 
second coming of Him who is the only 
Head and King of the Church. Several 
important acts were passed by this As- 
sembly ; in particular, some very excel- 
lent directions for private worship, and an 
elaborate " Brotherly Exhortation" to 
their brethren of England. It may be 
added, that Gillepsie's able work, entitled 
" Aaron's Rod Blossoming," received the 
approbation of this Assembly ; and eight 
of its leading propositions were engrossed 
in one of the acts.* 

In the meantime, the unanimity which 
had given strength to Scotland in the 

" In that peculiarly acute and profound work will be 
found the very essence of the Westminster Assembly's 
most important discussions on the subject of church 
government, with the arguments employed against 
both the Erastians and the Independents, and answers 
to the most elaborate productions of their chief writers. 

25 



earlier stages of this great contest Degan 
to be rent asunder by political intrigues. 
Although the Covenanters had been 
compelled to abandon the king on ac- 
count of his impregnable obstinacy, they 
still cherished sentiments of devoted loy- 
alt}' to him as their sovereign, and a sin- 
cere attachment to monarchy, as, when 
duly limited, the best form of civil 
government. They deplored the king's 
willfulness ; they mourned the ruin 
which it was bringing on the whole 
country ; they remonstrated with the Eng- 
lish parliament, and did every thing to 
procure the safety of the king and the 
peace of the kingdom which it was in 
their power to do, short of violating their 
National Covenant. But the intrigues of 
the Hamilton ian party began to prevail 
in the Scottish parliament. Lauderdale 
joined them, regardless of his Covenant 
vow ; and even Loudon was for a time 
carried away in the tide of defection. 
The Duke of Hamilton was still the os- 
tensible head of the royalist party in 
Scotland ; but his brother the Earl of 
Lanark, surpassed him both in zeal and 
activity, and was the prime mover in all 
the intrigues of the party. At length, in 
a private interview with King Charles at 
Carisbrook Castle, in the Isle of Wight, 
on the 27th of December, a secret treaty 
was concluded, in which Lanark and 
Lauderdale, in the name of their party, 
engaged to raise an army in Scotland for 
the purpose of assisting his majesty in 
his attempts to regain possession of the 
English throne, — his majesty engaging,, 
on his part, to confirm Presbyterian 
church government for three years, till 
an assembly of divines, aided by twenty 
commissioners of his nomination, should 
frame such a form of Ghurch government 
and discipline as they should find to be 
most agreeable to the Word of God. 
He engaged also, that all schism and 
heresy should be effectually suppressed. 
This private treaty, known by the name 
of the Engagement, caused the overthrow 
of the Church and kingdom of Scot 
land.* 

[1648.} Early in 1648 the rumour of 
the Engagement began to transpire in 
Scotland ; and when the parliament met 
in March, and the terms of this private 
treaty were divulged, a vehement disunit- 

* Burnet's Memoirs, p. 334. 



194 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 



ICHAP. VI. 



ing struggle began. The faithful Cove- 
nanters perceived at once, that the En- 
gagement involved the violation of their 
most solemn vows. The Commission of 
the Church immediately met. and de- 
liberated what steps ought to be taken in 
this new crisis. They did not deliberate 
long. They felt the deep power of the 
Covenant upon their souls too mighty 
for any earthly consideration to shake ; 
and, accordingly they framed a declara- 
tion, pointing out the sinfulness of an 
Engagement which involved direct per- 
jury, and must draw down the Divine 
displeasure on both Church and State. 
But the purely political or royalist party 
had obtained the ascendency in the par- 
liament ; and the earnest remonstrances 
of the sincere Covenanters were disre- 
garded. The arguments of the minis- 
ters confirmed those of the nobility who 
regarded religion as of more importance 
than any earthly consideration, and 
brought back some whom political and 
personal motives had led astray, among 
whom was the Earl of Loudon ; but the 
majority held on their course, and deter- 
mined to fulfill the Engagement to the 
utmost of their power. 

The Assembly met at Edinburgh on 
me 12th of July, and made choice of 
George Gillespie to be moderator. They 
not only approved of the declaration and 
other similar writings of the Commission, 
but passed an act condemnatory of that 
act and declaration of the parliament 
which enjoined all subjects to subcribe a 
bond, equivalent to an oath, in support 
of the Engagement. They further pub- 
lished a declaration and exhortation to 
all members of the Church of Scotland, 
pointing out the unlawfulness of the En- 
gagement, and warning against the dan- 
gers in which it would certainly involve 
the Church and nation. An able an- 
swer was also written to the committee of 
estates, proving by scriptural arguments 
that the Engagement was inconsistent 
with the safety and security of religion. 
And, as the Hamiltonian faction was 
well aw r are of the power which the 
Church had recently put forth, when it 
raised the kingdom like one man for the 
defence of religious liberty, they employed 
every artifice to bring as many ministers 
as possible to their side, by that means 
either to procure support or to neutralize 



opposition. To meet this dangerous 
divisive policy, the Assembly passed an 
act censuring those ministers" who either 
favoured the Engagement openly, or ab- 
stained from pointing out its sinfulness, 
and warning their people against enter- 
ing its bond. A respectful but firm sup- 
plication was also written to his majesty 
showing the insufficiency of the conces- 
sions promised by him in the Engage- 
ment, and its positive sinfulness, as tend- 
ing to involve the kingdom in perjury ; 
and imploring him to comply with the 
Covenant, and thereby enable them, 
with a safe conscience, tG give him that 
support which their sincere loyalty and 
affection prompted them to bestow so far 
as their duty to God would permit.* 

From this time forward Scotland pre- 
sented a melancholy contrast to the ten 
preceding years, in which strict adher- 
ence to the Covenant had given it union 
and strength irresistible. It was now di- 
vided into three contending parties. 
First, the sincere Covenanters, led in the 
parliament by Argyle and Loudon, and 
in the Church by Rutherford and Gilles- 
pie ; second, the framers of the Engage- 
ment, led by Hamilton, Lanark, and 
Lauderdale, who wished to take an in- 
termediate position, and who were joined 
by a considerable number of the minis- 
ters, of whom Baillie was the most res- 
pectable. The third party was headed 
by Traquair and Callender, and was 
composed chiefly of those who were de- 
termined royalists of the cavalier caste, 
and paid little respect to either oaths or 
treaties, provided they could get their 
purposes accomplished. The two latter 
parties were easily induced to coalesce, 
and their junction gave them a decided 
preponderance in the political councils of 
the nation. That the genuine Covenant- 
ers could not unite with such men, will 
excite neither wonder nor surprise in the 
minds of those who are able to appreci- 
ate their principles ; and that the chiefs 
of the Engagement should attempt to 
overwhelm them by invectives, and try 
to represent them as seditious and fanati- 
cal, is only what was to be expected. 
But that men can yet be found to repeat 
such slanderous calumnies, might appear 
incredible, were it not matter of daily oc- 
currence. 

* Records of the Church of Scotland, pp. 497-508, 518 



A. D. 1649.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



195 



They were, and are, accused of an un- 
warranted- and intolerable interference 
with civil matters, with which the church- 
men of them at least had nothing to do. 
But was not the whole struggle of that 
memorable period expressly on account 
of religion % Had it not been from the 
first a religious contest on both sides ? 
And was not their bond of union strictly 
a religious covenant % Nay, the Hamil- 
tonian party sought to inveigle the minis- 
ters into approbation of the Engagement, 
finding no fault with their intermeddling 
with such matters, provided they would 
support that measure ; and when the 
ministers could neither be deceived nor 
overawed, but continued steadfastly to 
adhere to their solemn vows, warning 
others of the guilt and danger of perjury, 
then only were they accused of overstep- 
ping their province, and interfering with 
what was beyond their jurisdiction. Pol- 
iticians have in all ages and countries 
shown themselves willing- enough to em- 
ploy and praise the ministers of religion, 
provided they would act as sycophants 
and tools ; but when they act as the vi- 
gilant watchmen of sacred rights, warn- 
ing the nation of coming danger, then 
they are exposed to the most virulent and 
vituperative censure ; then are they 
charged with arrogant presumption in of- 
fering their opinions on those public 
measures which essentially affect the in- 
terests of religion ; then they are branded 
as men who wish to subvert the order of 
society, and bring the State into subser- 
viency to the Church. So was it in the 
days of our ancestors, — so is it now — 
and so will it ever be, as long as there is 
need for the Christian precept, f£ Be not 
conformed to the world." 

One of the direct results of this divis- 
ion between the Covenanters and the 
mere politicians, was the necessity of ap- 
pointing new commanders to the hastily- 
levied and ill-equipped army of the En- 
gagers ; for neither the Earl of Leven 
nor David Leslie would abandon the 
Covenant. The Duke of Hamilton, 
therefore, was made general. — led his 
army into England, — was defeated by 
Cromwell, — and died on the scaffold, — 
the unhappy victim of ill-judging devo- 
tion to his sovereign's person rather than 
his cause* Even before the army of the 

• Burnet's Memoirs, p. 400; Ibid., pp. 367, 375. 



Engagers had left Scotland, there were 
symptoms of insurrection among the 
people, who, refusing to join the En 
gagement, were severely harassed by 
those employed to levy troops. A small 
band of insurgents assembled at Mauch- 
line, but were easily suppressed by Mid- 
dleton. As soon as the tidings of Hamil- 
ton's defeat reached Scotland, the oppo- 
nents of the Engagement assembled, as- 
sumed arms, and, led by the Marquis of 
Argyle and the Earls of Cassilis, Eglin- 
ton, and Loudon, advanced towards Ed- 
inburgh in such strength as the remain- 
ing Engagers could not hrne successfully 
to resist. By this, termea A he Whiga- 
more's Raid, a complete change of ad- 
ministration was effected, and the Cove- 
nanters acquired the ascendancy in the 
Scottish parliament. The new adminis- 
tration easily convinced Cromwell that 
they were in no respect accessory to the 

j Engagement which had caused the inva- 
sion of England by the Scottish army ; 
and thus hostilities between them and 
that remarkable man were for the time 

I averted. 

[1649.] The Scottish parliament met 
on the 4th of January 1649, and pro- 

I ceeded to take steps for the peace and se- 
curity of the kingdom. One of these 
was of a very stringent nature, and has 
been much censured. It was obvious to 

I all, that the late Engagement could not 
have been framed if all men in power 
had been Covenanters, and had remained 
true to their vows. While therefore, the 
new parliament repealed all the acts that 
had been made for its enforcement, and 
ratified the protestation against it, this 
was naturally followed by the idea, that 
unless men of such principles were ex- 
cluded from places of public trust and 
influence, the very same evil might at no 
distant date return. An act was accord- 
ingly passed, called the Act of Classes, 
on account of its dividing into four sep- 
arate classes, according to their respective 
degrees of delinquency, the characters ot 
persons not to be intrusted with power. 
Men will term this act one of bigotry 
and intolerance : it evidently aimed at the 
construction of what the world has never 
yet seen, — a Christian government, com- 
posed of men whose idling principle 
should be to " fear God and honour the 
king-." 



196 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VI, 



While this parliament was sitting, they 
received intelligence that the English 
parliament, now moulded according to 
the mind of the army, was about to pro- 
ceed with the trial of King Charles. 
The most strenuous exertions were made 
by the truly loyal Covenanters to pre- 
vent the fearful event in which a trial by 
such men would too surely issue. But 
all their endeavours were in vain ; and 
the English parliament, having first bro- 
ken the Solemn League and Covenant, 
consummated their guilt by the decapita- 
tion of their king. It is impossible not to 
deplore the fate of that unfortunate, ill- 
advised, and obstinate monarch ; but it 
is as impossible to deny that his insin- 
cerity and double-dealing caused his over- 
throw and death. For when, by the dis- 
covery of private correspondence, it was 
clearly proved, that in the very act of 
framing treaties he was devising schemes 
for setting them aside, it became plain to 
his antagonists that they must ultimately 
become the victims of a monarch whom 
no treaties could bind, unless they secured 
their own lives by the death of their im- 
placable foe. 

The leaders of the English parlia- 
ment and army were, besides, men of re- 
publican principles, and desired the abo- 
lition of the monarchy itself. Not so the 
Scottish Covenanters. They, even by the 
terms of their Covenant, were the vowed 
supporters of a monarchy based upon 
and pervaded throughout by Scripture 
principles. No sooner, theretore, did they 
receive the melancholy intelligence of 
their sovereign's death, than they has- 
tened to proclaim his son king, by the de- 
signation of Charles II. ; not omitting, 
however, in their proclamation, the sig- 
nificant intimation that their support of 
his pretensions to the throne would in- 
volve the necessity of his subscribing the 
Covenant. This proclamation was made 
on the 5th of February. At the same 
time, the Confession of Faith was for- 
mally ratified bv parliament. 

On the 9th of March 1649, the Scot- 
tish parliament passed an act abolishing 
patronage in the Church of Scotland, 

as being unlawful and unwarrantable 
oy the Word of God, and contrary to 
the doctrines and liberties of this 
Church ;" recommending to the General 
Assembly to determine upon a settled 



rule for the appointment of ministers for 
all time coming.* It will be observed, 
that in this instance the parliament acted 
according to the dictates of sound reason 
and constitutional principle. So far as pa- 
tronage was considered as a civil right, 
it was for the civil power to restrict or 
abolish it ; but as the appointment of 
ministers was clearly an ecclesiastical 
matter, it was not for parliament to inter- 
fere with it, but merely to call on the 
Assembly to state its own method, and 
then give to that such civil ratification as. 
should carry with it the civil consequen 
ces which it involved. And it was a par 
liament composed almost wholly of Cov 
enanters, by which this truly liberal and 
enlightened act was passed. 

The General Assembly met at Edin- 
burgh on the 7th of July 1649. This 
Assembly emitted several able declara- 
tions respecting the religious affairs of 
the kingdom, the prevailing errors and 
abuses, and the best methods of promo- 
ting and maintaining peace, righteous- 
ness, and purity, which are the essential 
elements of national welfare. A letter 
was also addressed to the young king, 
who was still on the Continent, warning 
him earnestly against listening to the 
evil council of those who had already 
plunged the kingdom into the horrors of 
war, and beseeching him to sanction those 
great National Covenants, which would 
open the door for him to enter upon his 
royal government with the favour of God 
and the cordial love of his faithful and 
loyal subjects. Another act was passed 
regarding the reception, on proof of re- 
pentance, of those who had been sus- 
pended from church privileges on ac- 
count of their connection with the En- 
gagement, and generally of all those 
who, from prelatic and despotic predilec- 
tions, had opposed the Covenant, and 
were known by the designation of " rna- 
lignants," by which was meant, persons 
ill-affected towards the progress of reli- 
gious reformation. Then taking up the 
subject of the appointment of ministers, 
according to the request of the parlia- 
ment, the Assembly passed an act, enti- 
tled " Directory for the Election of Min- 
isters.' The chief points of that direc- 
tory are, that the session, which at that 
time was elected by the congregation, 

* Acts of Parliament, see Appendix. 



A. D. 1650.] HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



197 



should elect a minister, and intimate their 
election to the congregation for their ap- 
probation. If they consented, the pres- 
bytery were to proceed to the trial of his 
qualifications ; if a majority dissented, 
the presbytery were to judge of the same, 
and, unless they found the dissent to be 
founded on causeless prejudices, another 
election was to take place ; but if a mi- 
nority dissented, without being able to 
verify their ground of objection, the trials 
and ordination should proceed, all possi- 
ble diligence and tenderness being used 
to bring all parties to a harmonious 
agreement. In the case of a disaffected 
or malignant congregation, the presby- 
tery was to provide them with a minister.* 
It will be seen at a glance, that this well- 
known act was in perfect harmony with 
the constitutional principles of the Church 
of Scotland, as contained in the writings 
and declarations of the early fathers of 
the First Reformation, and in the First 
and Second Books of Discipline ; and as 
by its means they were now finally 
brought into full developement and free 
operation, it formed the concluding act of 
the completed Second Reformation. 

The Church of Scotland may now be 
said to have reached mature organiza- 
tion, but it was a period when the whole 
kingdom was so completely filled with 
elements of strife, threatening an imme- 
diate and tremendous convulsion, that it 
could not obtain one peaceful day in 
which to exhibit the free movements of 
its graceful and majestic form. Yet it 
was well — it was providential — that it had 
obtained this full developement before it 
was assailed by that terrific storm which 
smote it to the earth, and by which, at an 
earlier stage of its existence, it might 
have been utterly destroyed. All its vi- 
tal powers were now called into native 
operation ; all its arrangements were 
completed ; and it might have been ex- 
pected that it was about to enter on a glo- 
rious career of pure, faithful, and ener- 
getic zeal, in establishing the reign of 
religion in the hearts of the entire com- 
munity. But the kingdom of Christ has 
ever been a suffering kingdom ; and it 
may be, that when a church has most 
nearly realized the character and aspect 
of the true gospel Church, then is its 
hour at hand, not of triumph, but of 

* Acts of Assembly, see Appendii 



sharpest and most fiery trial. It may be 
further remarked, that by this time sev- 
eral of the great men who had been 
chiefly instrumental in effecting the Sec- 
ond Reformation, had been called to 
their final rest. After the death of Hen- 
derson, Gillespie was the man of great- 
est influence ; but he, too, died in De- 
cember 1648. Baillie was not only timid 
and wavering, but naturally inclined to 
follow the guidance of men of worldly 
rank and power, and to sacrifice princi- 
ple at the call of what he deemed expedi- 
ency. Rutherford did not possess that 
cast of mind requisite for the manage- 
ment of great affairs in times of difficulty. 
Robert Douglas appears to have been 
the fittest man to have led the councils of 
the Church ; but he was deficient in pen- 
etration, confided too easily in other men, 
and did not sufficiently follow the dictates 
of his usual sound judgment. James 
Guthrie and Patrick Gillespie were both 
men of great abilities and decided piety j 
but both were somewhat too impetuous 
in temper, and liable to speak and act 
with injudicious rashness, more likely to 
lead the Church into additional dangers 
than to extricate her from those with 
which she was already surrounded. In 
these adverse circumstances, the Church 
was left to encounter her long and fiery 
trial, that both her endurance and her 
preservation might be manifestly the re- 
sult, not of man's wisdom, but of the im- 
perishable life infused into her by her 
Divine Head. 

[1650.1 Commissioners had been sent 
to Holland in the preceding year, to treat 
with Charles II., but had returned with- 
out coming to any satisfactory conclusion. 
Early in the year 1650, the parliament 
again sent commissioners to Breda, where 
the young king at that time w T as, once 
more to enter into negotiations with him 
on the foundation of the Covenant. The 
commissioners found Charles surrounded 
with dissolute and unprincipled men, 
likely enough to lead him into evil, had 
he not been inclined, or to strengthen 
those evil inclinations which were already 
but too apparent in his whole conduct 
and character. He was at that very 
time listening to the sanguinary councils 
of Montrose, by whose means he hoped 
to gain Scotland, without any treaty, the 
terms of which might hamper his future 



198 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VI, 



proceedings. The intelligence of Mon- 
trose's defeat and capture reached him in 
time to induce him to comply with the 
requirements of the Scottish parliament, 
though not till he had convinced the 
more faithful of them that there was no- 
thing to be expected from him but dupli- 
city and gross licentiousness. Living- 
stone, who was one of the commissioners 
from the Church, gives us ample proof 
that Charles had broken the treaty, both 
in its spirit and its letter, even before he 
left Breda.* Indeed, the treaty might 
justly have been declared null by the 
cottish parliament. In the capture of 
Montrose a commission was found from 
the king, giving him authority to levy 
troops, and subdue the kingdom by force 
of arms ; and so highly did the parlia- 
ment resent this treachery, that they sent 
to recall their commissioners ; but the one 
into whose hands this document fell con- 
cealed it from the rest, and by showing it 
privately to the king, convinced him that 
he could no longer safely temporize. He 
accordingly hurried on board, and set sail 
for Scotland in company with the commis- 
sioners, bringing with him also a number 
of the very men whom the Act of Classes 
had declared incapable of public trust. 
Before he landed, Charles subscribed the 
Solemn League and Covenant ; although 
Livingstone, who doubted his sincerity, 
was anxious that it should be postponed 
till his majesty should reach Scotland, 
and give some satisfactory proofs of his 
sincerity. The young king landed on 
the 16th of June 1650, near the mouth 
of the river Spey, and advanced to Stir- 
ling, where he was met by the chief no- 
bility of the kingdom. 

But instead of producing peace and 
unanimity in Scotland, the arrival of 
Charles was a signal for the instantane- 
ous outburst of strife and confusion. His 
loose, licentious habits, and depraved 
heart, were not likely to conciliate the 
affections and respect of the Covenanters ; 
while he could not brook what he re- 
garded as the unnecessary strictness of 
their opinions and manners. And al- 
though he complied with all the stipula- 
tions of the parliament, and affected re- 
gard for the ministers, it was but too 
apparent to all men of penetration that he 
both hated and despised all the best men of 

* Life of Livingstone, pp. 31-36. 



the kingdom. In the meanwhile the As- 
sembly met at Edinburgh in July ; bu 
its records have not been published. We 
learn, however, from other sources, tha 
great dissatisfaction was expressed by the 
more zealous of the ministers with the 
whole behaviour of Charles, both in his 
deceitful conduct towards the commis- 
sioners at Breda, and since his arrival in 
Scotland. A commission was appointed 
to deal with those who had taken part 
with Montrose, and several ministers 
were deposed for that and similar of- 
fences. The proceedings of this Assem- 
bly were interrupted by the approach of 
Cromwell, who was advancing at the 
head of a veteran army, to expel the 
young king. 

Charles now thought it was necessary 
to give greater satisfaction to the Church, 
in order to procure a more cordial and 
universal support. But the mode of doing 
so led to a complete and deplorable fail- 
ure. He was advised to make a new 
declaration, such as should satisfy the 
desires of ihe most scrupulous. This 
advice was given both by his secular 
friends, and by the wary and semi-politi- 
cal party in the Church. In this declara- 
tion, subscribed by the king in August at 
Dunfermline, Charles avowed that he 
renounced Popery and Prelacy, and 
" would have no enemies but the enemies 
of the Covenant, — no friends but the 
friends of the Covenant." Patrick Gil- 
lespie requested the king " not to sub- 
scribe that declaration, no, not for the 
three kingdoms, if he were not satisfied 
in his soul and conscience, beyond all 
hesitation, of its righteousness." " Mr. 
Gillespie, Mr. Gillespie," answered the 
king, " I am satisfied, I am satisfied, and 
therefore will subscribe."* This ample 
declaration produced an effect directly 
the reverse of that anticipated by its 
worldly-wise advisers. Instead of com- 
pletely satisfying the scrupulous, it con 
firmed their suspicions of the king's sin 
cerity. This men 01 the world stigma- 
tize as intolerant and narrow-minded 
distrust, but in worldly transactions they 
act upon the same principle. Is there 
anything which more certainly awakens 
suspicion of a man's sincerity than his 
strong and vehement professions of zeal- 
ous friendship to a person or cause to 

• Cruickshank, p. 58 ; Hind let Loose, p. 98. 



A. D. 1650.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



199 



which his whole previous conduct and 
his known sentiments have been de- 
cidedly hostile 1 So thought and felt the 
more scrupulous ministers ; and, as rea- 
son perceives, and subsequent events tes- 
tified, they thought and felt rightly. 

The explanation of the whole matter 
may be briefly stated. There were then, 
as there always have been, two great par- 
ties of public men ; the one composed of 
those who judge and act according to 
principle; the other, of those who are 
guided by expediency. The first, led by 
P. Gillespie, J. Guthrie, S. Rutherford, 
and Warriston, were anxious not to press 
the king to the subscription of the Cove- 
nant till they should have some evidence 
that he was in such a state of mind as 
might render it in him indeed a religious 
act, correspondent to the nature of the 
solemn obligation which it involved. Till 
that time they were perfectly willing that 
he should be their king ; but should re- 
main as much as possible aloof from all 
intercourse with profane and irreligious 
men. The other party thought it inex- 
pedient to be so strict. They considered it 
enough if the king should subscribe the 
Covenant literally, however little his 
mind might be accordant with its spirit ; 
not, apparently, perceiving, that this 
would be an act of profane impiety, to 
which they could not hope the blessing 
of God to be given. Their worldly pru- 
dence suggested to them the absolute 
necessity of a complete national union, to 
resist the formidable invasion of the 
dreaded Cromwell ; but they failed to 
perceive, that a union not of principle, 
but of compromise, can never be firm and 
permanent. They were willing to tam- 
per with the sacred n ess of an oath, in 
order to frame a political bond ; and by 
this unhallowed expedient they forfeited 
the protection of Him whose Covenant 
they thus profaned. They ought to 
have remembered that the Covenant 
of 1638, which had proved an ark of 
safety in a not less stormy sea of troubles, 
was sacredly guarded, as far as possible, 
from being subscribed by any of whose 
purity of character and devotion to the 
cause suspicions were entertained. The 
one party, in short, viewed all political 
and national transactions through the clear 
medium of religion, and therefore saw 
them in their true character and aspect : 



the other viewed religion itself through 
the turbid and warping medium of politi- 
cal expediency, and therefore saw neither 
religion nor politics in their true nature, 
bearing, value, and reciprocal influences. 
It may be that the strictly religious party 
were too rigidly severe ; but unquestion- 
ably their error was immeasurably less 
than that of those who, following the sug- 
gestions of short-sighted human policy, 
urged upon the king an oath, which for 
him to take was perjury in the very act, 
and the inevitable consequences of which 
were an impious mockery of Heaven, 
and the putting of power into the hands 
of men by whom it was certain to be 
abused. 

When Cromwell approached Edin- 
burgh he was confronted by the Scottish 
army under the command of David Les- 
lie ; and so skilful were the movements 
of Leslie, that Cromwell found it impossi- 
ble either to draw him to a battle, or to 
produce any impression on his lines. 
The English general was constrained to 
retire, and was placed in the utmost peril 
by the masterly position taken up by the 
Scottish army near Dunbar. But urged 
by the importunities of the committee of 
estates, Leslie descended from his com- 
manding position ; and before his army 
had recovered from the confusion of this 
ill-timed movement, it was assailed by 
Cromwell, thrown into disorder and com- 
pletely routed. This disastrous battle 
was fought on the 3d of September 1650. 

The shattered Scottish army rallied at 
Stirling, while Cromwell advanced deli- 
berately, securing his conquest as he 
moved. Soon after this disastrous con- 
flict a measure was proposed in the Scot- 
tish parliament, which had the effect of 
completely rending asunder the strength 
of the kingdom. This was the proposal 
to modify or rescind the Act of Classes, 
so as to admit to the army those who had 
been by that act declared incapable of 
public service, and by that means to re- 
pair the loss incurred by the battle of 
Dunbar. The difficulty was to procure 
the consent of the Church to this repeal ; 
for since many of the malignants, as they 
were termed, had been excommunicated, 
and since, by the law of the land, no ex- 
communicated person could be employed 
in public service, it was necessary to have 
the excommunication taken off before the 



200 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. vi. 



parliament could grant them re-admis- 
sion. But the Church was by no means 
satisfied that such men would form any 
real accession of strength, though they 
would swell the numerical forces of the 
kingdom. About the same time a consi- 
derable body of troops was raised in the 
western counties, composed chiefly of 
men whose opinions coincided with those 
of the strictly religious Covenanters. A 
long and pointed remonstrance, written 
by P. Gillespie, was addressed by them 
to the committee of estates, censuring their 
rashness in admitting the king to dese- 
crate the Covenant by swearing contrary 
to his known intentions — u teaching his 
majesty dissimulation and outward com- 
pliance, rather than any cordial conjunc- 
tion with the cause and covenants ;" and 
charging this and similar violations of 
their vows as the cause of the nation's 
heavy calamities. This western remon- 
strance gave great offence to the prudent 
politicians of both Church and State. 
A meeting of the committee of estates 
soon afterwards, at Stirling, was induced 
to censure this remonstrance ; and in 
December, at Perth, an ensnaring ques- 
tion was put to a very thin meeting of 
the Commission of Assembly, respecting 
what persons should be permitted to rise 
in arms and join the forces of the king- 
dom against the invaders. In answer to 
this, the Commission passed two resolu- 
tions favourable to the admission of all 
fencible persons in a time of such great 
and evident necessity, with the exception 
of excommunicated and profane persons, 
and of such as were professed enemies 
and opponents of the Covenant. Instantly 
the parliament, without regarding the ex- 
ceptions, passed an act rescinding the Act 
of Classes, and throwing open all places 
of public trust and power to the malig- 
nants, upon their making such profes- 
sions of regret for past misconduct as 
such persons made no scruple of doing, 
without entertaining the remotest inten- 
tion of any change for the future.* 

These resolutions were openly con- 
demned by J. Guthrie and his colleague 
David Bennet, both from the pulpit and 
in a letter to the Commission, in which 
they protested against the recent resolu- 
tions, which were, in their view, a sinful 
junction with the malignants. From 

* Balfour's Annates. 



j this time forward the two parties in the 
Church were known by the names of 
Resolutioners and Protesters ; the former 
being those who were carried away by 
secular and prudential views of expe- 
diency ; the latter, the uncompromising 
adherents of the Covenant. Many of the 
Resolutioners were men of great piety 
and worth, but somewhat deficient in 
firmness and decision of character ; lovers 
of peace to such an extent, as to be will- 
ing to sacrifice some of their own princi- 
ples for its attainment. Of these David 
Dickson was one but some years after- 
wards, when the perfidy of Charles and 
the malignants had become evident, he, 
on his death-bed, acknowledged , is error, 
and admitted thai the Protesters had seen 
these matters in a truer light than the 
Resolutioners had done. On the other 
hand, there is reason to believe that the 
Protesters injured their own good cause 
by the somewhat intemperate vehemence 
of this proceedings. 

[1 65 1 .] The repeal of the Act of Classes 
had greatly increased the number of the 
adherents of Charles ; and it was deter- 
mined to delay his coronation no longer. 
Accordingly he was publicly crowned at 
Scoon on the 1st of January 1651. A 
sermon was preached before the cere- 
mony by Robert Douglas ; and the crown 
was placed upon his head by the Mar- 
quis of Argyle. The National Covenant 
and the Solemn League and Covenant 
were then read, and the king solemnly 
swore to observe and keep them both. 
The oath to defend and support the 
Church of Scotland was then adminis- 
tered to him ; and kneeling and holding 
up his right hand, he uttered the follow- 
ing awful vow : " By the Eternal and 
Almighty God, who liveth and reigneth 
for ever, I shall observe and keep all 
that is contained in this oath I" 

Following up their policy, they endea- 
voured to suppress all opposition ; and 
ordered Guthrie and Bennet to repair to 
Perth, and answer to the king and the 
committee of estates for their having 
dared to preach «against the resolutions, 
and for their letter to the Commission. 
They appeared ; but it was to give in a 
declinature of his majesty and the council 
as proper judges of doctrine and of the 
discharge of duties strictly ministerial. 
They were restricted to Perth and Dun- 



A. D. 1653.] HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 201 



dee for a short time ; but however will- 
ing to wound, their antagonists were as 
yet afraid to strike, and the prosecution 
was allowed to drop.* 

An Assembly was appointed to meet at 
St. Andrews in July, whence it was trans- 
ferred to Dundee ; but intimation was at 
the same time given, that all who were 
not satisfied with the resolutions should 
be cited to the General Assembly, as lia- 
ble to censure. This rendered the Pro- 
testers incapable of being members, was a 
virtual prejudging of the question between 
them and their brethren, and completely 
vitiated the character of the Assembly as 
a deliberate body. Against this course 
of procedure the Protesters again pro- 
tested, denying the freedom and lawful- 
ness of the Assembly itself. For this, 
James Guthrie, Patrick Gillespie, and 
James Simpson were deposed ; but, pro- 
testing against this sentence, they con- 
tinued to discharge their ministerial func- 
tions.! 

The small western army was sup- 
pressed by Cromwell without difficulty ; 
and Strachan, one of its leaders, a man 
of unstable mind, joined the usurper. 
While in Glasgow, Cromwell attended the 
churches of some of the Presbyterian 
ministers, who did not hesitate to pray for 
the king, and to term the protector a 
usurper to his face. Some of his Inde- 
pendent preachers held a disputation in 
his presence with the Presbyterian minis- 
ters, on the principles of church govern- 
ment, to which that singular man listened 
with great apparent interest. It is prob- 
ably that the Protector's intention in thus 
entering into personal and familiar con- 
tact with the people, and especially with 
the ministers of Scotland, was for the pur- 
pose of obtaining the means of forming 
his opinion respecting their character and 
principles on the sure ground of his own 
penetrating discernment. He knew that 
the king and his party could not be 
trusted ; and he was anxious to ascertain 
whether the other party, though opposed 
to him in many points, might not be so 
far conciliated as to submit peacefully to 
his government when they should per- 
ceive resistance to be hopeless. That 
this was the real design of Cromwell, it 
would be hazardous to affirm; but the 
conjecture has this to recommend it, that 



Cruickshank, vol. i. p. 63. 

26 



t Lamont's Diary, p. 



completely accounts for the conduct of 
that deep-thinking and far-seeing man, 
during his stay in Scotland, and after his 
return to England, in his public treat- 
ment of the former country. Having 
made his observations, and formed his 
plans, Cromwell proceeded to put them in 
execution. 

Charles had taken up a strong position 
in the vicinity of Stirling, which the pro- 
tector perceived it would be dangerous to 
assail. He therefore turned the position 
of the king's army by crossing the Firth 
at Q,ueensferry ; and marching north- 
wards, seized upon Perth, and cut the 
king off from his supplies. Charles re- 
solved upon a daring and Asperate at- 
tempt to gain or lose the whole kingdom. 
He broke up from his camp at Stirling, 
and marched with all the expedition in 
his power into England, hoping that the 
royalists there would rise and join him 
before Cromwell could approach. But 
they were too much dispirited to make 
the attempt ; and Charles was overtaken 
and defeated at Worcester, on the 3d of 
September 1651, exactly a year after the 
battle of Dunbar. The king fled, and, 
after a number of perilous adventures, 
escaped to France, to mourn his blighted 
hopes, or rather to waste his unhonoured 
youth in dissipation and licentiousness. 
Cromwell did not think it necessary to 
return to complete the subjugation of 
Scotland, but left that task, no longer a 
difficult one, to General Monk. 

[1652.] The unhappy contest between 
the Resolutioners and the Protesters con- 
tinued to divide the Church so completely, 
that it no longer presented a rallying 
point for either of the political parties. 
The Resolutioners were the more numer- 
ous ; but the Protesters were favoured by 
the English, so that their power re- 
mained nearly balanced. An Assembly 
was attempted to be held at Edinburgh 
in July 1652, the Resolutioners assuming 
the right of calling, constituting, and con- 
ducting it, which was opposed by the 
Protesters, with a new protestation, sub- 
scribed by sixty-five ministers and about 
eighty elders. After spending about a 
fortnight in useless altercations, it dis- 
solved, and its acts were not recorded.* 

[1 653.] Another attempt was made to 
hold an Assembly at Edinburgh in July 

* Lamont's Diary, p. 55. 



202 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, 



[CHAP. VI, 



1653, but Lieutenant-Colonel Cottrel, at 
the head of a body of troops, entered the 
house where the ministers were assem- 
bled, demanded on whose authority they 
met, — whether that of Charles or the pro- 
tector? and, after the interchange of a 
few sentences with the moderator, Mr. D. 
Dickson, ordered them to leave the house, 
led them through the streets surrounded 
by a band of soldiers, till he had con- 
ducted them a mile out of town ; and then 
commanded them to depart to their re- 
spective homes within the course of a day, 
otherwise they should be held guilty of 
a breach of the peace, and liable to pun- 
ishment. In this manner was the Gen- 
eral Assembly also laid prostrate beneath 
the power of the iron-handed ruler of the 
English Commonwealth.* 

No further violence was used by Crom- 
well against the Church of Scotland. 
Some of the Resolutioners were exposed 
to danger, because they would not cease 
to pray for the king ; but no force was 
used to prevent them, and no punishments 
were inflicted. Synods and presbyteries 
continued to hold their meetings as for- 
merly, subject to an occasional visit from 
some of those strange enthusiasts who 
abounded in the English army, and were 
equally disposed for polemical as for mil- 
itary contests. The contentions, mean- 
while, between the Resolutioners and the 
Protesters continued to rage with unabated 
bitterness, although with much less per- 
nicious results than would have taken 
place had the Assembly been regularly 
meeting from year to year. In that case, 
this schism, the first which had taken 
place in the church of Scotland since the 
Reformation, must have led to the posi- 
tive expulsion of the weaker party, and 
thereby to an incurable division in the 
Presbyterian Church. As it was, amid 
all their contests, they were perpetually 
holding meetings to treat of a termination 
to their unseemly strife, and the forma- 
tion of a brotherly union. Yet there was 
a constant endeavour by each party to 
increase its own strength by every prac- 
ticable method, and to weaken its antago- 
nist In this the Protesters were more 
successful than their opponents. Patrick 
Gillespie was appointed to the principal- 
ship of Glasgow College, where his 
influence had a strong effect in drawing 

• Lamont's Diary, pp. 69-71. 



the students and the young preachers to 
espouse his party. Rutherford was pro- 
fessor of theology at St. Andrews, where 
his influence was still more direct and ex- 
tensive. Even at Aberdeen, a large pro- 
portion of the young aspirants to the 
ministry attached themselves to the party 
of the Protesters. In this manner the 
youth and growth of the Church was di- 
rected in a very decided manner to that 
party which was unquestionably the most 
distinguished for piety and zeal ; which 
was another preparative for the great ap- 
proaching trial. 

[1655.] Another circumstance which 
contributed not a little to strengthen the 
Protestors, was the direct and authoritative 
support given to them by Cromwell. In 
1655 Cromwell gave a commission to 
Gillespie and some of his brethren, em- 
powering them to settle the affairs of the 
Church. This curious document proves, 
that with all his previous attachment to 
the Congregational system, the protector 
was in favour of an Established Church ; 
and while it was obviously intended to 
exclude all but Protesters, it expressly 
provided that, in the induction of minis- 
ters, respect should be had to the choice 
of the most religious part of the people, 
though that should not be the majority.* 
Baillie complains much of the severe pro- 
ceedings of the Protesters, in deposing 
some ministers, rejecting aspirants, and 
settling young men of their own party in 
preference to Resolutioners ; but even 
with all his querulous complaints, it is 
plain that they acted a much more lenient 
and impartial part than they had it in 
their power to have done, and than their 
opponents did, at the commencement of 
the struggle, when they set the example 
of deposition. Many unseemly contests 
undoubtedly took place ; and at times the 
Protesters, supported by the English 
troops, appear to have dealt harshly to- 
wards some of their keen opponents ; but, 
nevertheless, from all that has been re- 
corded respecting that period, it appears 
that it was one of remarkable religious 
prosperity. The very contention of the 
two great parties rendered indifference in 
religious matters impossible on the part 
of either pastors or people. And although 
the General Assembly was suspended, no 
other part of church government and dis- 

* Nicoll's Diary, pp. 163 166. 



A. D. 1653.} 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



203 



cipline experienced the slightest interrup- 
tion ; or, rather, every other part was 
thrown into more intense and vigorous ac- 
tion. The whole vitality of the kingdom 
seemed to be poured into the heart of the 
Church, and all the strong energies 
of the Scottish mind were directed to re- 
ligious topics in a more exclusive manner 
than they had ever previously been. 
The very fact of the kingdom's complete 
civil prostration beneath the power of 
Cromwell closed every other avenue of 
thought and action, and even compelled 
men to give their entire being to the pur- 
suit of earnest, fervent, personal religion. 
" I verily believe," says Kirkton, " there 
were more souls converted to Christ 
in that short period of time, than in any 
season since the Reformation, though of 
triple its duration ;"* and keeping the 
above considerations in mind, we may 
admit that the account which he gives of 
the state of religion at that time in Scot- 
land, though highly coloured, is never- 
theless, in all its main lineaments, a faith- 
ful representation of the truth. 

Throughout the whole of Scotland 
during the period of Cromwell's domin- 
ation, there prevailed a degree of civil 
peace beyond what had almost ever 
before been experienced. This, too, 
should be taken into account, when we 
peruse the memoirs and annals of the 
period ; for there being no great public 
events to record, these gossiping chroni- 
clers filled their pages with minute de- 
tails respecting the contests between the 
two parties in the Church, for lack of 
other materials to employ their talent for 
journalizing. It ought to be remembered 
also, that although the Protesters enjoyed 
the favour and support o the protector to 
a considerable extent, and might have 
done so much more if they had wished it, 
they never compromised their principles, 
nor stooped to flatter the usurper. Very 
few of them were prevailed upon to take 
the " tender" or acknowledgment of his 
authority and that of the English Com- 
monwealth, without a king or House of 
Lords, because they regarded it as im- 
plying a violation of the Covenant.! 
Patrick Gillespie appears to have been 
the only minister in Scotland that ever 
prayed publicly for the protector. It 

* For a more ample account see Kirkton, pp. 48-65. 

* Rutherfoid opposed the tender very keenly. La- 
ment's Diary, p. 51. 



is further to be remarked, that when we 
read the writings of that period, we per- 
ceive at once a striking difference between 
those of the Resolutioners and those of the 
Protesters. The writings of the Protes- 
ters are thoroughly pervaded by a spirit 
of feTvent piety, and contain principles of 
the loftiest order, stated in language 
of great force, and even dignity, of which 
we find but few similar instances in the 
productions of the Resolutioners. To 
prove this assertion, it is enough to name 
the works of Rutherford, Blair, Binning, 
Guthrie of Fenwick, Durham, Traill, 
Gray, Guthry of Stirling, and many 
others, scarcely their inferiors. Among 
the Resolutioners, we find none deserv- 
ing to be matched with these, but Leigh- 
ton, who afterwards became a prelate ; 
David Dickson, who acknowledged that 
his party had erred ; and Robert Doug- 
las, who also lived long enough to see 
that he had been mistaken and deceived. 

Before quitting the subject of the Reso- 
lutioners and Protesters, there is one 
point to which it is desirable that the 
reader's attention should be directed. It 
will be remembered that the direct topic 
which caused the contest between the two 
parties was the question respecting the 
propriety of repealing the Act of Classes, 
and admitting men of all professions in 
religion, and all varieties of character, 
into the army, and to other places of 
power and influence in a time of such 
danger. This the political-expediency 
party resolved to do, and against this the 
strict Covenanters protested. It is evi- 
dent that the difference of opinion between 
them arose from the different positions 
from which they viewed the same sub- 
ject. Both were fully aware of the peril- 
ous state of the nation, and of the neces- 
sity of adopting some strong measure to 
meet the emergency. But the one party 
trusted chiefly in a combination of human 
strength, though obtained by a sacrifice 
of religious principle ; the other, in the 
confession and abandonment of past er- 
rors, the restoration and more strict 
enforcement of religious purity, and that 
calm trust in the protection and the 
strength of God, under which, by such 
procedure, they hoped to place their cause. 
The one party regarded national division 
as the main cause of the nation's weak- 
ness ; the other ascribed their calamities 



204 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP, VI 



to the prevalence of national sins, espe- 
cially to that violation of the National 
Covenant which consisted in entrusting 
its enemies with the power to do it injury. 
It is needless for shallow thinkers to 
imagine they can decide the question 
summarily, by terming the one party men 
of enlightened and liberal sentiments, 
and the other narrow-minded and intol- 
erant bigots. The Covenanters had seen 
the storm of war borne back innocuous 
from their mountain bulwarks but a few 
years before, when not a man was allowed 
to take up arms in the sacred cause of re- 
ligion who was not believed to be person- 
ally under its influence. They had, 
besides, the analogy of all scriptural his- 
tory in their favour; so that the views 
they held appeared to have the sanction 
of recent facts and of the Word of God. 
And had their opponents been as truly 
patriotic as they pretended, instead of 
seeking political influence before they 
would lend their aid, might they not have 
formed themselves into a separate army, 
hung on the enemy's flanks and rear, 
distracted his attention, cut off his sup- 
plies, and thereby promoted in the most 
liberal and unselfish manner, and to the 
utmost of their power, the rescue of their 
country from the strong invader ? This 
would have entitled them to the honour- 
able appellation of men of truly enlight- 
ened minds and genuine patriotism ; but 
their whole conduct, then and subse- 
quently, proved them to have been influ- 
enced chiefly by ambitious, selfish, and 
despotic principles. 

Let the reader take up the question, 
and muse upon it deeply, in the form of 
the following hypothetic proposition : — 
Are there not principles and rules appli- 
cable to wars strictly religious, by which 
all operations should be governed and di- 
rected, essentially different from those in- 
volved in ordinary warfare? What we 
mean to suggest is this : that in wars 
strictly religious, which are of course 
solely defensive (for religion may not be 
propagated by the sword, although it may, 
in extraordinary cases, be so defended), 
no principle of merely secular policy can 
be admitted without vitiating the cause ; 
no principle can be held and acted upon 
which has not the clear warrant of the 
Word of God, either in stated precept or 
recorded example. On the other hand, 



in ordinary warfare, means may be em 
ployed, and results anticipated, more ac- 
cording to the calculations and arrange- 
ments of human wisdom, skill, and ge- 
nius. Not that, in the latter case, the over- 
ruling influence of Providence is more in 
abeyance than in the former, but that its 
direct power is less conspicuously display- 
ed. Now, the Covenanters regarded the 
war as as of a strictly religious charac- 
ter, otherwise they would not have en- 
gaged in it at all ; and therefore they 
could not, they dared not, employ means 
on which they could not implore and ex- 
pect the blessing of the Lord of Hosts. 
Men of no religion may deem this view 
fanatical ; but it will require more than 
the usual amount of reason and t hiloso- 
phy — we speak not to such men of reli- 
gion — which they bring to bear upon the 
subject, before they prove it to be either 
irrational and absurd, or inconsistent with 
the providential government of the "Most 
High, who doeth according to his will in 
the armies of heavfn, ana among the in- 
habitants of the earth." 

It is unnecessary to dwell on the minor 
details which took place during the re- 
mainder of the Protectorate. After the 
death of Oliver Cromwell a series of in- 
trigues commenced, which ended in the 
ratoration of Charles II. In Scotland 
these intrigues were chiefly guided by 
Robert Douglas, the leader of the Reso- 
lutioners, through the instrumentality of 
James Sharp, who at that time affected, 
perhaps entertained, as thoroughly as 
such a man could, a warm zeal for the 
interests of the Presbyterian Church of 
Scotland. Monk, who had remained in 
Scotland since its subjugation by Crom- 
well, appeared for a time to favour the 
Presbyterian cause, and continued to hold 
intercourse with Douglas through the 
medium of Sharp The epistolary cor- 
respondence between Douglas and Sharp, 
preserved in Wodrow, clearly proves the 
duplicity, selfishnes, and treachery of 
Sharp, and prepares us for the dark and 
cruel tyranny which that hollow-hearted 
and ruthless man subsequently exercised 
towards the Church which he had first 
betrayed, and then set himself to perse- 
cute.* 

* For a very full, accurate, and impartial view of the 
period that elapsed between the death of Charles I. 
and the restoration of Charles II., the reader is referred 



A. D. 1660.] HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



205 



Charles II. entered London in triumph 
on the 29th of May 1660 ; and with his 
restoration to the sovereignty begins a 
new era of the Church of Scotland's his- 
tory, the record of which is one of suffer- 
ings, and lamentations, and woe. 



CHAPTER VII. 

FROM THE RESTORATION OF CHARLES II. TO 
THE REVOLUTION OF 1688. 

State of Affairs at the Restoration— James Sharp- 
Council of State — Apprehension of Argyle and of 
James Guthrie— Middleton's Parliament— Oath of 
Allegiance— Act Recissory— Proceedings of the 
Church— Trial and Execution of Argyle and Guthrie 
—Deposition and Banishment of several Ministers — 
Proclamation of the King's determination to restore 
Prelacy — Consecration of four Scottish Bishops in 
London — Prohibition of all Presbyterian Church 
Courts — Proceedings of the Prelatic Parliament — 
Oaths and Declaration against the Covenant— Refor- 
mation — Diocesan Meetings — Act of Glasgow — Ejec- 
tion of nearly Four Hundred Ministers— Conse- 
quences — Trial and Death of Warriston — Re-erection 
of the Court of High Commission— Persecutions — 
Proclamation against Conventicles — Causes of the 
Rising of Pentland— The Rising itself, Discomfiture, 
and Fatal Consequences — Martyrdom of Hugh M'Kail 
and others — Severities of the Army— The Bond — 
Mitchell's Attempt— Increased Severities — The First 
Indulgence— Dissentions caused by it — Field-preach- 
ing— The Accommodation proposed by Leighton — 
Continued Persecution — Second Indulgence— Pro- 
ceedings against Conventicles and Field-preaching — 
The Highland Host— Barbarities committed by them 
— Continued Persecution, Instances — Death of Arch- 
bishop Sharp — Declaration of Rutherglen— Battle of 
Drumclog — The West-country Army — Dissensions- 
Battle of Bothwell Bridge — Trials, Executions, and 
Increased Oppression— General Persecution, In- 
stances — The Society People— Queens-ferry Paper 
and Declaration of Sanquhar— Skirmish at AyTamoss 
— Death of Cameron and others — The Torwood Ex- 
communication — Trial and Death of Cargil — Perse- 
cutions and Martyrdoms, Instances — The Test — Pro- 
ceedings against Argyle — His Escape — Circuit Courts 
— Murders in the Fields — Proceedings against the 
Society People — Their bold and resolute Conduct — 
Death of Charles II. — James VII. — Unsuccessful At- 
tempt of Argyle— His Capture, Trial, and Execution 
— Dunottar Castle — Transportation to the Colonies 
as Slaves— The King's Letter to Parliament — Schemes 
for restoring Popery — Acts of Indulgence — Tolera- 
tion — Liberty of Conseience — Trial and Execution of 
Renwick — The Society People— Letter of the Scot- 
tish Prelates to the King— Letter of the Presbyterian 
Ministers to the Prince of Orange— The Revolution. 

[1660.] The Restoration of Charles II. 
to the throne of his ancestors, without the 
guard of precautionary conditions of any 
kind, and the strange frenzy of extrava- 
gant loyalty which seized upon the 
whole kingdom like some uncontroll- 
able epidemic, so strongly contrasted 
with the conduct and temper exhibited 
by the nation but a few years before, 
would require for the explanation of 

o the "History of the Church of Scotland during the 
Commonwealth," by the Rev. James Beattie, recently 
published. 



a change so sudden and so great, an 
investigation more minute, searching, and 
profound, than it has ever yet received. 
Into that subject, however, we cannot en- 
ter, further than merely to remark, that 
for the fundamental error of restoring the 
king to full power, without any prelimit- 
ing conditions for regulating the exercise 
of that power, the Church of Scotland, as 
a body, was not to blame. So early as 
the 6th of February 1660, six of the lead- 
ing ministers met in Edinburgh, and 
agreed to send Mr. James Sharp to 
London, to hold intercourse with Monk, 
according to that wily politician's desire ; 
and gave to him instructions by which he 
was to regulate all his stipulations in be- 
half of the Church of Scotland.* At that 
time the design of restoring the king had 
not been divulged ; but these instructions 
were equally applicable whatever form 
of civil government should be established, 
—a matter with which the Presbyterian 
Church did not wish directly to interfere, 
though decidedly favourable to monarchy. 
Sharp seems to have been chosen as the 
agent of the Church at this juncture, be- 
cause of his success in some previous ne- 
gotiations during the time of Cromwell, 
when he had been sent by the Resolu- 
tioners to counteract the influence of the 
Protesters. His conduct on that occa- 
sion gave great satisfaction to his party, 
and is praised in the most extravagant 
terms by Baillie, who calls him " that 
very w r orthy, pious, wise, and diligent 
young man, Mr. James Sharp." His 
character was better understood by Bishop 
Burnet; and as it is difficult for a Presbyte- 
rian to mention his name and character in 
such terms as he deserves, without being 
thought to be influenced by violent and 
vindictive feelings, it may be expedient to 
quote the language of the prelatic histo- 
rian. 

" Among these, Sharp, who was em- 
ployed by the Resolutioners of Scotland, 
was one. He carried with him a letter 
from the Earl of Glencairn to Hyde, 
made soon after Earl of Clarendon, re- 
commending him as the only person ca- 
pable to manage the design of setting up 
Episcopacy in Scotland ; upon which he 
was received into great confidence. Yet, 
as he had observed very carefully the suc- 
cess of Monk's solemn protestations 

* Wodrow, Dr. Burn's edit, p, 5. 



206 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VII 



against the king and for the common- 
wealth, it seems he was so pleased with 
the original, that he resolved to copy after 
it, without letting himself be diverted from 
it by scruples. For he stuck neither at 
solemn protestations, both by word of 
mouth and by letters (of which I have 
seen many proofs), nor at appeals to God 
of his sincerity in acting for the Presby- 
tery, both in prayers and on other occa- 
sions, joining with these many dreadful 
imprecations on himself, if he did prevari- 
cate. He was all the while maintained 
by Presbyterians as their agent, and con- 
tinued to give them a constant account of 
the progress of his negotiation in their 
service, while he was indeed undermin- 
ing it. This piece of craft was so visible, 
he having repeated his protestations to as 
many persons as then grew jealous of 
him, that when he threw off the mask, 
about a year after this, it laid a founda- 
tion of such a character of him, that no- 
thing could ever bring people to any tol- 
erable thoughts of a man whose dissimu- 
lation and treachery was so well known, 
and of which so many proofs were to be 
seen under his own hand."* 

To this nothing need be added regard- 
ing the man ; but what must be thought 
of the system which needed such a man 
and such arts for its introduction ? Yet, 
let this be said, — few, very few, Episco- 
palians have ever expressed their appro- 
bation of either Sharp or his treachery to 
the Church of Scotland; and no system 
is justly chargeable for all the faults of its 
adherents. In truth, men are always 
either better or worse than their system 
or their party. A good man may be at- 
tached to a bad system or party ; but he 
will avoid as far as possible what is evil 
in it, and cleave chiefly to what is good, 
and will accordingly be better than his 
system or his party. A bad man may be 
attached to a good system or party ; but 
he will acquire and exhibit little of what 
is good in it, and will draw forth, embody, 
and display peculiarly what is evil, and 
will therefore be worse than his system 
or party. Thus Sharp, and the greater 
part of the Scottish prelates, were worse 
than their system, unscriptural as we be- 
lieve that system of Church government 
to be, and as we think its unreluctant 

• Burnet s H story of his Own Times, vol. i. p. 92. 



employment of such men sufficiently 
proves it. 

The correspondence which took place 
between Douglas and Sharp, during the 
residence of the latter in London, is high- 
ly instructive, both in showing the views 
entertained by the large party in the 
Church of Scotland, whose counsels were 
directed by Douglas, and in detecting the 
duplicity of Sharp. A very able paper 
was transmitted by Douglas to Sharp, on 
the 26th of March, containing the matur- 
ed opinions of that sagacious man con- 
cerning the settlement of the government 
in the three kingdoms. In that document, 
Douglas proceeds strongly to advocate 
the restoration of Charles, and the estab- 
lishment of the Presbyterian form of 
church government in Scotland, Eng- 
land, and Ireland j admitting, at the same 
time, the perfect right of England and 
Ireland to determine for themselves, and 
disclaiming all intention of using force. 
Yet in the same paper, he does not hesi- 
tate to lay it down as an incontrovertible 
proposition, that " Episcopacy and other 
forms are men's devices, but Presbyterian 
government is a divine ordinance."* 
Such, indeed, was the general opinion of 
the period. It was at a considerably 
subsequent time that the idea of defending 
Prelacy, on the ground of its being a di- 
vine institution, began to grow prevalent, 
though it had been previously held by a 
few ; and it was, of course, solely on the 
ground of its political capabilities that 
kings and statesmen were so anxious to 
have it established. Sharp easily per- 
ceived in what direction the politicians 
were endeavouring to steer ; but he did 
every thing in his power to conceal it 
from Douglas, lest some strong resolution 
should be adopted by the Church of Scot- 
land, and his design frustrated. Doug- 
las proposed that a commission should 
proceed to London to make the mind of 
the Church clearly known ; but Sharp 
urged the inexpediency of such a step 
with so much plausibility, that it was 
abandoned. He knew well, that if Doug- 
las himself had been on the spot, his own 
machinations would have been discover- 
ed, and all his golden hopes at once des- 
troyed. 

In the meantime, Douglas had enough 

• Wodrow, vol. i. p. 15. 



A. D. 1661.] HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



207 



to do to manage matters at home. The 
majority of the Resolutioners placed full 
confidence in him, and allowed themselves 
to be directed according to his judgment ; 
but the Protesters could not be moved 
from their position. They distrusted the 
king, the courtiers, and their brethren of 
the opposite party in the Church, and 
would not unite with them in the meas- 
ures they were proposing. This contin- 
ued antagonism was productive of the 
most pernicious results. It kept the 
Church of Scotland in a state of equipoise, 
or rather paralysis. Neither party could 
give utterance to what might justly be re- 
garded as the national mind; for their 
opinions mutually counterbalanced each 
other, so that the nation seemed to have 
no decided will or wish on the subject. 
This was exactly the condition in which 
the most deadly enemy of the Presbyteri- 
an Church could have wished it to be 
placed. Had either party possessed a 
decided preponderance, the politicians 
would not have dared to assail it; or, 
had they been able to unite, as in the 
early days of the Covenant, they might 
have bid defiance to every assailant. In 
numbers the Protesters were the weaker 
party, but in unwavering integrity of 
principle and character the stronger. 
They could not form a coalition with the 
Resolutioners without a sacrifice of prin- 
ciple and conscience ; while the other 
party might have joined them without 
sacrificing any thing but expediency and 
pride. They were destined to be more 
united ere long; but not till both had 
been thrown into the furnace. 

It deserves to be particularly remarked, 
that the Protesters made repeated ad- 
vances to their brethren, and that Doug- 
las was prevented from complying with 
their proposals for a union, chiefly through 
the insidious policy of Sharp, who con- 
tinued to assure him that the safety of 
the Church would consist in its majority 
keeping aloof from the Protesters, against 
whom the king cherished an irreconcila- 
ble enmity. He intimated also his ma- 
jesty's willingness to ratify the proceed- 
ings of the Assembly of 165' , in which 
the Protesters had been r -demned, re- 
garding this as a clear pioul of the royal 
feelings. 

With one other remark we shall con- 
clude these comparatively preliminary 



notices of the state of affairs at the Resto- 
ration. The whole nature of the great 
convulsion through which the nation had 
passed had tended to draw forth into the 
most marked contrast two very opposite 
states of mind, or aspects of character. 
The essential subject of the contest was 
religion ; the one party seeking to govern 
and restiain it; the other striving to pro- 
cure for it not only freedom, but suprema- 
cy in its own department. Of necessity, 
the defenders of religion were men of 
graver manners and more thoughtful 
.minds than its opponents. But in the 
heat and anger of the struggle many 
joined each party who valued little the 
intrinsic nature of the subject in dispute, 
and deemed it enough to assume the ex- 
ternal characteristics of the party which 
they joined. The consequence was, that 
such adherents presented the most ridicu- 
lously exaggerated caricature of their re- 
spective parties ; so that a stern and 
gloomy fanaticism came to be regarded 
as the characteristic of a Presbyterian, 
while drinking, swearing, and licentious- 
ness of every kind were the tokens by 
which a royalist was known. Accord- 
ingly, the restoration of the king was a 
signal for the universal display of these 
characteristics of loyalty. " A spirit of 
extravagant joy," says Burnet, " spread 
over the nation, that brought on with it 
the throwing off the very professions of 
virtue and piety. All ended in enter- 
tainment and drunkenness, which over- 
run the three kingdoms to such a degree, 
that it very much corrupted all their mor- 
als."* " Men did not think," says Kirk- 
ton, " they could handsomely express 
their joy, except they turned brute, for de- 
bauch ; yea, many a sober man was 
tempted to exceed, lest he should be con- 
demned as unnatural, disloyal, and insen- 
sible."! The effect may be easily ima- 
gined, both in degrading the royalist par- 
ty, and in disgusting their opponents, 
driving them to the opposite extreme, and 
rendering the chasm between them more 
wide, deep, and impassable. It will ac- 
count also for much of the exaggerated 
language used by party writers on both 
sides, while describing not the essential 
characteristics, but the distorted carica- 
tures, of the two contending parties. 

* Burnet's History of his Own Times, p. 92. 
t Kirkton, p. 65. 



208 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VII. 



Little more than a month was sufficient 
to ripen the schemes of those who wished 
to establish an arbitrary government, and 
to give them courage to commence the 
putting of these schemes into execution. 
A council of state was formed for the ad- 
ministration of affairs in Scotland, com- 
posed of men decidedly hostile to the 
Presbyterian cause. The Earl of Mid- 
dleton, a fierce, rude, and unprincipled 
soldier of fortune, was made commission- 
er for holding the parliament, and gener- 
al of the forces, and thus head of both 
the legislative and executive departments. 
The Earl of Glencairn was chancellor ; 
the Earl of Lauderdale, who had been 
one of the commissioners to the West- 
minster Assembly, was appointed secre- 
tary of state ; the Earl of Rothes, son of 
the celebrated Rothes, who gave such im- 
portant aid in the time of the Covenant, 
was president of the council ; the Earl of 
Crawford, lord treasurer ; and Sir Archi- 
bald Primrose, clerk register. Private 
instructions were given to Middleton to 
try the inclination of the country for Pre- 
lacy, and to devise the best method of in- 
troducing it. For this purpose it was ne- 
cessary to remove those whose opposition 
might have been formidable. The Mar- 
quis of Argyle was justly regarded as 
the most powerful supporter of the Cove- 
nant ; and he had many enemies among 
the Scottish nobility, in addition to which 
the king himself regarded him with de- 
cided hostility. Argyle, nevertheless, 
unconscious of evil, repaired to London, 
and requested an audience of the king ; 
but no sooner was Charles informed of 
his arrival than he commanded him to be 
commuted to the Tower. This took 
place on the 8th of July. On the 14th 
of the same month, orders were sent to 
Edinburgh to imprison Sir James Stew- 
art, Sir John Chiesly, and Sir Archibald 
Johnston of Warriston. The two former 
were seized, but Warriston made his es- 
cape, although a proclamation was im- 
mediately issued, offering a reward for 
nis apprehension, and subjecting every 
person who should conceal him to the 
penalties of treason. 

On the 23d of August, the committee 
ot estates met in Edinburgh, to com- 
mence the administration of national af- 
fairs. The first act gave but too clear an 
indication what the course of their proce- 



dure was likely to be. Ten ministers 
and two elders had met ./hat day in the 
house of a friend in Edinburgh, for the 
purpose of framing a humble address and 
supplication to the king, congratulating 
his return, expressing their loyalty, re- 
minding him of his own and of the na- 
tion's Covenant, and praying that his 
reign might be prosperous. They were 
all Protesters, and had determined upon 
taking this step in consequence of the op- 
posite party, beguiled by Sharp, refusing 
to join with them in a general address 
from the whole Church. Their intention 
was, to transmit the supplication to their 
brethren throughout the country, that it 
might obtain as many signatures as possi- 
ble, and then to call a larger meeting, 
from which it might be sent to his majes- 
ty. No sooner did the committee receive 
intelligence of this private meeting, than 
they sent a party of soldiers, seized their 
papers, and committed themselves to pri- 
son, from whence one of them, James 
Guthrie, came not out but to trial and ex- 
ecution.* It was remarked, that this vio- 
lent and illegal apprehension of these 
ministers took place on the very day of 
the month on which, exactly an hundred 
years before, the Scottish parliament had 
passed an act abolishing Popery, and per- 
mitting the free progress of the Reforma- 
tion. They were now attempting to 
abolish Presbytery at the command of a 
king who was secretly a papist, and who 
would have been glad to have brought 
the nation once more into the dark and 
enslaving bondage of the Roman apos- 
tacy. 

In the beginning of September Sharp 
came from London, and brought a letter 
from the king, addressed to Robert Doug- 
las, but to be communicated to the Pres- 
bytery of Edinburgh. It was prepared, 
as Wodrow states, by Sharp himself, and 
was cunningly adapted to gratify the 
Resolutioners, and to throw all blame 
upon the Protesters. It produced the ef- 
fect intended. All suspicion was lulled 
asleep, the most extravagant expressions 
of delighted gratitude were poured forth, 
and copies of it were sent to every pres- 
bytery, to prove to the kingdom the truth- 
ful fidelity of his majesty, and to show 
how groundless and unjust were the 
jealous suspicions of the Protesters. Yet 

* Wodrow, vol. i. pp. 66-72. 



A. D. 1661.] HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



209 



the letter contained expressions of a 
character so manifestly evasive that it 
might well have excited suspicion, even 
had there been no previous cause of dis- 
trust. It startled the unscrupulous Mid- 
dleton, who declared that he thought 
it beneath the dignity of a king thus to 
equivocate with his people and deceive 
them.* 

Some proclamations were, about the 
same time, issued by the committee of es- 
tates against all unlawful meetings and 
seditious papers, all seditious slanderers 
of his majesty's government, and all re- 
monstrators and their adherents. It was 
evident against whom these were fulmi- 
nated, and for what purpose ; but the 
committee could stoop to still meaner em- 
ployment. About the middle of Septem- 
ber a proclamation was issued against 
Rutherford's " Lex Rex," and J. Guth- 
rie's " Causes of God's Wrath," and all 
were ordered to bring in their copies of 
those books, that they might be burned. 
They would have shown more wisdom 
by either leaving these works unnoticed, 
or by appointing their ablest reasoner to 
try his strength in answering them. The 
principles and arguments of the " Lex 
Rex" have not yet received, and will not 
soon receive, a refutation ; and it had 
been well if the committee had so regu- 
lated their conduct as to avert that Divine 
wrath, the causes of which had been so 
forcibly stated by Guthrie. 

In October a proclamation was issued 
Galling a parliament to meet in Decem- 
ber, which was subsequently prorogued 
till January, to allow more time for the 
maturing of the measures then to be pro- 
posed. In that proclamation there were 
some ominous intimations of the spirit by 
which it was likely to be pervaded. The 
royal prerogative was mentioned as that 
"by which alone the liberties of the peo- 
ple can be preserved ;" the people were 
significantly told, that petitions or addres- 
ses were to be made only to the parlia- 
ment or committee of estates ; and an act 
of indemnity was promised after the hon- 
our of the king and the prerogative of 
the crown should have been asserted. In 
the time which elapsed before the meeting 
of parliament, every kind of exertion was 
made, by bribery, intimidation, and party 
influence, to procure the election of per- 

* Burnet's Own Times, vol. i. p. 109. 

27 



sons entirely at the devotion of the court; 
and as no act of indemnity had yet been 
passed, many of the staunch adherents 
of the Covenant were deterred from seek- 
ing to be elected, and some of them were 
cited before the parliament, to prevent 
them being returned &s members. The 
result was the election of a parliament, 
the decided majority of which was com- 
posed of royalists and malignants, as 
those were termed who had been either 
the direct opponents of the Covenant, or 
who had deserted it, and were the more 
bent on its entire destruction; together 
with a considerable number of persons 
whose estates had been ruined during the 
preceding troublous times, and who were 
prepared to support any measures by 
which they could hope to repair their 
broken fortunes. 

[1661.] — The new parliament was 
opened by the Earl of Middleton, as re- 
presentative of his majesty, on the 1st of 
January 1661, and proceed to the des- 
patch of public business on the 4th of 
that month. Some of the proceedings of 
this parliament require to be attentively 
considered, in consequence of the subver- 
sive use made of them at a subsequent pe- 
riod. The very constitution of the par- 
liament was vitiated from the first. An 
act had been passed in 1651, when the 
king himself was present, requiring eve- 
ry member of all succeeding parliaments 
to sign and subscribe the Covenant be 
fore entering upon business, without 
which its constitution, and all its acts^ 
were declared void and null. This was 
not done ; but instead of it another oath 
was proposed, termed in its title " an oath 
of parliament," and in the body of the 
act " an oath of allegiance." In it there 
occur the following expressions : — " I ac- 
knowledge my said sovereign only suv 
preme governor of this kingdom over all 
persons and in all causes," " and shall at 
my utmost power defend, assist, and 
maintain his nyijesty's jurisdiction afore- 
said, against all deadly, and never decline 
his majesty's power and jurisdiction. 
There can be no doubt that these clauses 
admitted of a double interpretation. So 
far as their meaning applied to civil mat- 
ters alone, they would not have been op- 
posed by any of the Covenanters ; but 
there was no such limitation specified, 
and therefore it was evident, that the first 



210 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VII. 



might be construed to admit his majesty's 
supremacy in ecclesiastical causes as well 
as in civil matters ; and that the second 
was intended to prevent the declining of 
the king's jurisdiction in religious affairs, 
as the Church of Scotland had always 
done. Subsequent events proved that 
such was the express intention of the 
oath ; but it was thought proper to con- 
ceal this for a time ; and when the Earls 
of Cassilis and Melville, and the Laird of 
Kilbirnie, refused to take the oath with- 
out its being understood as not extending 
the royal supremacy beyond civil matters, 
they were allowed to take it in that limit- 
ed sense, but not permitted to have their 
explanation recorded. Middleton and the 
Chancellor Glencairn publicly declared 
that the oath was not intended to give his 
majesty any ecclesiastical, but only a civil 
supremacy ; yet a short time afterwards, 
when the Presbyterian ministers ex- 
pressed their willingness to take it in 
this sense, they were not allowed.* 

Having thus established the king's su- 
premacy, they proceeded to evolve its 
consequences by a series of acts as con- 
sistent with the strong premise as the 
most rigid logic of despotism could re- 
quire. They declared it to be his majes- 
ty's prerogative to choose all officers of 
state, councillors, lords of session ; to call 
hold, and prorogue, and dissolve all par- 
liaments, conventions, and meetings ; and 
that all meetings held without the royal 
warrant are void and null ; that no con- 
vocations, leagues, or bonds, can be made 
without the Sovereign ; and that to the 
king belongs the sole power of making 
peace and war. A tolerable broad foun- 
dation was thus laid for the erection of 
absolute despotism ; but some obstructions 
needed to be taken away. The chief of 
these was the Solemn League and Cove- 
nant ; and an act was accordingly passed, 
absolving the lieges from its obligation, 
and prohibiting its renewal without his 
majesty's special warrant and approba- 
tion. Another act was passed, approving 
of tho Engagement in 1648, and con- 
demning the conduct of those who oppos- 
ed it, terming them " a few seditious per- 
sons." And to concentrate and confirm 
all the arbitrary acts already passed, an- 
other was framed, requiring not only all 
uersons in civil official stations, but " all 

' Wodrow, vd i. pp. 92, 93. 



other persons who shall be required by 
his majesty's privy-council, or any having 
authority from them, to be obliged to take 
and swear the oath of allegiance, and the 
acknowledgment of the king's preroga- 
tive." The next act of this reckless par- 
liament was the act recissory, not merely 
repealing certain acts of parliament for 
reasons stated, but at one broad sweep an- 
nulling all the parliaments held since 
1633, with all their proceedings, and thus 
totally abolishing all the laws made in fa- 
vour of the Presbyterian Church, as well 
as those in favour of civil liberty, which 
had been enacted during the late reign, 
and many of them with the full sanction 
of the king himself. 

" This," says Burnet, u was a most ex- 
travagant act, and only fit to be concluded 
after a drunken bout. It shook all possi- 
ble security for the future, and laid down 
a most pernicious precedent."! Nothing 
could more clearly prove the intimate 
connection between civil and religious 
liberty than this very act. The whole 
design of this parliament was to destroy 
the Church of Scotland ; but in the at- 
tempt to accomplish this deed they were 
under the necessity of destroying not on- 
ly all the existent laws of the land, but 
all the security which law itself can give, 
by not only repealing laws, but even an- 
nihilating the legislature of the kingdom. 
Such conduct amounted to a virtual disso- 
lution of the social compact, by putting 
an end to all trust in public deeds, and 
leaving to men no alternative but sub- 
mission to absolute despotism, or the wild 
recoil of utter anarchy. Yet even this 
glaring violation of all legislative princi- 
ples was carried, after some oppsition, in 
this " drinking parliament," as it was 
commonly termed, in allusion to the in- 
temperance of Middleton and the royalists. 

Since by the act recissory the whole 
government of the Church of Scotland 
was virtually overthrown, another act 
was passed, " concerning religion and 
church government," in which his majes- 
ty declares his intention to secure the go- 
vernment of the Church " in such a frame 
as shall be most agreeable to the Word 
of God, most suitable to monarchical go- 
vernment, and most complying with the 
public peace and the quiet of the king- 
dom ;" " in the meantime allowing the 

* Burnet's Own Times, p 119. 



A. D. 1661.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



211 



present administration by sessions, pres- 
byteries, and synods." There could be 
little doubt as to the meaning of this act, 
in which the settlement of church govern- 
ment was left to the king, and the Pres- 
byterian form "allowed" to remain evi- 
dently no longer than till his majesty's 
plans should be fully matured. And a 
sufficient indication was given what was 
the nature of these plans, by an act ap- 
pointing the 29th of May to be kept as a 
solemn anniversary thanksgiving for his 
majesty's restoration ; and another restor- 
ing patronages and presentations, " as 
what they knew had been still a dead 
weight upon, and really inconsistent 
with, the Presbyterian Establishment.'"* 
Such is a brief outline of* the public 
acts of Middleton's parliament, especially 
with regard to the Church. It might 
seem strange that such acts could have 
been passed by any parliament composed 
of men not actually born in slavery, and 
so habituated to bondage as to have be- 
come enamoured of their chains, and 
eager to impose the same ornaments upon 
all others. Where were Scotland's bold 
and free barons, who had never been ac- 
customed to bend their haughty necks 
beneath the arbitrary yoke of any sove- 
reign ? Some of the best were dead, or 
in disgrace and danger ; others were 
plunged in debt, and eager to repair their 
shattered fortunes by court favour ; and 
a large majority of them were addicted 
to those glaring vices which had become 
the badges of the royalists, — drunkenness 
and immorality, — which they knew the 
Presbyterian Church would censure ; 
and therefore they were eager to destroy 
a Church whose purity they both feared 
and hated. " Vices of all sorts," says 
Burnet, " were the open practices of those 
about the Earl of Middleton. Drinking was 
the most notorious of all, which was often 
continued through the whole night till 
the next morning." They came to the 
parliament reeling from the over-night, 
debauches, and passed acts subversive of 
the whole civil and religious constitution 
of the country with less care than they 
bestowed upon their preparations for the 
next scene of revelry and wickedness. It 
was not strange that such besotted slaves 
of sin were the enemies of religious free- 
dom ; and that, in their hatred of religion. 

* Wodrow, vol. i. p. 106. 



they were ready to sacrifice civil liberty 
in their fierce desire to subject the preach- 
ing of the gospel and the discipline of the 
Church to equal thraldom. This, while 
it explains their conduct, stamps the 
brand of infamy more deeply both on the 
men, and on the system which such men 
and such measures were employed to in- 
troduce. 

But where was the Church of Scot- 
land, that it did not raise aloud its voice 
in bold and indignant condemnation of 
such proceedings ? It was paralyzed by 
its own unhallowed internal divisions. 
The Protesters were awed into compara- 
tive silence by the seizure and imprison- 
ment of James Guthrie, their ablest and 
boldest leader ; and the Resolutioners 
were still partly possessed by the blind 
spirit of party contention, and partly be- 
guiled by the wily subtleties of the traitor 
Sharp. Yet some attempts were made 
by the ministers to prevent the utter sub- 
version of the Church. The ministers 
of Edinburgh presented petitions, suppli- 
cations, and remonstrances, against the 
act recissory and other acts of similar 
character, but without effect. When the 
synods began to hold their meetings in 
April and May, endeavours were made to 
frame addresses to the parliament res- 
pecting the danger to which the Church 
was exposed by the recent enactments j 
but as those addresses were generally 
proposed by the Protesters, the Resolu- 
tioners opposed them, urging the feeble 
but pernicions plea, so commonly used 
by men of time-serving and undecided 
character, that it was unseasonable and 
unexpedient to apply to parliament in the 
present circumstances * Such was the 
case in the synod of Glasgow ; and 
though the Protesters could have carried 
their measure 'by a majority, yet, to pre- 
vent the appearance of division, they 
agreed to delay, and meantime to utter 
an equivocal declaration, such as men of 
all views might support. This declara- 
tion was of course futile, and they were 
prevented from holding another meeting • 
which ought to be a warning to the 
Church to be equally prompt and decided 
in her Divine Master's cause, and never 
to defer till to-morrow the sacred duty of 
to-day. 

The synod of Fife, which had in for 

• Wodrow, vol. i. p. 117. 



212 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VII 



mer days often borne the brunt of the 
conflict in times of danger to the Church, 
were engaged in preparing a petition for 
a new act, ratifying the privileges of the 
Church, when they were interrupted by 
the Earl of Rothes, ordered to depart, and 
obeyed the order without a protestation 
against this infringement of the shadow 
of liberty left by the late parliament. 
The synod of Dumfries was interrupted 
and dissolved in the same forcible man- 
ner, and yielded with equal submissive- 
ness. The synod of Galloway better 
maintained the character of the Church 
of Scotland. Mr. Park, the moderator, 
protested against this procedure, as an in- 
jurious encroachment upon the spiritual 
liberties of a court of Christ, incompetent 
to the civil magistrate ; and refused to 
withdraw till he had regularly dissolved 
the meeting with prayer. The synod of 
Lothian was so far overawed by the pre- 
sence and the interference of the court, as 
to suspend six or seven faithful and pious 
ministers of the Protesters, on the absurd 
and groundless charge of rebellion. And 
the synod of Ross deposed the celebrated 
Thomas Hog, minister of Kiltearn, al- 
though he had not signed the protestation, 
but merely because he was known to be 
opposed to Prelacy, for the honours and 
emoluments of which some of these 
northern brethren w r ere longing. Yet 
so strong is conscience in hearts not ut- 
terly seared, that the moderator, a keen 
prelatist, in pronouncing the sentence of 
deposition, did it with an air of veneration, 
and in tones of deep respect, reminded 
the venerable man, that Christ himself 
had suffered great wrong from the scribes 
and pharisees.f The synod of Aber- 
deen, as Burnet tells us, was the only 
body that made an address looking to- 
wards Episcopacy, — so consistently did it 
preserve its bad pre-eminence, as the 
least enlightened part of Scotland, and 
the first to return to its scarcely half- 
broken darkness. 

Having by these unconstitutional en- 
actments prepared the way for the entire 
overthrow of the Church of Scotland, the 
parliament proceeded to ratify their des- 
tructive acts with the blood of some dis- 
tinguished victims. The first of these in 
time, as well as in rank, was the Mar- 
quis of Argyle. That distinguished no- 

* Wodrow, vol. i. p. 129. 



bleman had been too firm and steady an 
adherent to the Presbyterian cause to find 
favour with the king and the pielatic 
party : he was too powerful to be per- 
mitted to remain in the enjoyment of lib- 
erty and life ; and the Earl of Middleton 
hoped to obtain a grant of his forfeited 
estates. In addition to these public 
causes of hostility against Argyle, the 
king cherished a personal hatred of him, 
partly because Argyle had checked some 
of his licentious conduct when formerly 
in Scotland, and partly because he had 
himself broken his promise to marry Ar- 
I gyle's daughter, and consequently hated 
! the man whom he had injured.* His 
j indictment, however, carefully avoided 
! allusion to the real causes for which his 
life was sought, and bore reference to his 
'public acts, — first, during the late civil 
j contentions, — secondly, with regard to 
I his treatment of the royalists, and partic- 
ularly of Montrose, — and thirdly, his 
concurrence with Cromwell during the 
period of the protectorate, Argyle de- 
i fended himself with great eloquence and 
I force of reason, so as nearly to baffle the 
\ malice of his enemies, although his death 
; had been determined even before his trial 
commenced. To secure his condemna- 
j tion, Monk sent to the Scottish adminis- 
tration some private letters in which Ar- 
! gyle had expressed concurrence with his 
| government. By this base act Monk se- 
i cured the condemnation of a man whose 
| guilt, if guilt it could be called, was im- 
; measurably less than his own, Argyle 
j having only submitted to a power which 
he could not successfully oppose, wielded 
I by Monk himself. The sentence was 
| passed, adjudging him to be guilty of 
j high treason, and condemning him to be 
, beheaded, and his head to be affixed in 
1 the same place where that of the Mar- 
, quis of Montrose had been. He received 
the sentence kneeling ; and then rising, 
said, " I had the honour to set the crown 



upon 



the kind's head, and now he has- 



j tens me to a better crown than his 
own."f 

Between the time of his condemnation 
and his execution, Argyle enjoyed not 
merely tranquillity of mind, but such a 
perception of the love of God as filled his 
soul with heavenly gladness, and with the 
j very peace of God. When his lady and 

I * Kirkton, p. 50. f Wodrow, vol. i. p. 150. 



A. D. 1661.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



213 



some of his friends exclaimed against the 
cruelty of his enemies, he replied, " For- 
bear, forbear ! truly I pity them ; they 
know not what they are doing ; they 
may shut me in where they please, but 
they cannot shut out God from me." To 
some ministers who were with him in 
the prison he said, that shortly they 
would envy him who was got before 
them, adding emphatically, " Mind that I 
tell you ; my skill fails me if you who 
are ministers will not either suffer much 
or sin much ; for though you go along 
with these men in part, if you do not do 
it in all things, you are but where you 
were, and must suffer ; and if you go not 
at all with them, you shall but suffer ;" — 
words worthy to be held in lasting re- 
membrance, for the deep wisdom which 
they contain. On the day of his execu- 
tion, the 27th of May, his soul was filled 
with all a martyr's holy and inexpressi- 
ble joy. " What cheer, my Lord !" said 
the Rev. Mr. Hutchison. " Good cheer, 
Sir ; the Lordhath again confirmed and 
said to me from heaven, " Son be of good 
cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee.' " And 
when taking leave of his friends, after 
having freely stated that he was naturally 
of a timid disposition, but that God had 
taken away all fear from him, he said, 
" I could die like a Roman, but choose 
rather to die as a Christian." He as- 
cended the scaffold with steady step, calm 
pulse, and unmoved countenance, spoke a 
grave and earnest address to the assem- 
bled multitude, breathed forth a fervent 
prayer, kneeled down beneath the sharp 
axe of the decapitating instrument, prayed, 
gave the signal, the weapon fell, and his 
spirit returned to God who gave it. 

So fell the first and noblest Scottish 
victim of royal tyranny and prelatic am- 
bition, leaving behind him a name and 
character which enemies have in vain 
striven to blacken and depreciate ; which 
needs no other vindication than a simple 
statement of the truth ; and which Scot- 
land still holds, and long will hold, in 
deep and affectionate remembrance. 

The next victim was James Guthrie, 
minister of Stirling, of whose seizure and 
imprisonment mention has already been 
made. The chief accusation against him 
was his declinature of the king and coun- 
cil's competency to judge, in the first in- 
stance, respecting matters purely ecclesias- 



ical, such as presbyterial acts and letters , 
preaching, and the discharge of what 
belonged peculiarly to the ministerial 
function. This declinature had been pre- 
sented to the king and council at Perth 
in February 1651 ; and though the king 
had managed to procure a sentence of de- 
position against him in the packed As- 
sembly of St. Andrews and Dundee, yet 
as that assembly was not recognised as 
free and lawful by the Church, the sen- 
tence fell into abeyance, and Guthrie con- 
tinued to discharge his ministerial duties, 
till he was seized by the Committee of 
of Estates, as above related. When 
brought to trial, he defended himself 
with such eloquence, knowledge of law 
and strength of argument, as utterly 
amazed his friends and confounded his 
enemies. He proved clearly that his de- 
clinature was agreeable to the Word of 
God, to the Confession of Faith, accor- 
dant with the doctrine and practice of the 
Church of Scotland from the period of 
the Reformation, and confirmed and sanc- 
tioned by many acts of parliament, and 
therefore had the support of both divine 
and human laws. His enemies could 
not answer his arguments, nor prove the 
relevancy of their own accusations ; but 
he had been the leader of the Protesters ; 
his death might strike terror into that 
truly Presbyterian party, and induce 
them to yield ; and he had pronounced 
sentence of excommunication on the Earl 
of Middleton many years before, for 
which that vindictive man sought to be 
revenged. He was therefore pronounced 
guilty of high treason, and condemned to 
die as a traitor, on the first of June. 

"My lord," said this eminent man to 
his partial judge, " my conscience I can- 
not submit ; but this old crazy body and 
mortal flesh I do submit, to do with it 
whatsoever you will, whether by death, 
or banishment, or imprisonment, or any 
thing else ; only I beseech you to ponder 
well what profit there is in my blood. It 
is not the extinguishing me or many 
others that will extinguish the Covenant 
and the work of reformation since the 
year 1638. My blood, bondage, or ban- 
ishment will contribute more for the pro- 
pagation of those things than my life or 
liberty could do, though I should live 
many years." But his persecutors would 
have their malice gratified, and their 



214 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, 



[CLAP. WL 



thirst for blood satiated. The Christian 
martyr is beyond the reach of fear. So 
was it with Guthrie. On the day of his 
execution he was not merely serene, — he 
was unusually cheerful. " He spoke," 
says Burnet, " an hour upon the ladder, 
with the composedness of a man that 
was delivering a sermon rather than his 
last words. He justified all he had done, 
and exhorted all people to adhere to the 
Covenant, which he magnified highly." 
When on the scaffold, adds another rela- 
tion, he lifted themapkin off his fiice, just 
before he was turned over, and cried, 
" The Covenants, the Covenants, shall 
yet be Scotland's reviving." 

Thus died the Rev. James Guthrie, 
who may, with strict propriety, be termed 
the first Scottish martyr for Christ's 
Crown and Covenant, inasmuch as the 
very essence of the accusation brought 
against him consisted in his declining to 
subject Christ's kingly and sole dominion 
over his Church to the arrogated supre- 
macy of any earthly court or monach. 
In this, indeed, he but followed the ex- 
ample of Knox, and Melville, and Bruce, 
and Black, and Welch, and Calderwood, 
— in short, of all the great and pious men 
of both the First and Second Reforma- 
tions of the Church of Scotland ; but he 
was the first who died for that great and 
sacred truth, for which others had suf- 
fered bonds, affliction, and banishment. 
He died ; but the cause for which he 
suffered martyrdom cannot die. It is 
living now, and once more putting forth 
those sacred energies before which all 
human opposition must ultimately be con- 
sumed like stubble in the flames. It is, 
indeed, the chief of those great principles 
which form the essential characteristics 
of the Church of Scotland, inclosed im- 
perishably within its very heart, disap- 
pearing in times of defection or of leth- 
argy, but reviving and putting forth its 
undiminished might ever when the re- 
awakening call of God quickens its vital 
and eternal powers. 

Another victim was sacrificed along 
with Guthrie, named William Govan, 
who was accused of being implicated in 
the death of Charles L But though this 
was not proved against him, he had been 
engaged in the Western Remonstrance, 
and generally had favored the Protesters, 
which, in the estimation of Middleton's 



parliament, were crimes of unpardonable 
enormity. 

The parliament seemed to think that 
blood enough had been shed for the pre- 
sent ; but their tender mercies were still 
cruel. Several ministers of distinguished 
talents and character were apprehended, 
cast into prison, and finally banished. Of 
these, the most remarkable were M' Ward 
of Glasgow and Simpson of Airth, who 
were both banished to Holland. Mon- 
criefT of Sconie and Trail of Edinburgh 
were deposed from the ministry, and ex- 
posed to many sufferings and dangers, in 
addition to the protracted imprisonment 
which they had endured. But Patrick 
Gillespie was more leniently treated, 
partly in consequence of his having many 
friends in the parliament, and partly be- 
cause he made submissive acknowledg- 
ments of having given offence to his 
majesty by the Remonstrance, which 
none of the other sufferers could be in- 
duced to make. He was deposed from 
the ministry, and confined to Ormiston 
and six miles round it, but exempted from 
severer punishment. Yet he was, of all the 
ministers, the most disliked by the king, 
chiefly because of jhe direct intercourse 
which he had held with Cromwell 
When his majesty heard that Guthrie 
had been put to death, he asked, "And 
what have you done with Mr. Patrick 
Gillespie ?"— adding, "Well, if I had 
known you would have spared Mr. Gil- 
lespie, I would have spared Mr. Guthrie." 
The true explanation of Patrick Gilles- 
pie's conduct appears to be this : he w r as 
at least as much a man of the world as 
he was a Christian minister, and allowed 
his conduct to be swayed as much by- 
political motives as by Christian princi- 
ples. A man of such a mixed character 
will rarely act with thorough consistency, 
and generally his worldly and self-inte- 
rested motives will, in the hour of danger, 
obtain the ascendency over those higher 
principles which they had been too often 
permitted to intermingle with and vitiate. 

The deadly gripe of the parliament 
was attempted to be laid on a man of a 
very different mould, — the heavenly- 
minded Rutherford. Not content with 
burning his work entitled "Lex Rex," 
they summoned him to appear before 
them at Edinburgh, to answer to a charge 
of high treason. He was at that timo 



A. D. 1661.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



215 



lying on his death-bed. " Tell them," 
replied he, " that I have received a sum- 
mons already to appear before a superior 
Judge and judicatory, and I behove to 
answer my first summons ; and ere your 
day arrive, I will be where few kings and 
great folks come." 

It was now thought that the Presby- 
terian spirit of Scotland was sufficiently 
humbled, and that Prelacy might be in- 
troduced without further delay. Some 
of the leading men pressed the king to 
proceed forthwith with the intended 
change of church government in Scot- 
land, and Sharp prepared for another 
journey to London, to complete his treach- 
ery. Before his departure he had the 
dissimulation, or the effrontery, to visit 
Robert Douglas, and pretend that the 
king wished to make that distinguished 
man Archbishop of St. Andrews. Doug- 
las answered that he would have nothing 
to do with it ; and when Sharp rose to 
withdraw, Douglas called him back and 
thus addressed him, "James, I see you 
will engage, — I perceive you are clear, — 
you will be Bishop of St. Andrews ; take 
it, and the curse of God with it :" — and 
laying his hand heavily on the apostate's 
shoulder as he spoke, moved him to the 
door.* 

The subversive process now went on 
rapidly. A new privy council was formed 
for the permanent management of public 
affairs in Scotland. Soon after the meet- 
ing of the council, a letter, bearing date 
the 14th of August, was sent by his ma- 
jesty to them, declaring his "firm reso- 
lution to interpose his royal authority for 
restoring the Church of Scotland to its 
rightful government by bishops." This 
letter was published by proclamation with 
the addition of penalties, to which all 
should be liable who might fail in ren- 
dering obedience. Such was the result 
of his majesty's often-repeated oaths and 
declarations to maintain and defend the 
Presbyterian Church of Scotland. And 
it deserves to be remarked, that this pro- 
clamation was of the most arbitrary char- 
racter, resting the whole change upon 
the royal prerogative alone, without re- 
ference to the advice of council, parlia- 
ment, or Assembly. This, indeed, was 
the natural result of the absolute preroga- 
tive which had been made the ruling 

* Kirkton, p. 135. 



principle of the whole preceding parlia- 
mentary enactments. The arbitrary will 
of the sovereign had been distinctly de- 
clared to be the source of ail authority ; 
'and the repealing of acts and annulling 
of parliaments having left no other source 
of authority, the language of despotism 
was the fitting medium for declaring the 
restoration of Prelacy. 

All preliminary steps were now com- 
pleted ; and Sharp again hastened to 
London, to receive episcopal consecra- 
tion, taking with him some of his bre- 
thren, who, like himself, were ready to 
purchase Prelacy at the cost of perjury. 
These were, Andrew Fairfoul, James 
Hamilton, and Robert Leighton. Of the 
character of Sharp it is unnecessary to 
write a single word. Fairfoul appears 
to have been vain, facetious, somewhat 
learned, and loose in his moral conduct. 
Hamilton was a weak, trimming, un- 
principled man, equally readly to pretend 
extreme zeal for the Covenant, and to 
adjure and betray it. But what had 
Leighton to do in such company, and on 
such an errand % That pious, amiable, 
modest, and gentle-hearted man seems to 
have been selected expressly to present to 
Scotland the abstract possibility that a 
prelate might be a man deserving of es- 
teem and love. «It might be, too, that 
some of more sagacious mind might 
anticipate from Leighton's moderation 
and kindliness of heart, a greater in- 
fluence in recommending Prelacy, than 
could be expected from the arbitrary and 
oppressive conduct and disreputable char* 
acter of his brethren. 

When they arrived at London, it was 
ascertained that Sharp and Leighton had 
not received episcopal ordination, having 
been both ordained since the abolition of 
Prelacy in Scotland. The English bis- 
hops refused to consecrate them to the 
prelatic office till they should be re- 
ordained as deacons and priests. This 
Sharp at first opposed, as contrary to the 
precedent in 1610, when Spots wood had 
not been required to receive prelatic or- 
dination before his elevation to a bishop- 
ric. But the English prelates had begun 
to insist on the Divine institution of Pre- 
lacy, — a notion introduced into the Eng- 
lish Church by Bancroft, and carried to 
its extreme height by Laud, but which 
the great and good men of England's 



216 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VH. 



Reformation never entertained. Leigh- 
ton regarded the whole matter as an 
indifferent ceremony, which might be 
omitted or performed, according- to the 
custom of different churches ; and Sharp 
was too intent on reaching the summit of 
his ambition to offer any protracted resis- 
tance. On the 12th of December 1661, 
these four men were formally consecrated 
to the episcopal office, and concluded the 
service of the day with feasting and re- 
velry, to a degree which shocked the 
heart of Leighton. He said to Burnet, 
" that in the whole progress of that affair 
there appeared such cross character of an 
angry Providence, that how fully soever 
he was satisfied in his own mind as to 
Episcopacy itself, yet it seemed that God 
was against them, and they were not like 
to be the men that would build up his 
Church; so that the struggling about it 
seemed to him like a fighting against 
God.* It was not strange that he should 
come tc that conclusion ; but it was 
strange that he persevered so many years 
in what he regarded as little better than 
fighting against God, till at last he was 
constrained to abandon the fearful at- 
iempt, wounded in conscience, and almost 
broken-hearted. 

[1662.] On the 2d of January 1662, 
the council received a letter from his 
majesty, announcing the consecration of 
the prelates, and prohibiting the meeting 
of Synods, Presbyteries, and Kirk-Ses- 
sions, till they should be authorised by 
the archbishops and bishops ; calling 
tjpon the nobility, gentry, and burgh ma- 
gistracy, to give all countenance and en- 
couragement to the bishops, and threaten- 
ing that severe and exemplary notice 
would be taken of every one who should 
presume to reflect or express any disre- 
spect to their persons, or the authority 
with which they were intrusted. This was 
speedily followed by a proclamation from 
the council of the same tenor, and a let- 
ter to sheriffs and magistrates throughout 
the kingdom, intimaiing the prohibition 
of all meetings of Synods, Presbyteries, 
and Sessions, till they should be ordered 
by the bishops. By this proclamation 
the Presbyterian Church was more com- 
pletely overthrown than it had been 
dunng the reign of James VI. ; for then 

* Burnet'3 Own Times, vol. ii. pp. 140, 141. 



Synods, Presbyteries, and Kirk-Sessions 
continued to meet by virtue of their own 
intrinsic powers, cramped merely with 
constant moderators, possessing a nega- 
tive upon the proceedings of these church 
judicatories. But now they were not to 
be held at all, till called by the prelates, 
and to possess no power except what these 
despots should be pleased to grant. 

One good effect resulted from this ar- 
bitrary proclamation ; it put an end to 
much of the rivalry which had existed 
between the Resolutioners and the Pro- 
testers, though too laU to be of much 
avail. Robert Douglas exclaimed, "Our 
brethren the Protesters have had their 
eyes open, and we have been blind ;" and 
David Dickson Gaid, " The Prowsters 
have been much truer prophets than we." 
Wood of St. Andrews, also, who had 
maintained a long and painful contest 
with Rutherford, acknowledged that he 
and his party had been mistaken in the 
views they took of matters. But their 
disunion had been of too long continua- 
tion to admit of a ready and cordial coa- 
lition, even in such a time of general 
danger and distress. Sorrow and dejec- 
tion filled the minds of the great majority, 
instead of that prompt and decisive energy 
which might even yet have prevented the 
subversion of the Church, had it been put 
forth as in the early days of the Cove- 
nant. In a state of silent stupor they 
generally submitted to the blow ; a very 
few Presbyteries only having the courage 
to meet and protest against this invasion 
of their spiritual liberties. Why had the 
Church of Scotland so soon lost its primi- 
tive spirit, and sunk into such cowardly 
despair 1 Because it had sinned in 
passing these baneful " Resolutions," ex- 
pressive of acquiescence in the schemes 
of deceptive expediency devised by 
worldly politicians ; and therefore were 
its councils distracted, and its strength 
was become weakness. The fiercest 
stortn of royal wrath and prelatic revenge 
was indeed directed against the high- 
principled and clear-sighted Protesters j 
but who will say that it was not better to 
die the noble death of a Christian martyr, 
like Guthrie, than to sink, like Baillie, to 
the grave, beneath the piercing anguish 
of a disappointed and a broken heart? 
" Pray," said the Earl of Loudon to his 



A. D. 1662.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



217 



pious countess, " that I may die before 
the meeting- of parliament, when I must 
either sin or meet the fate of Argyle." 

On the 8th of April, Sharp and his 
three brother prelates reached Berwick, 
having travelled from London all in one 
coach ; but there Leighton left them, 
being thoroughly weary of their company, 
and hastened privately to Edinburgh, to 
escape the infamy of that pompous pro- 
cessional entrance which the others 
courted and obtained. Soon after their 
arrival, six others were consecrated to 
the prelatic function, but without that re- 
ordination to which Sharp and Leighton 
had submitted, as if to prove the incom- 
patibility of Prelacy to the Scottish char- 
acter, and the impossibility of manufac- 
turing bishops in Scotland according to 
the high episcopalian rules. When the 
parliament met, a deputation was sent to 
invite the prelates to take their seats, as 
the third estate of the realm. The very 
first act passed by this parliament, which 
met on the 8th of May, was one " for the 
restitution and re-establishment of the 
ancient government of the Church by 
archbishops and bishops." After a false 
preamble respecting the evils sustained 
by the community during the late rebel- 
lion, as the late Reformation is termed, in 
consequence of casting off the " sacred 
order of bishops," that order is restored 
to all its accustomed dignities, privileges, 
and jurisdictions, and to all power of or- 
dination, censure, and discipline, " which 
they are to perform with advice and assist- 
ance of such of the clergy as they shall 
find to be of known loyalty and pru- 
dence." The act further annuls every 
kind and degree of church power and 
jurisdiction "other than that which ac- 
knowledged a dependence upon and 
subordination to the sovereign power of 
the king as supreme."* This, certainly, 
was enough to gratify the utmost desire 
of the most thorough Erastian, ancient or 
modern, and might be studied with ad- 
vantage by those who regard the Church 
as purely the " creature of the State." 
No wonder that the men who had sworn 
to maintain Christ's kingly government 
of his Church regarded Prelacy, thus in- 
troduced, and avowing no allegiance but 
that due to an earthly monarch, as in- 
volving a virtual transfer of the Divine 

* See the act in Wodrow, vol. i, pp. 257, 258. 

28 



Redeemer's eternal crown to the brows 
of a sinful and mortal man. 

An act was also passed " for the preser 
vation of his majesty's person, author 
ity, and government ;" probably one of 
the most pure pieces of despotism that 
ever emanated from any legislative body. 
It involves in the guilt of treason " all 
covenants and leagues for reformation ;" 
brands the covenants as unlawful oaths 
against the fundamental laws and liber- 
ties of the kingdom, though the king 
himself has sworn them ; stigmatizes 
all protestations and petitions as unlawful 
and seditious : rescinds the acts of the 
Assembly of 1638, and all ratifications 
of them ; prohibits, on the severest pe- 
nalties, all writing, speaking, painting, 
preaching, praying, &c, tending to stir 
up a dislike of his majesty's royal prero- 
gative and supremacy in cases ecclesias- 
tical, or the government of the Church 
by archbishops and bishops. Such are 
the leading clauses of this arbitrary act, 
unquestionably a fine specimen of pre- 
latic legislation, and a sufficient proof 
that in Scotland at least, tyranny and 
Prelacy are inseparably connected. But 
their schemes were not yet fully devel- 
oped. Another act prohibited any per- 
son to teach in universities, or to preach, 
keep schools, or to be tutors to persons of 
quality, who did not own prelatic gov- 
ernment, and obtain a license from the 
prelates. By another act, all persons in 
public trust were ordained to sign a de- 
claration condemning as unlawful all 
leagues and covenants among subjects, 
upon any pretext whatever ; and particu- 
larly the National Covenant and the So- 
lemn League and Covenant, which were 
declared by the subscriber to be of no 
obligation upon himself or any of the 
subjects. It did not seem to the prelates 
enough for a man to say that he ceased 
to regard the Covenants as binding upon 
himself he must also affirm the same of 
others, though he could know nothing of 
their conscientious opinions. One can- 
not help conjecturing, that the prelates, 
somewhat uneasy under their own perju- 
ry, were anxious that the whole king- 
dom should be plunged into similar guilt, 
or that men should become as accustomed 
to oaths, as to regard their violation as a 
matter of no real moment, inferring nei- 
ther guilt nor infamy. One or other of 



218 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VII. 



two consequences such a multiplicity of 
ensnaring and often self-contradictory 
oaths were sure to have : they would 
either involve the nation in w T ide-spread 
irreligion and immorality, or would bring 
into trouble, poverty, and suffering, all 
who venerated the sanctity of an oath. 
For it has always been observed, that 
where these solemn bonds are made too 
common, they cease to bind : they are 
iron fetters to the good, but threads of 
gossamer to the bad. A government 
which multiplies oaths of office, proves 
itself to have little consciousness of their 
awful sanction, manifests distrust of its 
subjects, and holds forth a snare to tempt 
ambitious and self-interested men to the 
commission of perjury. So was it with 
the Scottish prelatic parliament. The 
numerous oaths which they imposed shut 
out from places of public trust nearly all 
men of the highest worth, opposed no 
obstacle to the admission of the wicked, 
and became directly instrumental in the 
infliction of the most extensive and re- 
lentless persecution. 

The act of indemnity, so long expect- 
ed, came at last, but came in a character 
which sufficiently proved its paternity. 
In addition to a list of persons excepted 
from the benefit of this act, it had, in the 
form of an appended exception, what 
was in reality another act, empowering 
a committee to impose fines upon as 
many as they thought proper, and to 
whatsoever amount they pleased. A list 
of persons to be fined was accordingly 
made, including all who were known or 
suspected to be favourable to the Presby- 
terian Church. The avowed object of 
this list was, by means of these fines, to 
depress the Presbyterians and enrich the 
royalists and the favourers of Prelacy. 
The parliament terminated its sittings by 
passing an act, the effect of which was 
the immediate ejection of the ministers of 
Edinburgh, and of several other ministers 
in different parts of the country soon after, 
who held the laws of God in higher esti- 
mation than acts of parliament. 

When the parliament rose, the privy 
council assumed the management of pub- 
lic affairs, and proceeded to enforce those 
arbitrary enactments in a congenial spirit. 
They published an act respecting dioce- 
san meetings, commanding all ministers 
to repair t<j the meetings which the pre- 



lates were about to hold, to give their con- 
currence to them, and to refrain from 
holding any other ecclesiastical meetings 
on pain of the censures provided in such 
cases. These diocesan meetings were 
generally termed the Bishop's Courts ; 
and notwithstanding the threatenings of 
the privy council and the prelates, very 
few of the ministers attended them. In- 
deed, they could not, without abandoning 
all their Presbyterian principles, and, in 
particular, that principle essentially Pres- 
byterian, that all ecclesiastical jurisdic- 
tion is derived from Christ alone, where- 
as the jurisdiction of the prelates was 
avowedly derived from the king alone, so 
that to attend the diocesan meeting would 
have been to violate their allegiance to 
Christ.* The case was different during 
the semi-prelacy established by King 
James ; for then the Presbyterian church 
courts had not been suppressed, but mere- 
ly invaded, and the ministers held it even 
their duty to retain as much of their priv- 
ileges as they could, to keep possession 
of their sacred judicatories, and to resist 
the invading prelates to the utmost. But 
now these judicatories had been wholly 
abolished, were attempted to be recon- 
structed on prelatic principles alone, and 
could not be so much as entered by a true 
Presbyterian, without abandoning all his 
own most sacred principles, and doing 
violence to his conscientious convictions. 

But the wild career of Middleton was 
now near its close, although, like an 
i eastern tornado, its last fierce burst of fury 
was the most destructive. There had, 
from the time of the king's restoration, 
been a constant rivalry between Middle- 
ton and Lauderdale, and each had been 
continually plotting to ruin the power of 
his rival. Lauderdale's situation near the 
person of the monarch gave him an ad- 
vantage which Middleton attempted to 
counterbalance by his zeal in the destruc- 
tion of the Presbyterian Church ; and this 
had stimulated him to press forward his 
pernicious schemes with a degree of pre- 
cipitation too impetuous to admit of taking 
a deliberate estimation of their possible 
consequences in case of failure or recoil. 
Having finished his tyrannical labours in 
the parliament and council, he began a 
tour through the west of Scotland, for the 
double purpose of enjoying the festive en* 

* See Apologetical Relation, section viii. pp. 91-100. 



A. D. 1662.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



219 



tertainments given to him by the obsequi- 
ous nobility, and of urging upon the Pres- 
byterians the declaration recently passed 
by parliament When he came to Glas- 
gow, the archbishop, Fairfoul, laid before 
him the most grievous complaints, that 
none of the younger ministers within his 
diocese, entered since 1649, had attended 
his courts, or acknowledged his prelatic 
superiority ; that he was exposed to the 
odium which attends that office in Scot- 
land, but possessed nothing of its power ; 
and that, unless some more effectual steps 
were taken, the prelatic office itself would 
sink into general contempt. Middleton 
requested him to state his plan, and he 
would immediately put it in execution. 
Fairfoul proposed that an act of council 
might be passed and proclaimed, peremp- 
torily banishing all the ministers who 
had entered since the year 1649, from 
their houses, parishes, and respective 
presbyteries if they did not before the 1st 
day of November ensuing, procure pre- 
sentations from the patrons, and present 
themselves to the prelates to receive colla- 
tion and admission to their charges; as- 
suring the commissioner, that there 
would not be ten in his diocese that would 
not rather sacrifice their principles than 
lose their stipends.* The result proved 
the folly of a prelate judging Presbyte- 
rian ministers by his own standard. 

The council met at Glasgow on the 1st 
of October, and passed an act, known by 
the designation of " the Act of Glasgow," 
in exact conformity with the archbishop's 
suggestions. Burnet informs us, that the 
Duke of Hamilton, who was one of the 
council, told him, that "they were all so 
drunk that day that they were not capa- 
ble of considering any thin* that was 
laid before them, and would hear of no- 
thing- but the executing the law without 
any relenting or delay."f The Presby- 
terian ministers obeyed the law. They 
submitted to the very letter of its penalty. 
On the last Sabbath of October they 
preached and bade farewell to their deep- 
ly-attached congregations ; and on that 
day, as Burnet states, above two hundred 
churches were at once shut up, and aban- 
doned equally by pastors and by people. 
"I believe," says Kirkton, "there was 
never such a sad Sabbath in Scotland, as 

• Wodrow, vol. i. p. 282. t Burnet's Own Times, 
Tol. i. p. 154. 



when the poor persecuted ministers took 
leave of their people."* In many instan- 
ces the congregations could not repress 
their feelings, but wept aloud, till their 
lamentations resembled the wild wailings 
of a city taking by storm. This desola- 
ting blast fell first on the western coun- 
ties, but it soon extended over the south- 
ern and midland parts of the kingdom, 
till it caused the ejection of nearly four 
hundred ministers in the course of a few 
months, involving a large portion of Scot- 
land in sudden spiritual destitution.! 

Great was *he astonishment, and even 
consternation, felt by the prelatic party at 
the wide devastation caused by the Act of 
Glasgow. They had committed the 
grievous error which unprincipled men 
are so apt to do, of concluding what the 
Presbyterian ministers would do by what 
they would themselves have done in sim- 
ilar circumstances, and they saw then- 
error when it was too late easily to repair 
it. They could not but perceive that the 
unpopularity of their proceedings would 
be very greatly increased by the firm and 
high-principled conduct of the ministers, 
submitting readily to the loss of all that 
human nature holds dear, rather than 
they would violate their sacred principles. 
The more wary of the prelates, and in 
particular Sharp himself, had intended to 
follow a very different method for the se- 
curing of their triumph over the Presby- 
terian Church. Their plan was gradu- 
ally to depose the leading men of the 
Presbyterian ministers, not more rapidly, 
nor in greater numbers, than they would 
be able to supply with successors of toler- 
able education and character, so that in 
the course of a generation, an entire 
change might be effected by almost im- 
perceptible degrees, and Prelacy quietly 
but firmly be established. This danger- 
ous policy was at once rendered impossi- 
ble by the Act of Glasgow; and that 
there is little reason to doubt, that while 
the most sagacious of the prelatists deplor- 
ed the sudden precipitation of the struggle, 
the Presbyterians, amidst all their suffer- 
ings, rejoiced at the false movement of 
their enemies. Need we hesitate to say, 
that God confounded the councils of 

• Kirkton, p. 150. 
r Wodrow gives a list of ejected ministers, amount- 
ing to 412, but several of them had been deposed before 
the Act of Glasgow, so that the number cast out by 
that Act fell somewhat short of 400. See Wodrow 
vol. i. pp. 324-329. 



220 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. [CHAP. VII. 



Ahithophel, and caused the crafty to be 
taken in their own snares? 

An attempt was made by the council 
to retrieve this false step, by an act passed 
at Edinburgh on the 23d of December, 
extending the term within which minis- 
ters might receive presentation and colla- 
tion, to the 1st day of February 1663; 
but the penalties for non-compliance were 
not relaxed, and a fine of twenty shillings 
Scots was ordered to b.e exacted from all 
the people who did not attend their parish 
churches. As the testimony of an adver- 
sary is always held peculiarly valuable, 
we may here conclude our account of the 
proceedings of this year by extracting 
Bishop Burnet's statement of the conse- 
quences resulting from the Act of Glas- 
gow. 

" There was a sort of an invitation sent 
over the kingdom, like a hue-and-cry, to 
all persons to accept of benefices in the 
west. The livings were generally well 
endowed, and the parsonage-houses were 
well built, and in good repair. And this 
drew many very worthless persons thith- 
er, who had little learning, less piety, and 
no sort of discretion. The new incum- 
bents who were put in the place of the 
ejected preachers, were generally very 
mean and despicable in all respects. 
They were the worst preachers I ever 
heard ; they were ignorant to a reproach ; 
and many of them were openly vicious. 
They were a disgrace to their orders and 
the sacred functions, and indeed were the 
dregs and refuse of the northern parts. 
Those of them who rose above contempt 
or scandal were men of such violent tem- 
pers, that they were as much hated as the 
others were despised. 

<; The former incumbents, who were 
for the most part Protesters, were a grave, 
solemn sort of people. Their spirits 
were eager, and their tempers sour; but 
they had an appearance that created re- 
spect They were related to the chief 
families in the country either by blood or 
marriage, and had lived in so decent a 
manner that the gentry paid great respect 
to them. They used to visit their parishes 
much, and were so full of the Scriptures, 
and so ready at extempore prayer, that 
from that they grew to practise extempore 
sermons. They had brought the people 
to such a degree of knowledge, that cot- 
tagers and servants would have prayed 



extempore. By these means they had a 
comprehension of matters of religion 
greater than I have seen among people 
of that sort any where. As they (the 
ministers) lived in great familiarity with 
their people, and used to pray and to talk 
oft with them in private, so it can hardly 
be imagined to what a degree they were 
loved and reverenced by them."* 

Let the candid reader look on these 
two pictures, drawn by the hand of a pre- 
late from personal observation and know- 
ledge, and say whether it was possible 
that the people of Scotland could regard 
with favour a system, the unconstitutional 
and tyrannical introduction of which 
drove to the wilds their own faithful, 
pious, and beloved ministers, and forced 
upon them the desecrating services of 
such an irreligious and immoral crew of 
the very lowest spawn of Prelacy. But 
these curates, as they were designated 
somewhat incorrectly, had obtained " pre- 
sentations from patrons and collation from 
the bishops ;" and these qualifications 
would, in the estimation of some people, 
cover any multitude of sins. Others, 
however, will be disposed to think, as the 
bereaved and oppressed people of Scot- 
land did, that the very fact of patrons and 
prelates so readily concurring to thrust 
such men into churches, which their 
presence could only desecrate, furnished 
a very strong proof of the unchristian 
origin of both patronage and Prelacy. 
Will any sane man say, that that system 
is of divine origin which directly expels 
from the Church such men as Douglas, 
Traill, and Hutcheson of Edinburgh, 
Livingston of Ancrum, Blair of St. An- 
drews, Wylie of Kirkcudbright, Welch 
of Irongray, and Brown of Wamphray, 
and forces into it such men as even Bur- 
net cannot write of without contempt? 
But we must proceed, though the heart 
sickens at the consciousness of the dread- 
ful character of the narrative on which 
we are now more distinctly to enter. So 
strong, indeed, is our reluctance to dwell 
on scenes of almost unmingled horror,-— 
so great is the repugnance which we feel 
to relate the bloody and inhuman brutali- 
ties perpetrated by Prelacy in Scotland, 
— that we purpose to sketch the outline 
of prelatic persecution as briefly, and 
with as little reference to its darker ter- 

• Burnet's Own Times, vol. i. pp. 156-158. 



A. D. 1663.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



221 



rors, as may be possible, consistently with 
the historian's duty. 

[1663.] The year 1663 began with 
great hardships to both the ejected minis- 
ters and the deprived people of Scotland. 
The ministers were compelled to leave 
their houses, the scenes of their ministry, 
the people whom they had been accus- 
tomed to instruct with such anxious and 
successful care in the knowledge of the 
way of salvation, — all that they held dear 
on earth, and much that had been to them 
both earnest and foretaste of heaven, — 
and to hasten away to other districts, 
chiefly to those north of the Tay, in the 
depth of a stern, inclement Scottish win- 
ter, because they would not bring upon 
their souls the guilt of perjury. The 
people were at once deprived of the high- 
ly-valued labours of their beloved pas- 
tors, at the very time when the course of 
religious instruction to which they had 
been accustomed was producing its most 
beneficial effects, and when they were 
become most able to appreciate truly the 
worth of an evangelical ministry. It 
soon became a question of deep moment, 
whether they could conscientiously attend 
the churches where the prelatic curates 
preached, but not long a question of diffi- 
cult solution. Great numbers of the peo- 
ple were beyond all comparison better 
acquainted with their Bibles than the 
curates were; and it would be insulting 
to the memory of the Scottish Covenant- 
ers to compare them, in point of moral 
character, with the dissolute and licen- 
tious creatures of the prelates. To attend 
the ministry of such persons was abso- 
lutely impossible for men who had any 
feeling of what was due to the hallowed 
day of God, and to the sacred nature of 
religious ordinances ; nay, even their re- 
gard to the welfare of their own souls 
forbade them to listen to men whose 
whole conduct was such as to render their 
interference with holy things a hideous 
profanation. The people therefore re- 
fused to attend the ministry of the curates, 
whom they could not look upon without 
equal disgust and indignation. 

It will be remembered, that the Glas- 
gow Act included directly only those 
ministers who had entered into their 
charges since 1649. But there were 
considerable numbers of more aged min- 
isters, who had entered previous to that 



year, and who were accordingly left for 
a time in the possession of their parishes. 
To the churches of these men the people 
flocked from great distances when their 
own ministers were cast out, and thus 
continued for a time to obtain instruction 
to which they could listen without viola- 
tion to their consciences. Some of the 
ejected ministers also were allowed to 
reside in their parishes, though not in the 
manses or parsonages ; and the people 
collected together in great numbers at 
those hours in which they were accus- 
tomed to have family worship, that they 
might enjoy the private expositions and 
prayers of their beloved pastors. To 
such an extent did this proceed, that often 
no room could be obtained large enough 
to contain the assembled worshippers, 
who were constrained, both minister and 
people, to betake themselves to the open 
air, there to adore the God who made 
heaven and earth. This was the origin 
of what were termed conventicles and 
field-meetings in Scotland, against which, 
a few years afterwards, the rage of the 
persecutors burned so fiercely. Even at 
the very beginning of this method of 
seeking the benefit of a gospel ministry, 
the people were exposed to abusive treat- 
ment. The act of 23d December had 
imposed a fine upon those who did not 
attend their own parish churches ; and 
the rude soldiery, instigated by the cu- 
rates, began the practice of intercepting 
people on their way to the churches of 
the old and unexpelled ministers, and ex- 
acting the fine specified in the proclama- 
tion. Other occasions of persecution also 
began to be common. In several in- 
stances, the people, especially the females, 
opposed the entrance of curates forcibly, 
till their resistance was overcome by 
military power. This the wiser part of 
the Covenanters deplored, as calculated 
to give some colour of justice to the 
harsh retaliation inflicted by the armed 
supporters of the prelatic intruders ; but 
the prelatists were not slow in availing 
themselves of every opportunity of inflict- 
ing vengeance upon their opponents. 

Allusion has already been made to the 
political rivalry between Middleton and 
Lauderdale, and to the effect which it had 
in stimulating the former to press forward 
the establishment of Prelacy upon the 
ruins of the Presbyterian Church, as the 



222 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VII. 



best method, in his opinion, of securing 
the favour of the king. His majesty, 
however, saw clearly that the Glasgow 
Act was an impolitic measure, more 
likely to injure the cause of Prelacy than 
to promote it ; and, though well enough 
satisfied with Middleton's zeal, was by 
no means disposed to hazard the failure 
of his schemes for any regard to the for- 
tunes of his most zealous adherent. Lau- 
derdale availed himself of this opportu- 
nity to assail his rival, and prepared for a 
final effort to overthrow him. The ava- 
rice of Middleton supplied what was 
wanting for his ruin. The king thought 
proper to send to the Scottish council 
a letter suspending the payment of 
the fines imposed on non-conformists ; 
but Middleton, eager to get hold of the 
money, prevented the proclamation of his 
majesty's letter postponing the term of 
payment. This Lauderdale represented 
as a daring violation of the royal prero- 
gative ; and the king, offended more with 
this tampering with his authority, than 
with all the despotic proceedings of Mid- 
dleton against the liberties of the people, 
deprived him of that power which he 
had so greatly abused, and sent him in a 
kind of honourable banishment to Tan- 
gier, where he soon afterwards died in 
consequence of a fall* 

Lauderdale became now the chief 
manager of Scottish affairs ; but this 
brought no mitigation to the sufferings of 
the Presbyterians. He had, indeed, been 
himself at one time not only a Covenant- 
er, but even one of the commissioners 
from the General Assembly to the West- 
minster Assembly of Divines ; and at 
the Restoration he at first advocated the 
establishment of the Presbyterian Church 
as that of the three kingdoms, f Per- 
ceiving the king's rooted aversion to the 
Presbyterian Church, Lauderdale, with 
the supple pliancy of a courtier, aban- 
doned his cause, and, with the spirit of a 
renegade, became the deadly persecutor 
of the religion from which he had apos- 
tatized. And now, when elevated to the 
chief power in Scotland, he deemed it 
expedient to remove any lingering suspi- 
cion which might still attach to him on 
account of his former conduct, by taking 

* Burnet's Own Times, vol. i. pp. 200-222. 
T It was at that time that the King uttereil the well- 
known expression, "Presbytery is not a religion for a 
gentleman." 



prompt and effectual measures for the 
suppression of the Church which he had 
most solemnly vowed to defend. 

A parliament was held in Edinburgh, 
on the 18th of June, at which Lauderdale 
was present, to commence his career of 
power, assisted by the Earl of Rothes, 
with whom he was in close political con- 
nection. The first act of the new admin- 
istration was one which paralyzed the 
parliament, by restoring the old method 
of electing the Lords of the Articles. 
The second was intituled, an " Act 
against Separation and Disobedience to 
Ecclesiastical Authority." Its object was, 
to prevent people from leaving the curates 
and following the ejected ministers ; and 
to effect that purpose, it declares of the 
latter, " that their daring to preach, in 
contempt of the law," is sedition, and they 
are subjected to punishment as seditious 
persons j while all men are enjoined to 
attend " such ministers as by public au- 
thority are or shall be admitted to their 
parishes," those who absent themselves 
being liable to be fined, each nobleman, 
gentleman, and heritor, the fourth part ol 
a year's rental, and each tenant the same 
proportion of his moveable property, de- 
ducting the payment of the rent due to 
his landlord : and each burgess to lose 
the liberty of trading within burgh 
towns, and the fourth part of his movea- 
ble property. This act was commonly 
termed " The Bishop's drag-net," and 
formed the foundation of a great part of 
the oppressive exactions afterwards levied 
throughout the kingdom. The privy 
council were directed to be careful to see 
this act put in due execution, by inflicting 
not only the specified censures and pen- 
alties, but also such other corporeal pun- 
ishments as they should think fit, — a 
clause of dark import, destined ere long 
to be interpreted and enforced with terrific 
cruelty. 

Another act was passed, enforcing the 
signing of the declaration condemnatory 
of the Covenants, without which no per- 
son was eligible to places of public trust ; 
to which was now added, that those who 
should refuse t> sign it should " forfeit all 
the privileges of merchandising ard tra- 
ding." From this it seems to hive been 
the dire policy of Laudeidale and the 
prelates, to render it impossible for any 
man even to live in the kingdom without 



A. D. 1663.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



223 



submitting to Prelacy. The last act of I 
any importance passed by this servile 
parliament was one for establishing a na- 
tional synod, mo'ieUed after the plan of 
the English convocation, but still more 
abortive, inasmuch as it was never once 
held, the prelates finding that their work 
could be more expeditiously and effectual- 
ly done by the privy council itself, and by 
the Court of High Commission, which 
was soon afterwards revived. Lauder- 
dale finished this parliament by the vain 
parade of an act, offering to his majesty 
an army of twenty-two thousand infantry 
and two thousand cavalry, if necessary, 
to aid in the preservation of Christen- 
dom against the Turks ; unless, indeed, 
the act had a private interpretation, and 
was designed to show the king that an 
army could be raised for him in Scot- 
land, in case his English subjects should 
grow refractory. 

During the sitting of parliament, the 
privy council thought proper to meet and 
pass some acts manifestly beyond their 
powers, especially while the superior 
legislative body was assembled. The 
two archbishops had been by this time 
made members of the privy council, and 
to this may be fairly ascribed both its 
encroachment upon parliamentary privi- 
leges, and the despotism of its acts. The 
first, which was proclaimed on the 13th 
of August, is known as " The Mile Act." 
It commands all the ministers included 
within the Act of Glasgow " to remove 
themselves and their families, within 
twenty days, out of the parishes where 
they were incumbents, and not to reside 
within twenty miles of the same, nor 
within six miles of Edinburgh or any 
cathedral church, nor within three miles 
of any burgh royal within the kingdom," 
under the penalties of the laws against 
movers of sedition. Every person must 
see that it was physically impossible to 
comply with the terms of this act, coupled 
with a former one which prohibited any 
two of the ejected ministers from residing 
within the boundaries of the same parish. 
Four hundred spots such as the act de- 
scribes could not have been found within 
the kingdom, though all its lonely wilds 
had been selected with geographical ex- 
actness. But it requires no comment to 
point out the blundering cruelty of these 
absurd tyrants. Another act of council 



was passed on the 7th of October, which 
rendered the despotic series nearly com- 
plete. Its first part was directed against 
the Presbyterian ministers who had fled 
from Ireland to escape the prelatic perse- 
cution there, rendering them liable to the 
penalties of sedition if they dared to reside 
or preach in Scotland : its second part 
directed the curates to read out from the 
pulpit lists of such people in their parishes 
as absented themselves from public wor- 
ship in these parishes, which intimation 
should be sufficient ground for proceeding 
against such persons if they d : d not in- 
stantly submit ; and not only magistrates, 
but " officers of the standing forces," are 
required to give their assistance to minis- 
ters in the discharge of their office, to 
put the law in execution, and to enforce 
the penalties expressed in the acts of par- 
liament and council.* The effect of this 
was, to authorise the curates to act as 
spies and informers against their parish- 
ioners, and the army to act as execution- 
ers of the law almost on their own re- 
sponsibility, — functions which both these 
classes of persons soon proved themselves 
equally ready to perform with the most 
ruthless cruelty. 

The only public instance of actual mar- 
tyrdom which occurred this year was 
that of Warriston. He had escaped 
from the hands of his enemies about two 
years before, and had fled to the continent 
for safety. While he was at Hamburg, 
he had an attack of sickness, and was at- 
tended by Dr. Bates, who had been one 
of the king's physicians, and was by him 
subjected to such improper medical treat- 
ment as to deprive him almost entirely of 
the use of his faculties.! His memory 
departed to such a degree that he could 
not remember what he had said or done 
a quarter of an hour before. In this de- 
plorable condition, the wreck of his 
former self, he was basely given up by 
the French monarch to an emissary of 
Charles, brought to Edinburgh, tried, 
and condemned to death. The pitiable 
spectacle of the helpless old man, re- 
duced to premature imbecility by the 
treacherous conduct of the royal physi- 
cian, failed to excite the compassion of 
his persecutors ; nay, Sharp and the 
other prelates triumphed in the weak and 

* Wodrow, vol. i. pp. 341 3-13. 1 Apologetical 
Relation, pref. 



224 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VII. 



wavering accents of him whose bold and 
fervid eloquence had often formerly held 
Assemblies and parliaments mute in 
silent admiration. But God did not for- 
sake his aged servant when compassed 
round with his exulting and merciless 
enemies. The night before his execu- 
tion he was visited with that deep, calm, 
refreshing sleep, which the Father of 
mercies " gives to his beloved," and 
awoke in the morning marvellously re- 
stored. His memory returned, and all 
his faculties were remarkably revived, 
while his soul was filled with that " peace 
of God which passeth all understanding." 
He prepared a speech, which he read 
with clear and audible voice on the scaf- 
fold, where also he prayed aloud with 
such fervour, liberty, and power, as as- 
tonished every auditor. His last accents 
were those of prayer and praise ; and 
almost without a struggle he expired, 
with his clasped hands held up to heaven 
in the attitude of adoration.* 

The more general sufferings of the 
Church this year consisted in the expul- 
sion of a great number of the best minis- 
ters from their parishes, the intrusion of 
the curates, and the grief which over- 
whelmed the bereaved people. At Kirk- 
cudbright and Irongray the women op- 
posed the entrance of the curates in a 
very determined manner, which drew 
down, not only upon themselves, but upon 
the whole parishes, and even districts of 
country which they inhabited, the severe 
displeasure of the council and the prelates, 
and gave occasion to the exaction of very 
heavy fines from persons suspected of be- 
ing attached to the Presbyterian Church. 
The two deadly elements recently intro- 
duced by the prelates began to do their 
work. The curates began to prosecute 
their congenial labour of acting as spies 
and informers, conveying private informa- 
tion to the ruling powers against every 
man whom they knew or suspected to be 
opposed to their base ministry and baser 
characters, keeping a list of all such per- 
sons, and delating them from time to time, 
as their malicious dispositions prompted 
them. The army also began to be exten- 
sively employed in the levying of fines, 
in which they were cheered on by the 
curates with inhuman eagerness. Orders 
had been given by the privy council 

* Naphtali, pp. 177-182. 



to Sir James Turner to lead a body 
of troops to the west and south of Scot- 
land, to levy fines and compel submis- 
sion to the prelates. Sir James was a fit 
instrument for their purposes. He was 
a military adventurer, selfish, cruel, and 
unprincipled, ready to sell his sword 
to whatever party would pay the highest 
price for it, and regarding no law, human 
or divine, except the orders of his supe- 
rior in command, as he has himself dis- 
tinctly stated. This mercenary soldier 
received orders to follow the directions 
of the curates, and to pillage the defence- 
less country people to the heart's content 
of their oppressors. In this Turner and 
his " lambs" rejoiced as a bloodless cam- 
paign, where fhey might without danger 
indulge all their vicious propensities, as 
if in an enemy's country, and receive the 
thanks of the council for their service. 
When sent to any refractory Presbyte- 
rian to levy the imposed fine, if it was not 
instantly paid, they took free quarters in 
his house, revelled in riot and drunken- 
ness, destroyed much more than the 
amount demanded, and inflicted the most 
wanton insults and barbarous outrages on 
the unoffending people, without distinc- 
tion of age or sex, or, rather, with such 
distinctions as age and sex rendered possi- 
ble. One of the most common of the 
practices of these plunderers was, to go 
to some public-house in the vicinity of a 
church where a Presbyterian minister 
not yet ejected preached, and after drink- 
ing till nearly the time when public wor- 
ship terminated, then to hasten to the 
church, place themselves at the church- 
door, and demand of every person upon 
oath, as they came out, whether they be- 
longed to that parish. If they could not 
say they did, the fine was immediately 
exacted, and when money could not be 
obtained, they seized upon their Bibles, 
hats, bonnets, plaids, and any part of 
their clothing which could easily be car- 
ried away and sold ; returning from the 
violated house of prayer laden with booty, 
as from a sacked and plundered city. 

[1664.] The beginning of the year 
1664 was signalized by the re-erection 
of the Court of High Commission. Sharp, 
it appears, was not satisfied with the 
privy council, which, in his opinion, did 
not display sufficient zeal and activity in 
the suppression of the Presbyterians. In 



A. D. 1664.] 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



225 



particular, he entertained suspicions of 
the Kan of Glencairn, the chancellor, re- 
garding his influence as tending to retard 
and mitigate the course of persecution. 
He therefore hastened to London, and 
prevailed upon the king to grant a com- 
mission for the re-erection of that dread- 
ful court, to which should be intrusted 
the execution of all laws concerning 
ecclesiastical matters. This commission 
was obtained on the 16th of January 
1664, and was, if possible, more arbitrary 
in its character than its predecessor had 
been. Its basis was the essence of des- 
potism. " His majesty, by virtue of his 
royal prerogative in all causes, and over 
all persons, as well ecclesiastical as civil, 
has given and granted," &c. In this 
commission there are nine prelates and 
thirty-five laymen ; the quorum is five, 
of which one must be a prelate. They 
were empowered to summon before them 
and punish all the deposed ministers who 
presumed to preach, all attenders of con- 
venticles, all who kept meetings at fasts 
and the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, 
and all who write, speak, preach, or print 
against Prelacy. They were empowered 
to inflict censures of suspension and de- 
position ; to levy fines and imprison ; to 
employ magistrates and military force for 
the apprehension of their victims ; and 
finally, " to do and execute what they 
shall find necessary and convenient for 
his majesty's service in the premises."* 
Surely the heart of Sharp must have 
leapt for joy when placed at the head of 
this court of absolute despotism. This 
was certainly prelacy restored to its full 
glory, under the dignified auspices of a 
perjured apostate. 

The proceedings of the Court of High 
Commission were such as were to be ex- 
pected from its spirit and construction. 
It at once assumed the power of both the 
swords, and acted equally as an ecclesi- 
astical and as a civil court. Holding the 
most intimate intercourse with the curates, 
who formed an organized espionage co- 
extensive with the nation, the Court of 
High Commission obtained information 
respecting every sincere Presbyterian 
throughout the kingdom, summoned 
every one whom it was their pleasure 
to oppress, and, without the formalities 
of citing witnesses and hearing evidence, 

* Wodrow, vol i. pp. 384-386, 

29 



either passed sentence upon the bare ac- 
cusation, or required the oath of supre- 
macy to be taken, and, upon its being 
refused, inflicted whatever sentence they 
thought proper, short of death. Some 
were reduced to utter poverty by fines ; 
some were imprisoned till they contracted 
fatal diseases ; some were banished to the 
remotest and most unhealthy and inhos- 
pitable parts of the kingdom ; and some 
were actually sold for slaves.* Of the 
great numbers summoned to appear be- 
fore this terrible court of inquisition, not 
one is recorded to have escaped without 
suffering punishment, and often to an ex 
treme degree of severity. 

One addition was made to the persecu- 
ting acts already in force against the 
ejected ministers, to the effect that no per- 
son should give charitable relief to them 
in their absolute starvation, on the pain' 
of being regarded as disaffected, and 
movers of sedition. This appears to have 
been done at the instigation of Alexander 
Burnet, archbishop of Glasgow, who 
said that the only method to be taken 
with the fanatics, as he was pleased to 
call them, was to starve them out.f About 
the same time a party of soldiers were 
sent to the parish of Dreghorn, to quarter 
upon the people, and compel them, by 
direct force, to attend the preaching of the 
curate, who had been thrust into the 
parish after the expulsion of its former 
minister. This seems the climax of in- 
trusion ; first, to force an unworthy crea- 
ture into a parish contrary to the strongly- 
expressed dissent of the congregation, and 
then, when they abstained from attend- 
ing his profanation of the ministry, to 
send a band of armed men to drive them 
like a flock of sheep to. the place, not of 
worship, but of desecration. 

[1665 ] The persecution of the Pres- 
byterians continued during the year 1665 
with unabated rigour ; but the persecu- 
ting system was- now so completely ma- 
tured, that little addition could be made to 
it. The prelates continued: to let loose 
the soldiery upon, the country, and to en- 
courage them to those excesses in outrage 
and plunder to which they were, of their 
own accord sufficiently prone. The 
death of the Earl of Glencairn, in the 
preceding year, gave Sharp hopes of ob 
taining the chancellorship ; but this was- 

* Wodrow, vol. i. p. 330. t Kirkton, p. 218. 



226 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



ICHAP. VH 



frustrated, as the Scottish nobility began 
to be disgusted with the arrogance of that 
aspiring arch-prelate. The Earl of 
Rothes was intrusted with the general 
management of Scottish affairs, under 
the control of Lauderdale ; and so far as 
Rothes was personally concerned, the 
persecution was somewhat relaxed ; but 
in the Court of High Commission, and in 
the privy council, the prelates continued 
to exercise the chief sway. Some dim 
apprehensions appear to have been enter- 
tained, that the continued course of pre- 
latic tyranny might at last provoke the 
country to rise into resistance ; for, dur- 
ing the summer of this year, Sir James 
Turner was empowered to search the 
houses of the people for arms, and carry 
them forcibly away. The act of fines 
was also renewed, that this method of 
wearing out the Presbyterians might still 
be an available weapon in the hands of 
the prelates. On the 7th of December, a 
proclamation was issued by the council 
" against conventicles." This proclama- 
tion was of the same general import as 
those which have already been specified, 
prohibiting the preaching, or even private 
meetings for worship, of the ejected min- 
isters ; only that it went considerably 
beyond them in the power which it gave 
of inflicting punishment, not only to the 
privy council, but to all such as had or 
should have his majesty's commission to 
that effect. This was speedily interpreted 
to imply, that even a private soldier, be- 
cause he acted under the royal authority, 
might, at his own discretion, seize, fine, 
drag to prison, or punish, " as he should 
think fit," any person who either held a 
conventicle, that is, worshipped God, 
others being present and joining in wor- 
ship, attended one, or allowed one to be 
held in his house. The fearful use soon 
made of this proclamation we shall have 
occasion to relate. 

[1666 ] The year 1666 is sadly mem- 
orable in the annals of the Church of 
Scotland. During the space of the six 
preceding years, Prelacy had been speed- 
ing on in its career of oppressive cruelty, 
trampling under foot the dearest rights 
and privileges, civil and sacred, of the 
Presbyterian people. It seemed as if 
there was a positive determination to 
drive the country beyond all possible en- 
durance, that they might have the oppor- 



tunity of exterminating the population, if 
they could not otherwise extirpate Pres- 
bytery. Early in the spring, Sir James 
Turner was again sent to devastate the 
south and west of Scotland. Nithsdale 
and Galloway were the chief scenes of 
his wasting visitations on this occasion ; 
and his oppressive conduct far outwent 
any of his previous campaigns. The 
soldiers availed themselves of the exten- 
sion of their powers which the late act 
against conventicles seemed intended to 
give, and exacted fines at their pleasure 
from each and all. Gentlemen were 
made answerable for their wives, chil- 
dren, servants, and tenantry ; and tenants 
were fined if their landlords were held to 
be disaffected. Like a swarm of eastern 
locusts, the soldiery literally devoured 
the country, wasting what provisions they 
could not use, and reducing the misera- 
ble inhabitants to utter starvation. If any 
person dared to complain, the only an- 
swers were neglect or increased abuse. 
In the course of a few weeks the sum of 
fifty thousand pounds Scots was raised in 
the west ; and the exactions in Galloway 
were still more oppressive, and the pres- 
ence of the plunderers of longer continu- 
ation.* 

Seven months had this excessive bar- 
barity continued, not only with unabated 
vigour, but even increasing in its severity 
in proportion as the exhausted state of the 
country rendered it more difficult to levy 
fines from a people already reduced 
nearly to starvation ; when one act of 
shocking brutality put an end to the 
patient endurance of intolerable wrongs, 
and compelled the country to rise in the 
attitude of self-defence. On the 13th of 
November, while four countrymen, who 
had been wandering in concealment from 
the devastators, were taking some refresh- 
ment in the village of Dairy, in Upper 
Galloway, information was brought to 
them that three or four soldiers were in- 
flicting the most barbarous abuse upon a 
poor old man, whom they had seized 
in order to compel him to pay the ruinous 
fines which they demanded. They has- 
tened to the spot, and found the aged vic- 
tim lying on the ground bound hand and 
foot, and the soldiers proceeding to strip 
him naked, in order to execute their hid 
eous threat of stretching him upon a red- 

• Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 8, Naphlali, pp. 125 126, 235 



A. D. W66.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



227- 



hot gridiron. The voice of outraged hu- 
manity was louder than the cold whisper 
of cowardly prudence, and they inter- 
posed to rescue the venerable sufferer. 
The soldiers turned upon them with 
drawn swords, so that they were com- 
pelled to fight in their own defence. A 
brief struggle ensued, in which one of 
the soldiers was wounded ; upon which 
his comrades yielded and were dis- 
armed.* 

The reflection of a few moments 
showed the countrymen in what immi- 
nent peril they had placed their lives by 
this unpremeditated act of humanity. 
They knew well that their deed would be 
designated rebellion, and that they need 
not. hope for mercy, should they be 
seized. The people of the village and 
neighbourhood were equally well aware 
that they would be counted participators 
in the crime because they had not sup- 
ported the soldiers. Tamely to yield, 
would, they knew, be death ; to rise gen- 
erally in self-defence might secure more 
favourable terms, and, if unsuccessful, 
could but be death. They resolved, 
therefore, to adopt the more manly and 
rational alternative of self-defence ; and 
early next morning surprised a party of 
about a dozen soldiers, who were quar- 
tered in the vicinity, before they were 
aware of the seizure of their comrades. 
One soldier, who would not yield, was 
killed in the struggle ; the rest submitted, 
and were disarmed and made prisoners. 
Several of the neighbouring gentlemen 
now joined the insurgents, and they 
marched hastily to Dumfries, where Sir 
James Turner was, made him prisoner, 
and disarmed all the troops who where 
with him. They then proceeded in a 
body to the market-place, and publicly 
avowing that their object was self-defence 
alone, they drank his majesty's health, 
and prosperity to his government, to 
manifest their unshaken loyalty. And 
in proof of their humanity, it must be re- 
corded, that notwithstanding the intense 
and protracted oppression to which they 
had been subjected, no violence was of- 
fered even to Turner, who had been the 
chief agent of the persecution. One 
Gray, an Edinburgh merchant who hap- 
pened to be in Dumfries, and joined them 
there, proposed the putting Sir James to 

* Kirkton, p. 230; Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 17. 



death ; but this was withstood by Neilson 
of Corsack, whose property had been al- 
most utterly ruined by the soldiery. 

Having received a small addition to 
their numbers at Dumfries, they resolved 
to march towards Ayrshire, in order to 
form a junction with the grieviously op- 
pressed inhabitants of that district, on 
whose sympathy and support they confi- 
dently calculated. They accordingly 
marched forward in that direction, and 
meeting with Colonel Wallace, put them- 
selves under his command. But they 
were miserably disappointed in their ex- 
pectations. The spirit of the west coun- 
try seemed to be completely broken ; and 
instead of rallying round the standard of 
religious liberty, they remained quietly in 
their homes, waiting the issue, willing to 
avail themselves of freedom, should it be 
gained, but unwilling to expose them- 
selves to danger in the attempt to snap 
asunder the chains of slavery. The 
small band of insurgents moved from 
place to place, according to their expecta- 
tions of being joined by their country- 
men, but everywhere experienced the 
same discouragement. It was at length 
seriously debated, whether they ought not 
to separate, and seek comparative safety 
in a private return to their own abodes ; 
for the rising had been so sudden and un- 
expected, that there existed no precon- 
certed understanding among the suffer- 
ers in the different parts of the country ; 
and very many considered the enterprise 
as far too important to be undertaken 
without the previous arrangements which 
would secure a wide-spread simultaneous 
movement. To this it may be added, 
that a number of leading gentlemen in 
the west had a short time before been 
seized on suspicion, by an order of the 
council. 

In the meantime the alarm of the pre- 
lates was great. The Earl of Rothes 
had gone to London a day or two before 
the commencement of the insurrection ; 
and Sharp himself had, in consequence, 
become the head of the privy council. 
Immediately upon the intelligence reach 
ing Edinburgh, the council met, de- 
spatched the tidings to the king, and gave 
orders to raise an army for the suppres- 
sion of this dreadful rebellion and " hor 
rid conspiracy," as they termed it in their 
terror. Dalziel of Binns was appointed 



228 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VII. 



to the command of the army ; and all no- 
blemen, gentlemen, and magistrates were 
urgently ordered to put the country in a 
state of defence. Edinburgh assumed 
the appearance of a beseiged city ; Glas- 
gow the same ; the ferries of the Forth 
were secured ; and Stirling bridge bar- 
ricaded so as to resist the approach of an 
army. A guilty conscience sounds a 
loud alarm, and the prelates appear to 
have believed that the whole kingdom 
was about to rise in arms, and inflict that 
vengeance which their own hearts told 
them that they so fully deserved. So 
prompt and extensive were their defen- 
sive measures, that long before the insur- 
gents had obtained any considerable ac- 
cession to their strength, DalziePs army 
had mustered at Glasgow in far more 
than sufficient force both to crush them 
and to overawe the western counties. 

The small and unsupported band of 
Presbyterian sufferers, learning that the 
army was approaching, and receiving 
little assistance from their friends, drew 
towards the hilly part of the country, 
marching from Cumnock by Muirkirk 
to Doug. as, where they halted, and con- 
sulted whether they should there disperse 
or continue in arms. The result of their 
deliberations was a firm determination to 
persevere, and either to secure their reli- 
gious liberties, or to fall in their defence. 
They could not, they said, expect a 
clearer warrant to rise in self-defence 
than they at present had, when every 
thing dear to them as men and Christians 
was at stake. They were persuaded 
that the hand of Providence was in the 
matter ; that there was a distinct call of 
sacred duty for them to go forward ; and 
whether it might be God's pleasure to 
assert His own cause by their means at 
that time, by granting them victory and 
deliverance, though but an handful, or 
to employ them merely as suffering wit- 
nesses for the truth, still it seemed to be 
their duty to persevere, till they should 
have as clear a warning to desist as they 
already had to begin the enterprise. 
" We will follow on," said these heroic 
Christian soldiers, " till God shall do his 
service by us ; and though we should all 
die at the end of it, we think the giving 
of a testimony enough for all."* 

* Wallace's Narrative, in M'Crie's Lives of Veitch 
»nd Brysson, p. 402. 



They then marched to Lanark, where 
they halted till they renewed the Cove- 
nant, and prepared and published a de- 
claration setting forth the cause of then 
appearing in arms, and vindicating them 
selves against the charge of rebellion. 
By this time Dalziel was close at hand, 
and they had no choice but to give him 
battle, or make a rapid march on Edin- 
burgh. In the hope of being joined by 
friends as they advanced, they resolved 
still to shun an engagement, and continue 
their forward movement. After a dread- 
fully fatiguing march through the path- 
less moors between Lanark and Bath- 
gate, they arrived at the latter place, late 
at night, and when the}'' arrived, fining" 
no shelter, were compelled to continue 
their exhausting march. When morn- 
ing dawned, it was found that the half 
of their little army had melted away, 
worn out by excessive fatigue, and their 
spirits exhausted by this destructive 
march of a day and night, drenched with 
heavy rains, and without food, shelter, or 
repose. Next day they continued their 
march to Collington, about three miles 
from Edinburgh ; but there they learned 
that no assistance was to be expected 
from that town, nor from their friends 
in the east country. A messenger came 
to them there, sent by the Duke of Ham- 
ilton, to persuade them to lay down their 
arms, in the hope of an indemnity which 
the duke promised to endeavour to pro- 
cure. But as no mention was made of 
redressing their grievances, they refused 
to submit to such terms. Again the 
former messenger, the laird of Black- 
wood, returned, and offered Dalziel's 
word of honor for a cessation of arms for 
a day, till a letter might be sent to the 
privy council, to ascertain what answer 
could be given to their demands. There 
is reason to believe, that this cessation of 
arms was offered by Dalziel as a strata- 
gem, to keep them in suspense, till he 
should be ready to assail them ; and no 
answer was returned by the council to 
their demands, the object being to keep 
them in suspense. 

Colonel Wallace seems to have sus- 
pected the design of his antagonists, and 
therefore began to retreat, taking the di- 
rection most likely to enable him to re- 
tire in safety. He moved tow r ards higher 
grounds, less accessible to cavalry round- 



A. D. 1665.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



229 



mg the shoulder of the Pentland Hills, I 
intending to retreat by Biggar, along the 
skirts of the mountain range. Towards 
evening, on the 28th of November, he 
halted on the side of a ridge called Rul- 
iion Green, to call in the stragglers and 
to refresh the men. Scarcely had he 
taken up this position when the van of 
Dalziel's army appeared, which had ad- 
vanced through a pass farther westward, 
with the evident design of cutting off the 
retreat of the Covenanters. Wallace's 
army did not exceed nine hundred, while 
Dalziel's was at least thrice as numerous. 
But as Wallace had taken up a strong 
position, his antagonist hesitated some 
time before proceeding to the attack. 
At length a party of the royal cavalry 
advanced to charge the Covenanters, 
who detached an equal number to meet 
them. A sharp encounter took place on 
the level ground between the armies till 
the royalists recoiled and fled. Again 
did they assail the Covenanters, and 
again were beaten back to their main 
army. A third charge proved equally 
unsuccessful. But by these successive 
encounters the Covenanters had been 
drawn from their position, nearer to the 
plain ; and Dalziel now put his whole 
force in motion to assail them. Wallace 
hesitated a moment whether to resume 
his position and act on the defensive, till 
night should terminate the conflict ; but, 
aware that the next morning would find 
his own force diminished, and that of his 
enemy increased, while, even if defeated, 
the nature of the ground, and the fading 
light, would enable him to retreat with 
little loss, he resolved to meet the shock. 
While Dalziel was advancing, the Cov- 
enanters spent the grim battle-pause in 
prayer, and then stood ready for the final 
struggle. Once more did they beat back 
their first assailants ; but while their left 
wing and main body were pressing vic- 
toriously forward, their right was de- 
feated, and Dalziel, charging with an 
overwhelming force on their unprotected 
flank, threw them into inextricable con- 
fusion, and pursuing his advantage, scat- 
tered their broken ranks, and drove them 
precipitately from this well-fought field.* 
The pursuit was not continued long, 
for night speedily closed in, casting its 
favouring shades over the wearied and 

* Wallace's Narrative, pp. 415-419. 



broken Covenanters. A considerable 
part of Dalziel's cavalry was composed 
of gentlemen, who were not eager to 
shed unnecessarily the blood of their 
persecuted and unfortunate but brave 
countrymen. About fifty were killed in 
the battle, and as many taken in the 
pursuit. The soldiers, after the conflict, 
stripped the dead and dying, and left 
their naked bodies exposed to the chill 
severity of a November night, freezing 
their blood before life was quite extinct. 
Next day the prisoners were dragged to 
Edinburgh, the army entering the town 
in triumph, as if they had achieved a 
glorious victory over fierce invaders, the 
citizens gazing on the hapless victims 
through tears of unavailing pity. They 
w r ere cast into prison till the privy coun- 
cil should determine what punishment 
should be inflicted. Thus was suppressed 
that unpremeditated and ill-supported in- 
surrection, commonly termed the Rising 
of Pentland, taking its designation from 
the place where the battle was fought. 

And now began a scene of horrors, 
which may not be altogether passed over, 
and yet which sickens the heart too 
much to permit us to dwell on its dread- 
ful details. The cowardly terror of the 
prelates had been extreme, and now their 
thirst of vengeance could not be satis- 
fied. Rothes was still in London ; 
consequently, till his return, Sharp re- 
tained the presidency of the council, 
and all its acts were issued in his 
name. First, the lord treasurer was or- 
dered to secure the property of all who 
had been at Pentland, which was equiv- 
alent to an act of general confiscation of 
the greater part of Galloway and Ayr- 
shire. Next, General Dalziel was com- 
manded to " search for and apprehend 
all persons who had been in arms w T ith 
the rebels, or were suspected, or who had 
given shelter or assistance to them :" and 
was empowered to quarter upon their 
lands with his forces. Soon afterwards 
a proclamation was issued, forbidding all 
subjects to correspond with or conceal 
the persons of a great number of gentle- 
men, ministers, and elders, mentioned 
by name, or, " any others concerned in 
the late rebellion ;" and commanding 
them to pursue, seize, and deliver them 
up to justice, on pain of being regarded 
as equally criminal ; and the prelatic cu« 



230 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VII. 



rates were particularly enjoined to furnish 
lists of all suspended persons, — an employ- 
ment worthy of such men, and in which 
they engaged with great alacrity and zeal. 

The trial of the prisoners was then 
begun, — a trial in which condemnation 
had been predetermined before evidence 
wa.-: sought. Eleven of them were brought 
before the Court of Justiciary ; and, after 
a brief form of trial, were condemned to 
be hanged, and their heads and right 
hands cut off and disposed of as the 
council might see fit. One of them died 
of his wounds before the day of execu- 
tion : the other ten were hanged on one 
gibbet on the 7th of December. Their 
heads were fixed up at Kirkcudbright, 
Kilmarnock, and Hamilton, and their 
right hands at Lanark, because they had 
sworn the Covenant there. The joint 
testimony and dying speches of these 
martyrs for Christ's crown and covenant 
are recorded in Naphtali, and prove con- 
vincingly that it was indeed for the cause 
of religion that their blood was shed.* 
Other five were tried without the aid of 
counsel, and put to the same death on the 
14th of December. 

The death of John Neilson of Corsack 
demands more particular mention. He 
was a gentleman of considerable property 
in Galloway, of superior talents, and of 
unblemished character. But in this last 
particular consisted his unpardonable 
crime. He was too much of a Christian 
for the curates, and consequently he was 
included in their list, and exposed to the 
ruinous exactions of Sir James Turner and 
his brutal soldiery. When the people of 
Galloway rose in self-defence, he joined 
them ; and, notwithstanding the cruel 
treatment whieh he and his family had 
received from Turner, Mr. Neilson argued 
strenuously and successfully against the 
proposal of some to put the oppressor to 
death. As the prelates could not con- 
ceive that the persecuted Presbyterians 
would have dared to rise in self-defence 
unless there had been a widely extended 
conspiracy, they determined to extort a 
confession of the nature and extent of 
this plot from such of the prisoners as 
were certain to be acquainted with it if 
it existed. For this reason* they resolved 
to put Neilson to the torture of the boot. 
In vain did they crush his leg in this 

* Naphtali, pp. 182 192. 



fearful engine of torture ; shrieking na- 
ture attested his agony, but his soul Jvas 
clear of the guilt wherewith he was 
charged, and he would not blacken it by 
making a false acknowledgment of a 
crime of which he was innocent. When 
the persecutors found that they could ex- 
tort nothing from him but groans and 
anguish, they condemned him to suffer, 
along with his guiltless friends, the shorter 
pangs of death.* 

Hugh M'Kail was the next victim of 
torture. He was a young preacher, 
learned, eloquent, and eminently pious. 
He had been but a short while with the 
insurgents, and had left them before the 
day of the battle, unable to endure the 
fatigue to which they were exposed ; but 
he had, on one occasion, when preaching, 
and having cause to speak of the suffer- 
ings of the Church in all ages, said, that 
it had been persecuted by a Pharaoh on 
the throne, a Haman in the State, and a 
Judas in the Church ; and though he 
made no application of this statement, 
it had reached the ears of Sharp, was 
thought himself alluded to under the 
character of Judas. For this he would 
have been laid hold of at the time, had 
he not gone abroad, and escaped for a 
little the prelate's rage. But he was now 
in the hands of his enemy, and was to suf- 
fer the dire effects of implacable revenge. 

When he was brought before the 
council, he was interrogated respecting 
the leaders of the insurrection, and what 
correspondence they had, either at home 
or abroad. He declared himself utterly 
unacquainted with any such correspon- 
dence ; and frankly slated how far he 
had taken part in their proceedings. The 
instrument of torture was then laid before 
him, and he was informed that, if he did 
not confess, it should be applied next day. 
On the following day, he was again 
brought before the council, and again 
ordered to confess, on the pain of imme- 
diate torture. He declared solemnly that 
he had no more to confess. " The execu- 
tioner then placed his leg in the horrid 
instrument, applied the wedge, and pro- 
ceeded to his hideous task. When one 
heavy blow had driven in the wedge, 
and crushed the limb severely, he was 
again urged to confess, but in vain. 
Blow after blow succedeed, at consider 

* Wodrow, vol. ii., p. 53. 



A. D. 1665] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



231 



able intervals, protracting the terrible 
agony ; but still, with true Christian for- 
titude, the heroic martyr possessed his 
soul in patience. Seven or eight succes- 
sive blows had crushed the flesh and 
sinews to the very bone, when he pro- 
tested solemnly in the sight of God, that 
he could say no more, though all the 
joints of his body were in as great tor- 
ture as that poor leg. Yet thrice more 
the wedge was driven in, till the bone 
itself was shattered by its iron compres- 
sion, and a heavy swoon relieved him 
from longer consciousness of the mortal 
agony. He was carried back to prison ; 
and soon afterwards condemned to death. 

Between the day of his condemnation 
and that of his death, his mind was in a 
continual state of holy joy and heavenly 
peace. When brought to the place of 
execution, he was more than serene ; he 
was filled with unutterable transport. 
His last speech breathed the very spirit 
of the Christian martyr's triumph : its 
conclusion is inexpressibly sublime. "And 
now I leave off to speak any more to 
creatures, and turn my speech to thee, O 
Lord. And now I begin my intercourse 
with God, which shall never be broken 
off Farewell, father and mother, friends 
and relations ; farewell, the world and 
all delights ; farewell, meat and drink ; 
farewell, sun, moon, and stars. Wel- 
come, God and Father ; welcome, sweet 
Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant ; 
welcome, blessed Spirit of grace, and 
God of all consolation ; welcome, glory ; 
welcome, eternal life ; welcome, death. 
O Lord, into thy hands I commit my 
spirit ; for thou hast redeemed my soul, 
Lord God of truth."* 

Thus passed from earth, on the 22d 
of December 1666, one of the brightest, 
purest, and most sanctified spirits that 
ever animated a mere human form ; a 
victim to prelatic tyranny, and a rejoicing 
martyr for Christ's sole kingly dominion 
over his Church, and for that sacred 
Covenant in which the Church of Scot- 
land had vowed allegiance to her Divine 
and only Head and King. Till the 
records of time shall have melted into 
those of eternity, the name of that 
young Christian martyr will be held in 
most affectionate remembrance and fer- 
vent admiration by every true Scottish 

* Naphtali, pp. 218 234. 



Presbyterian, and will be regarded by 
the Church of Scotland as one of the 
fairest jewels that ever she was honoured 
to add to the conquering Redeemer's 
crown of glory. 

It is almost too disgraceful to human 
nature to record, that before the death of 
M'Kail, and after several executions had 
taken place, a letter came from the king, 
prohibiting any mpre lives from being 
taken ; but Sharp and Burnet suppressed 
this letter till after the death of M'Kail, so 
that they may justly be charged with the 
cold, deliberate murder of that guiltless 
youth, and of violating the most sacred 
prerogative of the crown, that they might 
perpetrate the monstrous deed.* This 
barbarous conduct of Sharp, which was 
generally known at the time, tended 
greatly to increase the detestation in 
which he and his coadjutors were held 
by the people. Indeed, the sufferings of 
the unfortunate victims who were put to 
death after the Pentland insurrection, and 
especially their dying speeches, produced 
a deep impression throughout the whole 
of Scotland. It was easy to brand the 
insurrection with the name of rebellion, 
and to assert that the victims suffered on 
account of their having been guilty of 
treason ; but the conduct of the men 
themselves on the scaffold, the speeches 
they uttered there, and the written testi- 
monies they left behind them, wrought 
conviction in the hearts of their sympa- 
thizing countrymen, and awoke a re- 
sponse which acts of privy council could 
no more check than they could stem the 
rising tide. Men began to ask, whether 
that could be a bad cause for which such 
martyrs suffered so heroically ; and whe- 
ther that could be a good cause which re- 
sorted to such methods to secure its 
triumph? And many who had disliked 
and opposed the west country Whigs, as 
they were sometimes termed, began to 
entertain a still stronger dislike to the 
prelates, who had displayed such a relent- 
less and persecuting spirit, and such utter 
disregard of all liberty, civil and reli- 
gious. It is not, we trust, necessary to 
vindicate the Pentland insurrection now ; 
for the very same principles which urged 
these martyrs of civil and religious liberty 
to take up arms in their own defence, 

* Wodrow, vol- ii, p. 38; Kirkton, p. 255; Memoirs 
of Veitch, p 37; Burnet's Own Times, vol. i. p. 237. 



232 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VII. 



were afterwards espoused by the whole 
empire at the Revolution, and cannot now 
be gainsaid by any man who is not in 
his heart a tyrant or a slave. 

[1667.] &oon after the privy council 
had - glutted their vengeance with the 
public execution of a considerable num- 
ber of persons both at Edinburgh and in 
different parts of the country, the army 
was sent to the disaffected districts, under 
the command of General Dalziel, with 
full powers to him to gratify his savage 
disposition by inflicting whatsoever bar- 
barities he pleased upon the unoffending 
people. It was not necessary for him to 
go through the tardy process of a trial ; 
the previous acts of council had given to 
persons bearing his majesty's commis- 
sion, powers which a little straining 
would make amply sufficient for all ty- 
rannical purposes ; and Dalziel felt no 
difficulty in straining them to the utmost, 
and putting the whole country under 
military law. At Kilmarnock, where 
he took up his head-quarters, he not only 
let loose the soldiery, — he hounded them 
on with the most relentless ferocity. Sus- 
picion of having been with the insurgents, 
or given them food, or of entertaining 
favourable sentiments with regard to 
them and their cause, was by him consi- 
dered proof enough, on the strength of 
which he might inflict any punishment 
which caprice or cruelty might dictate. 
Money was extorted from those who had 
any ; upon others the troops were quar- 
tered till they had " eaten up" every kind 
of sustenance, and reduced their victims 
to starvation ; numbers were crowded 
into a dungeon in the prison so densely, 
that they could only stand upright day 
and night, though sick and dying from 
its noisome and pestilential vapours ; 
some were, without trial, and upon the 
bare orders of the general, shot dead, 
stripped naked, and left weltering in 
their blood upon the spot were they had 
thus been murdered ; and one woman, 
merely because a man had fled through 
her house and escaped the pursuit of the 
soldiers, was cast into a pit swarming 
with noxious reptiles. 

In Galloway, the military command 
was intrusted to Sir William Bannatyne 
instead of Sir James Turner ; but the 
change was even for the worse to the per- 
secuted Presbyterians. To all the cruelties 



of Dalziel or Turner, Bannatyne added 
the most atrocious indulgence in lascivi- 
ous licentiousness, both in his own con- 
duct and that of the soldiery. Female 
chastity was exposed to every nameless 
outrage, the presence of parents or hus- 
bands being no protection to young mai- 
dens or married women, but exposing to 
insult, wounds and death, those men who 
presumed to defend their daughters, their 
sisters, or their wives, from the infamous 
attempts of Bannatyne and his brutal 
crew.* That in acts of mere cruelty 
Bannatyne was not inferior to Dalziel 
himself, appears from his treatment of a 
woman in the parish of Dairy, whom he 
tortured by tying matches betwixt her 
fingers and setting them on fire, because 
she was supposed to have assisted her 
husband in escaping from the hands of 
his pursuers. To such an extent did 
they proceed in their barbarity, that one 
of her hands was entirely destroyed, and 
she died of the effects of the torture within 
a few days. 

But the prelates and the council had 
another object in view than merely the 
gratification of their cruelty. They 
wished to secure to themselves and their 
friends the property of those who either 
had been, or were suspected of having 
been, concerned in the Pentland rising. 
They therefore contrived to procure an 
opinion from the Court of Session, that 
persons accused of treason might be con- 
demned in absence, a sentence of death 
passed upon them, and their estates for- 
feited. In consequence of this unprece- 
dented opinion, the property of the most 
considerable gentlemen in several dis- 
tricts of Clydesdale and Galloway fell 
into the hands of these rapacious persecu- 
tors, and in a short time Dalziel and his 
lieutenant, Drummond, received the es- 
tates of Caldwell and Kersland, as a re- 
ward for their services. 

But symptoms of a change of measures 
began to appear. Several of the nobility 
had become weary of this incessant course 
of persecution in which they were kept 
by the prelates, as well as disgusted with 
the pride of these domineering church- 
men. The majority of the council was 
composed of prelates and officers in the 
army ; and the Scottish barons felt them- 
selves insulted and degraded by the con- 

" Wodrow,vol. ii. p. 15. 



ft 



A. D. 1667.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



233 



duct and the company of such men. 
Lauderdale was quite aware of this state 
of matters, and contrived to countermine 
the prelatic party, and to procure a letter 
from the king to the council, giving per- 
mission to imprison and try all suspected 
persons, but not sanctioning the arbitrary 
forfeitures ; and at the same time an inti- 
mation was given to Sharp to confine 
himself to his own diocese, and not inter- 
meddle with public affairs. This disap- 
pointment checked their zeal considera- 
bly ; and when, some time afterwards, a 
positive order came from his majesty, 
commanding the army to be disbanded, 
with the exception of the guards, they 
were in despair, Burnet, archbishop of 
Glasgow, exclaiming, " Now that the 
army is disbanded, the gospel will go out 
of my diocese."* What idea that arch- 
prelate entertained of the gospel, may be 
easily conjectured. Now that the army 
was to be disbanded, it came to be a seri- 
ous question with the privy council how 
the country was to kept in peace without 
a military power. It formed no part of 
their scheme to promote peace by abstain- 
ing from committing outrages upon the 
country. But they were divided between 
the enforcement of the declaration and 
the framing of a new document to be 
termed the Bond of Peace. Chiefly 
through the influence of Sir Robert 
Murray, the council determined upon the 
bond of peace, which was accordingly 
passed. About the same time an act of 
indemnity to those who had been con- 
cerned in the late insurrection was trans- 
mitted from the king, and also passed by 
the council, but clogged with so many ex- 
ceptions that it proved an indemnity in 
name rather than reality. " In the be- 
ginning," says Wodrow, " it pardoned 
all ; in the middle very few ; and in the 
end none at all." Both the act of in- 
demnity and the bond of peace were pub- 
lished on the 9th of October. 

The bond of peace varied somewhat 
in its forms, but its chief provision was, 
that the person taking it bound and 
obliged himself to keep the public peace ; 
and not to rise in arms against or without 
his majesty's authority ; and in the act of 
council enforcing it, noblemen, gentle- 
men* and heritors were compelled to be- 
come bound for themselves, their tenants, 

" Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 89. 

30 



and servants, under the penalty of a full 
year's rent. The enforcement of this 
bond was likely enough to fill the coffers 
of the treasury ; but there was anothei 
effect which it might have had, and was 
probably intended to have, — it caused not 
a little discussion among religious and 
conscientious people whether it might be 
taken with propriety. It was so compre- 
hensive in its terms, that it might be ex- 
plained as consenting to the existing 
forms of government in the Church, as 
well as in the State ; and if so, none who 
were opposed to Prelacy could with sin- 
cerity subscribe any such bond. The 
differences of opinion entertained by the 
Presbyterians concerning the bond of 
peace, did not produce any dissensions 
among them ; and it w r as not long till 
very different measures put an end to the 
danger of disunion on that account. The 
council, during some of their sittings 
towards the close of the year, gave 
proof of their critical acumen by emit- 
ting a proclamation against Brown of 
Wamphray's " Apologetical Relation," 
and the well-known book called " Naph- 
tali, or the Wrestlings of the Church of 
Scotland." These works, however, sur- 
vive, notwithstanding the impotent wrath 
of men who hate the truth because it con- 
demns them, and will survive so long as 
truth is valued, martyrs held in honour, 
and tyranny abhorred. 

[1668.] In the beginning of the year 
1668, the council, in which the prelatic 
party had for a time lost their ascendency, 
thought proper to inquire into the con- 
duct of Sir James Turner, whose cruelty 
and oppression had caused the insurrec- 
tion, and of Sir William Bannatyne, 
whose still greater enormities were not 
unlikely to provoke another similar at- 
tempt. Turner proved that he had not 
exceeded his commission ; but yet he was 
deprived of his military rank, as some 
atonement to the feelings of the country. 
Bannatyne was convicted of having per- 
petrated such barbarities as humanity 
could not endure, and he was sentenced 
to banishment. He retired to the conti- 
nent, and was soon afterwards killed by 
a cannon-ball at the seige of Grave. But 
while the council thought proper to re- 
move these bloody men from places of 
trust, there was little abatement in the 
I severities employed against those who 



234 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. Vfl. 



had been concerned in the late insurrec- 
tion, or thos3 who refused to subscribe 
the bond of peace. In a letter to the 
king-, mention is made of the numbers 
who had yielded, and of those who still 
held out ; and in a private letter from 
Tweeddale to Lauderdale, it was more 
minutely stated, that two hundred and 
eighteen had submitted, three hundred 
and nine refused, eighty had been killed 
in the the field, forty executed, thirty-one 
had died in the counties of Galloway and 
Dumfries, thirty had fled, and twenty 
forfeited ; amounting to about seven hun- 
dred sufferers out of a small army not 
exceeding nine hundred when broken at 
Pentland.* 

The acts against conventicles were this 
year enforced with greater rigour than 
they had previously been, in consequence 
of the repeated complaints of the curates, 
that some of the ejected ministers con- 
tinued to preach, and that where such 
was the case, the people almost univer- 
sally deserted their own ministry. War- 
rants were accordingly issued to appre- 
hend all ejected ministers, or others, who 
should keep conventicles ; and the magis- 
trates of burghs were obliged to sign a 
bond to pay a certain sum if a conventicle 
should be held within their jurisdiction. 
Several eminent ministers were seized in 
consequence of this increased severity, of 
whom the most distinguished were, Mi- 
chael Bruce, who had been a minister in 
Ireland, Thomas Hogg, minister at Kil- 
tearn, and John Wilkie, a very aged 
man, whose infirmities rendered him phy- 
sically incapable of committing the al- 
leged crime for which he was oppressed, 
not having been out of his own house 
above twice during the course of a whole 
year. 

Notwithstanding these severities, the 
oppression of the Presbyterians was con- 
siderably relaxed upon the whole, and 
there appeared some probability that even 
more favourable terms would be granted. 
But an incident occurred which had a 
most injurious effect in every point of 
view, both in leading to a renewal of the 
persecution, and in giving a degree of 
plausibility to the accusations urged 
against the Presbyterians. This was an 
attempt made by a preacher of the name 
of James Mitchell to assassinate Arch- 

• Wodrow vol. ii. p. 107 ; Sir J. Turner's Memoirs. 



bishop Sharp. Mitchell had been to 
some extent implicated in the insurrection 
which was suppressed at Pentland, and 
was excepted from the indemnity. After 
having wandered about for some time in 
daily peril of his life, and having seen 
many of his friends perish on the scaf- 
fold, others driven into banishment, their 
property confiscated, and their families 
reduced to starvation, the sense of intol- 
erable wrong, national and individual, so 
far influenced his mind, that he determin- 
ed to avenge his suffering country upon 
the perjured and relentless author of her 
sufferings. This determination he dis- 
closed to no person, but provided himself 
privately with a pair of pistols, and 
watched for an opportunity of meeting 
with Archbishop Sharp. On the 1 1th of 
July he perceived the primate's carriage 
ready for its owner's reception, and im- 
mediately took up such a position as 
might place the person of his enemy 
within his reach. The archbishop en- 
tered the coach and took his seat ; Mit- 
chell stepped forward, aimed, and fired 
the pistol ; but at that moment Honey- 
man, bishop of Orkney, in entering the 
carriage, stretched forth his arm, and re- 
ceived the ball in his wrist. Thus it was 
turned aside from Sharp, and the excited 
sufferer saved from the commission of a 
great crime. The cry immediately rose 
that a man was killed, and people began 
to rush to the spot where the deed had 
taken place ; but when this cry was met 
by the response " that it was only a 
bishop," the crowd quietly dispersed. 
Mitchell escaped from observation and 
pursuit, and remained undetected for seve- 
ral years.* 

This criminal attempt by a man whorc 
persecution had driven nearly mad, was 
productive of very injurious consequences 
to the cause of Presbyterians. For al- 
though, as a party, they were not in the 
slightest degree implicated in Mitchell's 
guilty attempt, it was charged against 
them ; and on the pretence of searching 
for the assassin, or for persons concerned, 
as was alleged, in a murderous conspira- 
cy of which he was merely the agent, 
great numbers of people were brought 
into trouble, and subjected to grievous 
hardships. Several persons were appre- 
hended on suspicion ; and, among others, 

* Wodrow, vol. ii. pp. 115,116; Naphtali, pp. 250-260. 



A. D. 1669.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



- 235 



three women, two of whom were widows. 
One of them, a minister's widow, was 
threatened with -the torture of the boot, 
which would have been inflicted had not 
Rothes jestingly said, u It was not proper 
for gentlewomen to wear boots." She was, 
however sentenced to be imprisoned, and 
•hen banished to the colonies.* 

[1669. J — The proceedings against con- 
venticles, as they were called, continued 
during the early part of the year 1669 ; 
and in order to enforce the suppression 
of these meetings as effectually as the 
want of a sufficient military force would 
admit, there were appointed collectors of 
fines, who were sent to the several disaf- 
fected districts. But these collectors fell 
far short of the soldiery in their exac- 
tions ; so that the Presbyterians obtained 
some mitigation of their sufferings. The 
archbishop of Glasgow exerted himself 
to the utmost to oppress the non-conform- 
ing ministers ; but when they were called 
before the council, their defence was so 
calmly urged, and with such strength of 
reason, that the proceedings against them 
were allowed to drop, greatly to the 
mortification of the disappointed arch- 
bishop. 

But the chief event of this year was the 
passing of the first indulgence. It has 
been already mentioned, that the nobility 
had become weary of the continued course 
of persecution in which the intolerance 
and cruelty of the prelates kept them en- 
gaged ; and that Sharp's duplicity and 
tyranny had at length impelled the king 
to prohibit his further interference in the 
affairs of the nation. In England, also, 
a more temperate line of policy had been 
pursued since the fall of Clarendon ; and 
Charles himself had become impatient 
of the continual complaints addressed to 
him from all quarters against prelatic 
cruelty, and had expressed his intention 
to be no longer the king of a party, but 
the king of the whole people."! Lau- 
derdale had no peculiar regard for the 
prelates, and had repeatedly interfered to 
check the persecuting zeal of Sharp. 
Tweeddale was still more favourable, 
and had held interviews with some of the 
ejected ministers, with a view to ascertain 
whether some terms of mutual accommo- 
dation might not be framed, or some 
measure adopted, calculated to restore 

* Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 118. t Ibid, p. 115. 



comparative peace to the country. At 
length, on the 15th of July, a letter from 
the king was laid before the council by 
Tweeddale, containing the indulgence. 
Its chief provisions were, that the privy 
council should " appoint so many of the 
ejected ministers as had lived peaceably 
and orderly," either to return to the par- 
ishes whence they had been expelled, if 
still vacant, or to such others as the coun- 
cil should approve of ; that they should 
be allowed to receive the stipend of such 
parishes, upon condition of their receiv- 
ing the consent of the patron, and colla- 
tion from the bishop, to which, if they 
would not submit, they should only pos- 
sess the manse and glebe ; that they 
should be strictly enjoined to keep pres- 
byteries and synods, that is, to attend dio- 
cesan meetings held by the prelates, for 
there were no truly Presbyterian meet- 
ing ; that they should not allow the peo- 
ple from the other parishes to attend their 
churches and receive oidinances ; and 
that all these favours should be with- 
drawn if they should publicly speak or 
preach against the ecclesiastical suprema- 
cy of the king. In conclusion, it is de- 
clared, that seeing all pretences for con- 
venticles are thus taken away, if any 
should thereafter presume to hold or fre- 
quent them, " our express pleasure is, 
that you proceed with all severity against 
the preachers and hearers as seditious 
persons, and contemners of our authority. 

This indulgence appeared to the pre- 
lates to be greatly too favourable to the 
persecuted Presbyterians ; and meetings 
were held to devise by what methods it 
might be rendered as little beneficial to 
the ejected ministers as possible. It could 
not be set aside, since it was the king's 
declared will ; but Sharp consoled his 
afflicted brethren, by promising to do his 
utmost to " make it a bbne of contention 
to the Presbyterians."* His device, it 
appears, was, to revive the old contest 
between the resolutioners and the protes- 
ters, by proposing that the indulgence 
should be granted to the resolutioners 
alone. f But this contest had sunk into 
comparative insignificance, in conse- 
quence of the fiercer fires of the persecu- 
tion into which the whole Church had 
been thrown, and by which they had 

* Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 131. t Burnet's Own 

Time3, vol. i. p. 278. 



236 



HISTORY" OF THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VII 



been, as it were, fused into union. Yet 
Sharp's wily scheme was so far followed, 
that when the council selected those to 
whom the indulgence was to be offered, 
they endeavoured to induce those who 
had been of the resolutioners to accept 
the ensnaring boon, and in many instances 
they were but too successful. 

At first ten were selected to whom the 
indulgence was offered ; and of those the 
most distinguished was George Hutchi- 
son, who had been one of the ministers of 
Edinburgh before the Glasgow Act. 
Hutchison, in his own name and that of 
his brethren, returned thanks to his ma- 
jesty and the council for this act of clem- 
ency ; guarding their acceptance, how- 
ever, by saying, " We having received 
our ministry from Jesus Christ, with pre- 
scriptions from him for regulating us 
therein, must, in the discharge thereof, be 
accountable to him." This cautious 
statement gave satisfaction to no party. 
Those of the council who most strenu- 
ously asserted the royal supremacy, were 
displeased with it, as containing a denial 
of that high prerogative; while on the 
other hand, the greater part of the Pres- 
byterian ministers regarded it as a weak 
and sinful betrayal of the great doctrine 
of Christ's sole supremacy. And cer- 
tainly, if the reader has entered fully 
into the principles which have been re- 
peatedly brought before his notice in the 
preceding pages of this history, he must 
be aware that the indulgence proceeded 
upon a principle clearly subversive of the 
Presbyterian Church. Its very existence 
depended upon the king's supremacy in 
matters ecclesiastical ; without which he 
could have neither the right nor the 
power, on his own sole authority, and by 
his absolute command, to depose, suspend, 
restore and limit ministers in the discharge 
of their strictly ministerial functions. 
Viewing it, therefore, solely as a matter 
of principle, we have no hesitation in say- 
ing, that not one of the ejected ministers 
ought to have accepted the indul- 
gence, because it was impossible to do so 
without sacrificing the fundamental and 
essential principle of the Presbyterian 
Church — that which constitutes its glory 
and its life — the sole sovereignty of 
Christ. 

The whole number of ministers who 

• Brown's History of the Indulgence, passion. 



were included in the first indulgence 
amounted to forty-two. All of them 
made some form of protestation against 
the royal supremacy, or at least some de- 
claration of the opposite principle ; and 
very few accepted of either the direct pre- 
sentation of a patron, or collation from a 
bishop. Their wish appears to have 
been to obtain liberty to resume the dis- 
charge of their ministerial duties without 
molestation, though at the same time with- 
out receiving any stipend, and so far their 
conduct was disinterested and unselfish ; 
but it proved extremely detrimental to the 
cause of the Church of Scotland. It 
divided the ejected ministers into two par- 
ties, the Indulged and the Non-indulged, 
and thereby put nn end to that unanimity 
which their common sufferings had re- 
produced, and which, since the Pentland 
•insurrection had been increasing so 
steadily, as to promise ere long to be be- 
yond the power of kings and councils to 
subdue. Much has been written respect- 
ing the indulgence, and the propriety of 
complying with it, for the sake of peace 
and liberty to preach the gospel. But 
the whole discussion may be resolved into 
the question, which of three things ought 
to have been chosen by the Church ; 
whether unanimously to accept the indul- 
gence, in which case she would at once 
have become prelatic ; or unanimously to 
reject it, in which case it would fall 
harmlessly to the ground ; or some to re- 
ceive and some to reject, in which case the 
Church would be divided, weakened, and 
trampled in the dust. The first could 
not be chosen without injury; the second 
would have been the choice of high prin- 
ciple and sound prudence ; the third was 
the course followed, recommended by the 
usual weak and shortsighted arguments 
of expediency, and proved to be the 
course of ruin. The fatal effects result- 
ing from this division, caused by partial 
compliance with the indulgence, might 
teach, if men could be taught by the ex- 
perience of others, how dangerous it is to 
quit the path which clear principle points 
out, however beset with perils, and to 
turn aside into the crooked by-ways of 
human expediency, allured by the falla- 
cious hopes of peace and safety. 

It appears that a little reflection showed 
the privy council that they had proceeded 
rashly in giving immediate effect to the 



A. D. 1670.J 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH O/ 1 SCOTLAND. 



237 



indulgence, merely upon the authority 
of his majesty's letter, as it was contrary 
to several existing laws, which could not 
be repealed or superseded without a meet- 
ing of parliament. At the same time 
there was a proposal to unite the Scottish 
and English parliaments into one, which 
also would require to be discussed in the 
parliaments of the respective countries. 
For these reasons a parliament was called, 
after an interval of eight years. Its first 
ict, passed on the 16th of November, was 
intended to legalize the indulgence. It 
certainly accomplished that purpose, and 
not a little more. It commenced by sta- 
ting the necessity of clearly asserting his 
majesty's power and authority in relation 
to matters and persons ecclesiastical ; and 
then proceeded to declare, " That his ma- 
jesty hath the supreme authority and 
supremacy over all persons and in all 
causes ecclesiastical within this his king- 
dom ; and that, by virtue thereof, the or- 
dering and disposal of the external gov- 
ernment and policy of the Church doth 
properly belong to his majesty and his 
successors, as an inherent right of the 
crown ; and that his majesty and his suc- 
cessors may settle, enact, and emit such 
constitutions, acts, and orders, concerning 
the administration of the external govern- 
ment of the Church, and the persons em- 
ployed in the same, and concerning all 
ecclesiastical meetings, and matters to be 
proposed and determined therein, as they 
in their royal wisdom shall think fit." It 
is wholly unnecessary to offer any com- 
ment on an act which utterly abolished 
all church power whatever, and elevated 
the king at once to the state and power of 
a royal pope. Indeed, it put it com- 
pletely into the power of the king or his 
successor to restore Popery whenever he 
might think proper ; and Burnet is of 
opinion that Lauderdale, who knew the 
sentiments of the Duke of York, pro- 
cured the passing of this act for that very 
purpose.* 

This act proved to be of too potent a 
character for even the prelates. Alexan- 
der Burnet, archbishop of Glasgow, 
had been exceedingly opposed to the in- 
dulgence ; and now when this act was 
passed, he saw that it placed his own or- 
der as much in the power of the sove- 
reign as it did the Presbyterian ministers. 

" Burnet's Own Times, vol. i. p. 284. 



" So now the Episcopal party, that were 
wont to put all authority in the king as 
long as he was for them, began to talk 
of law."* A meeting of the clergy of 
that diocese was held, and a strong re- 
monstrance was drawn up against the in- 
dulgence. When it was transmitted to 
the king, he termed it another Western 
Remonstrance, said it was as bad as 
Guthrie's, and ordered the archbishop 
to be deposed. Leighton, bishop of Dun- 
blane, was translated to the archbishopric 
of Glasgow, where he soon afterwards 
took a leading part in attempting to ar- 
range the terms of an accommodation with 
the Presbyterian ministers. 
• [1670.] The year 1670 began with 
severe measures against the indulged 
ministers, at the instigation of the prelates 
because they did not conform in all parti- 
culars to the very terms of the indulgence. 
They were prohibited from lecturing, 
because the curates did not or could not 
lecture. They were watched narrowly 
as to their conduct in granting ordinan- 
ces to people who came from other 
parishes. And they were called before 
a committee appointed by the privy coun- 
cil, and compelled to answer generally 
as to the manner in which they discharg- 
ed their ministry. This must have 
shown them that, in complying with the 
indulgence, they had really subjected 
themselves to the arrogated supremacy 
of the king and the council m ecclesias- 
tical matters. 

And as the indulgence had, according 
to its own statement, taken away all pre- 
tence for conventicles, the acts against 
these meetings were enforced with in- 
creased severity. This was the more 
practicable, in consequence of an act pas- 
sed by the parliament respecting the 
militia, in which the power of arming 
the subjects, and keeping them as a stand- 
ing force for any purpose in which his 
majesty might think proper to employ 
them, was declared to be an inherent 
right of the crown. By this act, the loss 
of the army, which had been disbanded, 
was amply supplied, and a sufficient 
military force again put into the hands 
of the council. Several ministers were 
seized and punished for keeping conven- 
ticles ; and a considerable number of 
country gentlemen were subjected to 

* Bur. et's Own Times, p. 2S3. 



238 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. [CHAP. VII 



heavy fines for giving countenance to 
these meetings. But, instead of being 
discouraged and ceasing to meet together, 
both ministers and people seemed to be- 
come the more resolute as they were the 
more severely treated. What were term- 
ed field-conventicles, or field meetings, 
began to be frequently held, and nu- 
merously attended. The first of these 
leld-meetings, at which people appeared 
n arms for their own defence, was held 
* Beath-hill, in the parish of Dunferm- 
me, about the middle of June. Wor- 
hip was conducted chiefly by the Rev. 
Tohn Blackadder, who had been ejected 
several years before, and had resolutely 
refused to conform. Great numbers at- 
tended from the whole country round ; 
and when some officers of militia came, 
as if to disturb and break up the meet- 
ing, they were met by men of determined 
courage, armed for self-defence, and com- 
pelled either to remain and listen quiet- 
ly, or to promise to depart peaceably, 
and leave the people to worship God be- 
neath the open canopy of heaven. There 
is related to have been a very remark- 
able manifestation of spiritual influence 
in the sacred services of that day, great 
solemnity, and deep devotional feeling, 
impressions which were never obliterated 
f rom the hearts and minds of many of 
the worshippers.* 

Two other large meetings of the same 
kind were held the same year — one at 
the Tor wood, and another at Carnwath ; 
but neither of them quite equalled that of 
Beath-hill. They were, however, suffi- 
cient to alarm the prelatic party, and to 
excite the bitter indignation of the coun- 
cil. When the parliament met in the 
end of July, they proceeded to pass the 
most sanguinary enactments against con- 
venticles, with the manifest determination 
of utterly suppressing them, though it 
should be by the entire exterminaton of 
the persons by whom they were held. 
On the 3d of August an act was passed 
" anent deponing," or giving evidence 
on oath, against those who either held or 
frequented conventicles. In this, "all 
and every subject, of what degree, sex, or 
quality soever," were commanded to 
" depone upon oath " their knowledge 
of any person holding or frequenting 
ihese meetings, under the penalty of 

* Blackadder's Memoirs, pp. 144 148. 



" fining, imprisonment, or banishment ta 
the plantations." By this it was intend 
ed to compel people to give evidence 
against their nearest relatives and dearest 
friends. Another act "anent field-con- 
venticles " was of a still more crimson 
hue. It prohibits all " outed ministers," 
and "other persons not authorised by 
the bishop of the diocese," from preach- 
ing, expounding Scripture, or praying 
except in their own houses, and to their 
own family alone ; appointing heavy ana 
ruinous fines to be exacted from all who 
should violate these restrictions, and ren- 
dering the heads of every household an- 
swerable for each other and for the mem- 
bers of their families. It further ordains 
that those who " convocate" or conduct 
such conventicles in the fields, "shall be 
punished with death and confiscation of 
their goods;" and a reward is offeicd to 
any person who should seize and secure 
the persons of those who preached at 
these field-meetings, with an indem- 
nity for any slaughter that might be com- 
mitted in the seizure. This most atro- 
cious act was to endure for three years, 
" unless his majesty should think fit that 
it continues longer." Two other acts — 
one against, persons procuring baptism 
for their children from any other than 
the ministers licensed by government — 
the other against people separating them- 
selves from the congregations where these 
government ministers preached — com- 
pleted the persecuting enactments of this 
parliament. 

The object of the indulgence might 
have been now sufficiently apparent. 
For these most iniquitous acts plainly 
proved, that mercy was not its intention, 
but merely such a division among the 
Presbyterians as might draw off all the 
timid and wavering, and leave the more 
determined to swift and utter destruction. 
There is a fearful meaning in the limita- 
tion of the act at first to three years ; as 
if the persecutors contemplated the anni- 
hilation within that time, of the entire 
body of Presbyterians in Scotland. But 
when the malice of man wages war 
against the cause of God, the result is not 
doubtful. The very means employed 
with such relentless cruelty against the 
Presbyterians were overruled to the in- 
creasing of their numbers, their courage, 
and their progress in vital religion. 



A. D. 1670.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



239 



These barbarous enactments, so far from 
putting an end to field-meetings, roused 
the people to the determination to frequent 
them more than they had previously 
done, and to come in such numbers, and 
prepared with such defensive weapons, 
as might protect them against any sud- 
den assault of their persecuting enemies. 
And the very danger which men had 
thus to encounter in the worship of God, 
had a powerful tendency to elevate their 
minds above that listlessness and torpidi- 
ty which too often prevail in congrega- 
tions met in their usual place of worship, 
and as a matter of ordinary occurrence. 
They must have loved the gospel, who 
thus braved every peril that they might 
hear it freely and fully proclaimed by 
men whose very act of proclaiming it ex- 
posed them to the loss of life ; or they 
whose native courage loved the wild thrill 
of heart which rises at the encounter of 
danger, would soon love the gospel for 
the very danger's sake. And we may 
dimly imagine, though we cannot fully 
realize, the intense earnestness with which 
they would listen to the bold and fervent 
eloquence of a minister who indeed 
preached as a dying man to dying men, 
not knowing but that his sermon might 
be abruptly closed with his expiring 
groans, and his blood and theirs be 
mingled together on the trodden heath, 
before the day was done. Nor need we 
doubt that all these strong emotions would 
be raised to the highest pitch of which 
they were capable, by the scarcely per- 
ceived yet mighty influence of the scenery 
amidst which these field-meeting were 
generally held, — that sensations and feel- 
ings of the solemn, the sublime, and the 
glorious, would be wrought into their 
minds from the grave austerity of vast up- 
land moors, the stern majesty of frown- 
ing crags and lofty mountains, and the 
overclouded or serene illimitable skies, 
from which the sun, like the broad eye 
of heaven looked down upon their wor- 
ship. To all these incalculably power- 
ful natural influences, the records of these 
times give us good reason to add, what 
was infinitely more mighty than them 
all, the felt presence of the Spirit of God 
accompanying the administration of word 
and ordinance, and sealing divine truth 
upon the souls of the quickened, melting, 
and adoring multitudes. 



The latter part of this year was chiefly 
occupied by the discussions to which 
Leighton's attempt at an accommodation 
between the Prelatists and the Presbyte- 
rians gave rise. When Alexander Bur- 
net was removed from the archbishopric 
of Glasgow by the king's orders, Leigh- 
ton, at that time bishop of Dumblane, 
was appointed commendator or adminis- 
trator of the vacant archiepiscopal see. 
This eminent man had kept as much as 
possible aloof from direct participation in 
the atrocities perpetrated by his brethren ; 
and when appointed to the more influen- 
tial position of Glasgow, he set himself 
to attempt some accommodation between 
his party and that of the persecuted Pres- 
byterians. His first step was a very ne- 
cessary one. It was an inquiry into the 
conduct of the prelatic clergy within his 
own diocese, with the view of correcting 
the abuses that were prevalent among 
them. From this attempt he was soon 
obliged to desist, in consequence of find- 
ing it utterly impossible to correct abuses 
so universal and so enormous ; besides, 
that his attempts to be impartial in his in- 
quiries were greatly checked by a lay 
committee which the council had ordered 
to assist, but which really impeded him. 
He next attempted to try the force of ar- 
gument upon the nonconforming minis- 
ters and people, and selected six of the 
most learned and pious of the prelatic 
clergy to travel over the western counties, 
and endeavour to proselytise the people. 
Gilbert Burnet, at that time professor of 
theology in Glasgow, was one of these 
six, and has recorded their endeavours, 
and their unsuccessfulness, in his His- 
tory of his Own Times. "We were in- 
deed amazed," says he, " to see a poor 
commonalty so capable to argue upon 
points of government, and on the bounds 
to be set to the power of princes in mat- 
ters of religion. Upon all these topics 
they had texts at hand, and were ready 
with their answers to any thing that was 
said to them. This measure of knowl- 
edge was spread even among the mean- 
est of them, their cottagers and their 
servants."* From this alone men might 
deduce one of the reasons why the Pres- 
byterian ought to be preferred to the Pre- 
latic form of church government by a 
wise and patriotic legislature. By the 

• Burnet'6 Own Times, vol. i. p. 293. 



240 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VII. 



Presbyterian Church the whole body of 
the people are educated and thought to 
think and reason ; by the Episcopalian 
this never yet has taken place, nor even 
been attempted, in its actings as a na- 
tional church. 

In further prosecution of h's scheme 
of accommodation, Leighton procured a 
meeting of some of the most distinguished 
of the indulged ministers to be held in 
Edinburgh in August, and subsequently 
another at Paisley in December. Much 
reasoning passed between Leighton and 
them, on the point of the difference be- 
tween Prelacy and Presbytery, and the 
possibility of some intermediate form, 
partaking of some of the essential fea- 
tures of both, by the adoption of which 
harmony might be restored. It was not 
difficult to see that any real and perma- 
nent accommodation was absolutely im- 
possible, unless the Presbyterian minis- 
ters were prepared to abandon every es- 
sential point of their own form of church 
government and discipline, one by one, 
as the prelatic power chose to make its 
insidious but irresistible advances. They 
could not but know that Prelacy had 
been thrust upon the Church of Scotland 
in King James's days, in a great meas- 
ure by the device of the constant moder- 
ators ; and Leighton's proposal not only 
retained these, but did not abolish the 
negative vote of the presiding prelate, so 
that presbyteries and synods, so constitu- 
ted would have been but a name. The 
attempted accommodation, was, therefore, 
finally abandoned, greatly to the regret 
of Leighton, who was, we are persuaded, 
sincerely desirous of peace, and pitied 
the sufferings of his oppressed country, 
having on one occasion declared that he 
could not approve of the severities em- 
ployed against the nonconformists, even 
for the purpose of planting Christianity 
in a heathen land, much less for the 
mere substitution of one form of church 
government for another.* Yet he cannot 
be exonerated from the blame of having 
been accessory to these severities, through 
his compliance with the scheme of over- 
throwing the Presbyterian Church, and 
establishing Prelacy on its ruins. And 
however much we must deplore that such 
a stain should rest on the memory of 
such a man, historical truth condemns 

* Pearson's Life of Leighton, pp. 62, 63; Burnet. 



his public conduct as that of a persecutor 
although his gentle spirit shrunk from 
the contemplation of the bloody scenes 
in which his unnatural connection with 
Scottish Prelacy involved him. 

[1671.] No great events signalized the 
year 1671. The indulged ministers, in- 
deed, experienced some of the tender 
mercies of the council, by being confined 
within their parishes, and threatened to 
be deprived of their stipends, because 
they had not strictly obeyed all the di- 
rections contained in the indulgence. 
Several heavy fines were exacted, and 
people imprisoned in irons, for frequent- 
ing conventicles. Popery began to raise 
its head openly in various parts of the 
country, and experienced no such moles- 
tation as was directed unsparingly against 
the Presbyterians. The island, or rather 
rock, of the Bass, was purchased by the 
crown, and converted into a state prison, 
of which Lauderdale was made captain, 
— the place, the purpose, the office, and 
the man, all in dreadful harmony. 

[1672.] The aspect of affairs grows 
darker as we enter upon the year 1672. 
Lauderdale was created a duke, as if to 
testify the king's satisfaction with his 
previous administration and to encourage 
him to proceed in his atrocious career 
His marriage to Lady Dysart, " a wo 
man," says Sir Walter Scott, " of con- 
siderable talent, but of inordinate ambition, 
boundless expense, and the most unscru- 
pulous rapacity," had a very pernicious 
effect in rendering him still more over- 
bearing and incapable than he had pre- 
viously been. The fines, which had 
been hitherto sufficiently oppressive, were 
increased and exacted with double rigour. 
The acts against conventicles and field- 
preachings were enforced with immitiga- 
ble cruelty. The ejected ministers were 
hunted from place to place, as if they had 
been wolves, who were to be extermi- 
nated as a matter of public duty. An 
act was passed against what parliament 
was pleased to term " unlawful ordina- 
tions," by which was meant all except 
prelatic ordination. The intention of this 
act was manifestly to secure the final ex- 
tinction of the Presbyterian Church, by 
preventing the ordination to the ministry 
of young men who might supply the va- 
cancies caused by the death of the old. 
It caused great hardship to the whole 



A. D. 1672.] HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



241 



Presbyterian community, and, could it 
have been fully enforced, must have 
proved fatal in the course of a single 
generation. As it was, it rendered it ne- 
cessary for young men to be sent to Hol- 
land, where a presbytery was constituted 
of banished Scottish ministers, by whom 
these young men were ordained. It had 
another effect, which, of course, the pre- 
lates did not contemplate. The Scottish 
ministers in Holland were some of the 
most eminent men, in learning and abil- 
ities, of their age. Not only had they 
studied the subjects deeply for the main- 
tenance of which they had been banished, 
before they suffered that punishment, but 
their exile furnished them with leisure to 
prosecute these studies, with the advan- 
tage of being aloof from the scene of con- 
flict, their personal interests not involved 
in it, and themselves thereby enabled to 
take calmly both more comprehensive 
and profounder views of the whole mat- 
ters in dispute, than would have been pos- 
sible had they been in Scotland. These 
views they communicated to the men who 
came for ordination, and who returned to 
Scotland thoroughly imbued with the 
knowledge, and confirmed in the love, 
of the great and essential doctrine of the 
Presbyterian Church. In this manner 
the vital principles of Presbytery were 
not only kept alive ; they were strength- 
ened into more intense activity and un- 
compromising endurance. 

Several other oppressive enactments 
were passed by this parliament, respect- 
ing baptism, the keeping of the 29th of 
May, and a prolongation of the act against 
conventicles. But as these differed from 
the acts already specified only in their 
increased severity, it is not necessary to 
state their provisions. 

But the most important matter of this 
year was the second indulgence, which 
was promulgated by the council on the 
3d of September. The main peculiarity 
of this indulgence consisted in its sending 
a number of the previously non-indulged 
ministers either to the parishes of those 
"who had accepted the first indulgence, 
where they were to reside and perform, 
along with them, the functions of the 
ministry, or to other parishes not pre- 
viously indulged ; but in either case the 
arrangement coupled them together two 
by two, and confined each couple within | 
31 



the limits of the respective parishes to 
which they were appointed. This scheme, 
it appears, was founded upon a sugges- 
tion of Burnet's, supported by Leighton, 
who said that when burning coak were 
scattered all over the house, in danger of 
setting it on fire, it might be prevented 
by gathering them all into the hearth, 
where they might burn out in safety?* 
It had for its object, undoubtedly, the col- 
lecting together into the narrowest possi- 
ble bounds, the nonconforming Presby- 
terian ministers ; and as its concluding 
clause strictly prohibited these ministers 
from preaching in any other churches 
than those of the parishes in which they 
were confined, or out of doors even in 
the churchyards, and all others from 
preaching at all, it seemed calculated to 
suppress field-preaching, and prevent the 
diffusion of Presbyterian sentiments 
through the country. It had also another 
effect. Like the first indulgence, it di- 
vided the sentiments of the ministers 
whether it ought to be complied with or 
rejected ; and, unable to come to any 
unanimity of opinion, some accepted, 
others rejected, great divisions were 
caused, and corresponding weakness en- 
sued. 

When recording events which take 
their aspect from mental, moral, and re- 
ligious opinions, we are often struck with 
the strange contrast presented between 
men's principles and their course of con- 
duct. Had the Presbyterian ministers 
looked only to the inevitable conclusion 
to which their principles must lead, they 
would not have hesitated one moment 
about rejecting the indulgence. The 
true nature of the question was brought 
into more distinct developement by the 
second indulgence than it had been by 
the first. It was manifestly this, 
" Whether the civil magistrate may of 
himself, and immediately, without the 
voice of the church and the previous elec- 
tion of the people, assign and send minis- 
ters to particular congregations, to take 
the fixed and pastoral oversight of them, 
prescribe rules and directions to them for 
the exercise of the ministry, and confine 
them rigidly to those special congrega- 
tions." When the question is thus stated 
in its simple and essential form, no true 
Presbyterian can hesitate to say that it. 

* Burnet's Own Times, vol. i. p. 34L 



242 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP, VII 



must at once Le met by a prompt and de- 
cided negative. It was indeed so met by 
some ; for when the indulgence with its 
directions were offered to Mr. Blair, 
miniver of Galston, he took the paper 
into his hand, saying, " My Lord Chan- 
cellor, I cannot be so uncivil as to refuse 
a paper offered to me by your lordship :" 
then letting it fall to the ground, he ad- 
ded, " but I can receive no instructions 
from you for regulating the exercise of 
my ministry ; for if I should receive in- 
structions from you, I should be your am- 
bassador, not Christ's."* For this he was 
immediately committed to prison ; and 
the dissensions among the ministers in- 
creased, some approving the decided con- 
duct of Mr. Blair, others condemning his 
want of prudence, as they were pleased 
to term his bold and candid statement of 
his principles. Death, in the course of a 
few months, relieved Mr. Blair from his 
imprisonment, but did not diminish the 
indignation and alarm which his seizure 
had excited. 

[1673.] The only peculiarities in the 
course of the year 1673, of sufficient im- 
portance to be mentioned, were the pro- 
ceedings which arose out of the indul- 
gence, and the rise and growth of an op- 
position to Lauderdale's administration. 
The number of ministers directly opposed 
to prelatic tyranny having been consider- 
ably reduced by the second indulgence, 
the council went forward with less hesi- 
tation in the persecution of those who 
still refused ; and thus the indulgence ac- 
tually proved the means of increasing the 
sufferings of the true Presbyterians. In 
a new act against conventicles, the coun- 
cil had the confidence to assert, that the 
suppression of these meetings was " of 
great concernment to religion ;" so that, 
under the hypocritical guise of a regard 
for the interests of religion, they perse- 
cuted the faithful followers of the Lord 
Jesus. And in order that information 
might be readily given against the field- 
meetings, a third part of the fines ap- 
pointed to be levied was now to be given 
to the informer, a third part to the exac- 
tors of the fines, and the remaining third 
to his majesty. Several of the ejected 
and non-indulged ministers were seized 
and committed to the Bass, among whom 

" Wodrow, vol. ii. 216; Brown's History of the Iik 
diligence. 



were Robert Gillespie and Alexander 
Peden, and positive orders were issued 
for the apprehension of others, who were 
specifically mentioned by name, particu- 
larly Gabriel Semple and John Welsh. 
It may give some idea of the ruinous 
amount of the fines levied upon the gen- 
tlemen who countenanced the field-meet- 
ings, to state, that in the small county of 
Renfew upwards of £30,000 sterling was 
exacted from eleven gentlemen, not of the. 
greatest wealth.* 

A considerable number of the nobility 
began to complain of the intolerable se- 
verity of Lauderdale's administration, the 
chief of whom was the Duke of Hamil- 
ton ; but Lauderdale's proceedings were 
too much in accordance with the inclina- 
tions of the king himself for his power to 
be easily shaken. Yet the opposition in 
the council caused a little relaxation of 
the severities enforced against the Presby- 
terians. 

[1674.] The struggle in the council 
against Lauderdale was terminated early 
in the year 1674, by its dissolution, and 
the appointment of a new one, in which 
the supporters of that ruthless tyrant 
formed a decided majority. This victory 
was signalized, as was to be expected, by 
the immediate resumption of the persecut- 
ing career of the prelatic party. A com- 
mittee of council was appointed, including 
Sharp, with full council-powers to meet 
when and where they pleased, and to 
take what steps they might think neces- 
sary for the complete suppression of field- 
conventicles. Orders were issued to ap- 
prehend twenty ministers, mentioned by 
name ; and a reward of £400 sterling of 
fered for the seizure of Welsh or Semple, 
and about £55 for each of the others, a 
full indemnity being at the same time se- 
cured for any slaughter committed in their 
apprehension. Yet, notwithstanding 
those sanguinary measures, field-preach- 
ings increased greatly, both in the fre- 
quency with which they were held, and 
in the numbers by whom they w r ere at- 
tended. The very atrocity of the acts of 
council roused the minds of both minis- 
ters and people ; and they seemed now 
more resolved than ever to brave every 
danger, not counting their lives dear to 
them in defence of the liberty of the gos- 
pel, and fully determined that, come what 

Wodrow, vol. ii. pp U2C227. 



A. D. 1674.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



243 



might, they would obey God rather than 
man. 

Early in this year James Mitchell, who 
made the attempt upon the life of Sharp, 
narrated above, was apprehended ; and, 
upon being- assured that his life would be 
spared, made a confession of his crime. 
Finding, however, that proceedings were 
about to be instituted against him, he re- 
tracted his confession; and there being 
no other evidence, he was re-committed 
to prison. 

A paper of " grievances " was laid be- 
fore the council by the prelatic clergy of 
the diocese of Glasgow, filled with the 
most bitter calumnies against the Presby- 
terians, and urging the adoption of more 
effectual measures for the suppression of 
field-preachings. Having mentioned the 
calumnies of the prelatic clergy, it may 
be expedient to explain briefly a subject 
on which so many erroneous statements 
have so long prevailed. It seems to be 
taken for granted, that the Covenanters 
of this persecuting time were the mere 
dregs of society in Scotland, and that all 
the noble, the gentle, the learned, and the 
respectable belonged to the other side. 
The reverse w T ould be much nearer the 
truth. A very considerable portion of 
the nobility were much more Presbyterian 
than Prelatic in their feelings, though 
they thought it expedient to temporize, 
through dread of the persecution to which 
their prominent position in society would 
expose them. And, in many instances, 
while the noblemen attended the privy 
council and the parliament, without tak- 
ing a very active part in the persecuting 
enactments there passed, their ladies gave 
direct countenance and encouragement to 
the Presbyterian Church. The greater 
proportion of the landed proprietors in 
Fifeshire, the western counties, Dumfries- 
shire, and Galloway, were staunch Pres- 
byterians, as the very lists of persons 
fined for giving countenance to conventi- 
cles, and refuge to the ejected ministers, 
incontestibly prove. Nearly all the 
tenantry throughout the counties where 
the persecution raged were covenanted 
Presbyterians ; and it is well known that 
in every civilized country, and especially 
in Scotland, that class of people forms the 
very heart and soul of the nation. Every 
intelligent observer will at once admit, 
that in the middle classes of society exists 



the greatest amount of piety, morality, un- 
bending integrity, and manly indepen- 
dence of character ; and nearly the en- 
tire middle classes were true Presby- 
terians. Learning forms but a very un- 
safe criterion ; for there are too many 
proofs that a man may be very learned, 
and yet be irreligious, and immoral, and 
profane. Nevertheless, we should be do- 
ing great injustice to the persecuted min- 
isters were we to compare them for a 
moment to the prelatic clergy of that 
period in any possible respect. Of the 
truth of this there needs no more than the 
testimony of Bishop Burnet, though much 
more might very easily be given. The 
real truth of the matter, however, much as 
it has been generally misrepresented by 
prejudiced and party writers, is, that the 
prelatic party in Scotland consisted chief- 
ly, nay, almost exclusively, of men of 
neither religion nor morality, — of ambi- 
tious and dissipated courtiers, military ad- 
venturers, a few perjured and apostate 
ministers, eager for the wealth and 
honours of the prelacy, a swarm of un- 
educated, irreligious, and immoral men, 
thrust hastily into the ministry to fill the 
room of the ejected ministers, and the 
very lowest dregs of society. When, 
therefore, men write about the prevalence 
of ignorance and crime at that period, 
their statements, so far as they are true, 
are applicable almost exclusively to the 
prelatic nobles, the prelates themselves, 
their curates, and the very lowest grade 
of the common people, who formed at 
once the bulk of the prelatic congrega- 
tions, where any existed, and the ready 
and brutal instruments of prelatic perse- 
cution, along with the rude and licen- 
tious soldiery, whose bloody steps they 
traced as regularly as did the wild dog 
and the carrion crow, and for the same 
hideous purposes.* It must be added, that 
wherever the field preachings prevailed, 
there immediately followed a very per- 
ceptible diminution of crime of every 
kind, even in those districts which had 
previously been notorious for irreligion 
and vice. Of this some very remarkable 
proofs might be cited, as, for instance, the 
great change which took place in some 
of the border counties, whose pillaging 

* Should this view be disputed, it shall be proved ; 
but we are not disposed to dwell on such subjects, 
unless compelled for the sake of truth, and tor the vin. 
dication of our maligned and martyred ancestors. 



244 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



{CHAP. vn. 



moss-troopers speedily became peaceful 
and honest.* 

When the council met in Edinburgh, 
a petition was presented to them by a 
considerable number of females, some of 
them ladies of rank, others minister's 
widows, imploring the council to mitigate 
their severe proceedings against the faith- 
ful ministers, and to grant them permis- 
sion to exercise their sacred functions. 
For this " unwarrantable crime," as it 
was termed, several of these ladies were 
imprisoned, and three of them banished 
from the town of Edinburgh ! so deter- 
mined were the oppressors to prosecute 
their tyranny to the utmost, that they 
punished as 'crimes even the respectful 
petitions and complaints of widowed wo- 
men, f 

In the meantime the indulged Presby- 
terian ministers felt grievously the bond- 
age under which they had brought them- 
selves, by their sinful compliance with an 
arrangement which their own conscience 
could not approve. They saw, besides, 
that the entire extinction of Presbytery 
was the object of their tyrannical antag- 
onists ; and they attempted to maintain 
some shadow of Presbyterian church 
government, by the formation of meetings 
resembling presbyteries and synods, to 
which delegates were sent, and where 
they deliberated respecting their common 
duties, mourned over their common suf- 
ferings, and adopted measures for the 
training of young men for the ministry, 
when their own cloudy and troubled day 
should have set in the darkness of the 
tomb. 

[1675.] The chief topics of the year 
1675, so far as it is distinguished from 
preceding years, were the establishing of 
garrisons in several parts of the country, 
the act of intercommuning, and the dis- 
sensions among the prelates. The first 
of these measures arose from the rapid 
progress of field-preachings, which it was 
found impossible to suppress by the 
means hitherto employed. For this rea- 
son an act of council was passed, appoint- 
ing garrisons to be placed in the houses 
of two noblemen and ten gentlemen, in 
those parts of the country where conven- 
ticles and field-preachings, were most pre- 
valent. In each instance the garrison was 

• Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 451 ; Kirkton, p. 392. ] Wod- 
row, vol. ii. pp. 2G8, 26&> 



placed in the residence of a friend to the 
suffering Presbyterians, that he might be 
oppressed and reduced to poverty by the 
free quarters of the soldiery, while they 
were watching their opportunity to seize 
upon the ministers by whom these forbid- 
den meetings were held. 

The issuing of "letters of intercom- 
muning," as they were called, was one 
of the most oppressive and inhuman 
deeds ever perpetrated by despotism. Af- 
ter mentioning by name above an hun- 
dred persons, of whom sixteen or eigh- 
teen were ministers, and who were all 
declared to be in a state of rebellion on 
account of their holding and frequenting 
conventicles, this document proceeds in 
the following terms : — " We charge and 
command all and sundry our lieges and 
subjects, that they, nor none of them, pre- 
sume, nor take upon hand, to reset, sup- 
ply, or intercommune with any of the 
foresaid persons, our rebels, nor furnish 
them with meat, drink, house, harbour, 
victual, nor no other thing useful or com- 
fortable to them, nor have intelligence 
with them by word, writ, or message, or 
any other manner of way, under the 
pain to be reputed and esteemed art and 
part with them in the crimes foresaid, and 
pursued therefor with all rigour, to the 
terror of others." By this fiend-like 
measure the nearest relatives were pro- 
hibited from assisting each other ; the 
wife might not assist the husband, nor the 
husband the wife ; the brother might 
not comfort the brother, nor the parent 
give food and shelter to the son, if the 
sufferers had been intercommuned. 
Every feeling of humanity, — every tie of 
nature, — every bond of affection, was 
outraged ; and for what 1 That Prelacy 
might be established in Scotland ? Yes, 
for that, and something more ; that the 
supremacy of the king equally in spiritual 
as in civil matters might be confirmed, a 
pure despotism erected, religion trampled 
under foot, the sovereignty of the Lord 
Jesus Christ over his Church abolished, 
and Christianity reduced to a political en- 
gine for swaying the community. And 
Scottish Prelacy assisted willingly in the 
prosecution of this truly diabolical scheme, 
by measures such as, Sir Walter Scott 
says, might have been suggested by Sa 
tan.* 

* Talea of a Grandfather, vol. ii. p. 22, 



A. D. 1678.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



245 



It is not necessary to relate the contests 
which arose among the prelates, in con- 
sequence of the overbearing conduct of 
Sharp. They issued in the king's em- 
ploying his ecclesiastical supremacy for 
the deposition of one bishop and four of 
the ordinary clergy, without the inter- 
vention of any church court. f This 
might have somewhat stunned the pre- 
latists, when they were made to feel their 
own tyrannical devices turned against 
themselves. But they had still the com- 
fort of knowing that their own pliant 
consciences would not urge them into any 
protracted opposition to the king ; and 
that his majesty, having found them such 
serviceable instruments in his attempts 
against the liberties of the nation, would 
not visit them with any chastisement more 
severe than was necessary for reducing 
them to their former state of ready sub- 
serviency. 

[1676.] The appointment of garrisons 
caused the year 1776 to be one of the 
most oppressive which Scotland had yet 
undergone. Each of these became a den 
of robbers, out of which issued at plea- 
sure an armed band, wasting the country, 
pillaging from every quarter round them, 
and inflicting every kind of personal out- 
rage upon men, women, and children, 
under the pretence of suppressing con- 
venticles. A new proclamation was is- 
sued against these meetings, pressing the 
full execution of all the former persecut- 
ing decrees, and laying additional restric- 
tions upon the indulged ministers; and 
inflicting fines on the proprietors of those 
lands where conventicles were held, al- 
though they neither knew of them, nor 
were able to prevent them. Yet these 
meetings increased, both in frequency of 
being held, and in the numbers by whom 
they were attended. Frequently the 
most remote, lonely, and inaccessible pla- 
ces were chosen, on the brink of some vast 
morass, or in the heart of some deep-cleft 
ravine, and men were stationed on com- 
manding positions within sight, to give 
warning of the enemy's approach ; and 
in such circumstances the persecuted wan- 
derers worshipped God, and partook of 
the symbols of redemption. A commis- 
sion of council w r as now appointed, con- 
taining the two archbishops, Sharp and 
Burnet, the latter of whom had been re- 

* Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 304. 



stored to Glasgow when Leighton relin- 
quished the hopeless task of mitigating 
Prelacy and deceiving Presbyterian min- 
isters, and, shocked with the bloody bar- 
barities w r hich he could not prevent, with- 
drew to England, after expressing his 
wish that he and the other prelates had 
been cast into the Forth with millstones 
fastened to their necks. 

One of the persecuting incidents of this 
year merits attention, on account of the 
light which it casts on the spirit and tem- 
per of the persecuting party. An attempt 
was made by one Captain Carstairs to 
seize the Rev. James Kirkton, one of the 
ejected ministers, for which Carstairs had 
no warrant. Kirkton was rescued by 
Baillie of Jerviswood. For this Baillie 
was called before the council, and having 
related the matter, would have been set at 
liberty, had not Sharp insisted that Car- 
stairs must be supported, "otherwise it 
could not be expected that any one would 
prosecute the fanatics." But it was diffi- 
cult to find a reasonable pretext for pun- 
ishing Baillie for rescuing a friend when 
illegally seized. To obviate this difficul- 
ty, Sharp procured a warrant for the ap- 
prehension of Kirkton, and antedated it, 
so that it might give the appearance of 
legality to the attempt of Carstairs ; and 
on the strength of this fabricated docu- 
ment Baillie was imprisoned four month", 
and compelled to pay a heavy fine, vvnich 
was given to Carstairs to encourage him 
in the seizure of fanatics.* Some of the 
council could not consent to this base 
deed, and on that account the Duke of 
Hamilton and the Earl of Kinkardine 
were removed, to make way for less scru- 
pulous supporters of Prelacy, who would 
readily second the perfidy of Sharp. 

[1677.] The year 1677 is chiefly re- 
markable for the passing of those acts of 
council, and application to his majesty 
founded on them, which led to raising an 
armed force among the Highlands, -md 
bringing it, like an invading army, upon 
the western counties. The assaults upon 
the large field meetings had been so fre- 
quent, that it had become customary for 
the persecuted Presbyterians to carry 
arms in self-defence ; and on several oc- 
casions they had overawed the soldiers, 
and compelled them to consult their own 

• Wodrow, vol. ii. pp. 327, 328 ; Kirkton, pp. 367-372 
Burnet, pp. 399, 400. 



246 



. HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



CHAP. VIL 



safety by a prudent and peaceful retreat. 
In Fife, Captain Carstairs had attacked a 
few resolute men who were met together 
in a dwelling-house, and had been beaten 
off, one of the soldiers being wounded in 
the encounter. Availing themselves of 
these events, the prelatic party represent- 
ed .he whole south of Scotland as in a 
state of incipient insurrection, requiring a 
force for its suppression beyond what the 
small body of regular troops, together 
with the militia, could afford. A procla- 
mation was issued about the same time, 
both calling on the gentlemen of the 
western counties to put down all conventi- 
cles, and to subscribe a bond, making 
themselves answerable for the conduct of 
their wives, children, servants, tenantry, 
and cottagers. The county gentlemen 
declined the bond, and answered, " that 
they found it not within the compass of 
their power to suppress conventicles , ' at 
the same time recommending more tole- 
rant measures. Upon this the council ap- 
plied to the king for assistance by troops 
from the north of England and from Ire- 
land, and suggested the raising of the 
Highland clans for the same purpose. 
The king willingly acceded to their re- 
quest and suggestion ; and on the 26th 
of December a commission was issued 
for raising the Highlanders, and employ- 
ing them " against the places infested with 
rebellious practices ;" empowering them 
to take free quarters ; and " indemnifying 
them against all pursuits, civil and crimi- 
nal, for killing, wounding, apprehending, 
or imprisoning, all such as should make 
opposition."* 

[1678.] the year 1678 was ushered in 
by the invasion, as it may be well termed, 
of the Highland Host. Orders were 
given to the Marquis of Athole, and the 
Earls of Mar, Murray, Caithness, Perth, 
Strathmore and Airly, to raise their men, 
and advance to Stirling. There they 
were joined by the milita under the com- 
mand of the Earl of Linlithgow, forming, 
when united, an army of about 10,000 
men, 8,000 of whom were Highlanders. 
A committee of council was appointed to 
accompany them, and give encourage- 
ment and sanction to their proceedings. 
Alarmed by these formidable prepara- 
tions, several of the noblemen and gen- 
tlemen of the western counties resolved 

' Wodrow. vol. ii. p. 370. 



to go to court, and by a fair and true 
statement, of Scottish affairs, endeavor to 
obtain from the king himself orders to 
countermand this invasion ; but the privy 
council immediately issued a proclama- 
tion, " prohibiting noblemen and others 
to go out of the kingdom without license." 
Thus prevented from access to the king, 
the western gentlemen applied to the 
council, where they were met by the fu- 
rious tyranny of Lauderdale, who, with 
frantic vehemence, making bare his arm 
to the shoulder, as if about to plunge it 
into blood, swore a dreadful oath, that he 
would compel them to take the bond.* 

On the 25th of January the Highland 
host and the militia marched from Stirling, 
directing their course by Glasgow to the 
western counties. They had with them 
a small train of artillery, and pioneering 
implements, as if to assail fortified pla- 
ces ; and, in addition to their usual wea- 
pons, they carried with them large quan- 
tities of iron fetters, with which to mana- 
cle their captives, and thumb-screws and 
other instruments of torture. At Glas- 
gow the bond against conventicles, field- 
meetings, and intercommuned persons, 
was repromulgated ; and the savage horde 
moved onward, disarming the people, de- 
vastating the country, and perpetrating 
every imaginable kind of outrage. In 
vain did the people protest against being 
obliged to subscribe a bond which was in 
its own nature illegal, inhuman, and im- 
possible : they must subscribe it, or be 
ruined in their fortunes, and suffer every 
kind of personal abuse short of death. 
The wild host held on its course. No 
army appeared to be fought, no tumultua- 
ry meetings to be dispersed, no resistance 
to be overborne. But there were towns 
which could be sacked, houses which 
could be pillaged, property which could 
be destroyed, and men and women who 
could be insulted and abused ; and in the 
perpetration of all these barbarities the 
ferocious invaders were not only permit- 
ted but encouraged to revel unrestrained. 
Several aged men, and several women, 
including two ladies of rank, died in con- 
sequence of the abuse inflicted on them 
by these northern barbarians. A more 
minute specification of the enormities 
committed by the Highland host may not 
be given, as too hideously revolting to 

* Burnet's Own Times, vol. i. p. 418. 



A. D. 1678.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



247 



human nature to be expressed in language, 
or more than dimly suggested to the shud- 
dering heart and recoiling mind. Even 
the face of the country bore witness to 
their ravages, which far surpassed those 
generally committed by an invading ar- 
my in a hostile territory. Descending 
upon the fairest and most fertile scenes of 
Scotland, like a swarm of locusts in the 
regions of the east, they spread terror and 
ruin around them, leaving the country 
where they had appeared a waste and 
desolate wilderness. 

Another device was employed by the 
council for the purpose of giving fuller 
scope to their persecuting zeal. On the 
14th of February an act was passed " for 
securing the public peace,"* in which 
they contrived to include what is termed 
in Scottish law, a writ of lawburrows, 
by which a man who is afraid of violence 
from his neighbour, upon making oath to 
the circumstances affording ground for 
such apprehension, may have the party 
bound over to keep the peace, under 
security. By this act the king was made 
to apply for a writ of lawburrows against 
all in the western countries who had 
refused to sign the bond, on the pretence 
that his majesty had just grounds of ap- 
prehending injury from them. This 
seemed an attempt to involve the loyal 
Presbyterians in a personal quarrel with 
the king ; and in the meantime it fur- 
nished a pretext for maintaining a stand- 
ing army. When the western gentlemen 
complained that the whole district would 
be laid utterly waste by the interruption 
of all agricultural labour in consequence 
of these most oppressive proceedings, 
Lauderdale answered, that " it were bet- 
ter that the west bore nothing but windle- 
straws and sandy laverocks, than that it 
should bear rebels to the king."] Being 
thus driven to despair, they determined to 
brave the terrors of the proclamation 
which prohibited them from leaving the 
kingdom, and fourteen peers and fifteen 
gentlemen, headed by the Duke of Ham- 
ilton, went to London to lay their com- 
plaint before the king himself. But the 
interest of Lauderdale prevailed so far, 
that the supplicants received no favour 
from his majesty, nor any promise of re- 
dress. 

* Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 400. t Tales of a Grand- 

father, vol. ii p. 30. 



Lauderdale appears, however, to have 
been somewhat alarmed at so strong 
a manifestation of hostility to his mea- 
sures ; and accordingly an act of council 
was passed about the end of February, 
ordering the Highland host to return to 
their own homes. They retired laden 
with booty of every description, from the 
plate and jewels taken from people of 
rank and wealth, to the most common 
furniture, household implements, and 
clothing of the cottager, and even to wear- 
ing apparel torn from the persons of all, 
both men and women, on whom they 
could lay their hands. No exact account 
can be given of the loss sustained by the 
western counties from this devastating 
inroad of the Highlanders ; but, at a 
moderate computation, the county of Ayr 
alone is said to have suffered, from fines 
and plunder, to the value of about £137, 
499.* This is a very limited estimate of 
the direct loss of property sustained in 
that one county : the extent of personal 
injury inflicted can neither be estimated 
nor expressed. 

Burnet suggests another reason for the 
recall of the Highland host. The inten- 
tion of Lauderdale in bringing them 
down upon the western counties, he 
says, was to provoke the people into 
actual rebellion, partly to give some ap- 
pearance of reason for the maintenance 
of a standing army, and partly that he 
and his adherents might divide among 
them the confiscated estates of such noble- 
men and gentlemen as they might suc- 
ceed in driving to the desperate necessity 
of arming in self-defence. But the per- 
secuted Presbyterians were aware of this 
malignant scheme, and therefore deter- 
mined to suffer unresistingly, rather than 
fall into the snare laid for them by their 
cunning and relentless foe.f Foiled by 
their wonderful endurance, and perceiv- 
ing that some even of his own party were 
recoiling with horror from the atrocities 
of his unparalled despotism, Lauderdale 
so far gave way as to recall the High- 
landers, and to withdraw the bond and 
the writ of lawburrows. But at the sarm> 
time he contrived to procure from his 
majesty a letter to the council expressing 
approbation of all their recent proceedings. 

* Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 426. 
' Burnet's Own Times, vol. i. pp. 418, 419; Kirkton 
p. 390. 



248 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VII 



When the Highland host withdrew, 
the king's guards and the militia were 
again placed in garrison in different parts 
of the country^ to suppress the field - 
preachings to the utmost of their power. 
But what ten thousand had not been able 
fully to accomplish, two thousand could 
not effect ; and field-preachings were 
again held in several parts of the coun- 
try, and attended by great numbers. At 
one, in particular, held at Whitekirk, 
nearly opposite the Bass, the soldiers 
were beaten off by the country people, 
and compelled to retire, one man being 
wounded in the brief conflict. For this, 
one man, James Learmont, was executed, 
chiefly in consequence of the relentless 
fury of Sharp. At another field-meeting 
the soldiery were more successful, dis- 
persing the meeting, and seizing upon a 
number of the people, who, after suffering 
imprisonment, were sentenced to be ban- 
ished to the plantations. 

These numerous field-meetings roused 
the fury of Lauderdale and the prelates, 
who procured from the king an order 
calling a convention of estates to meet 
in July, to deliberate in what manner 
" field-conventicles, these rendezvouses of 
rebellion," as his majesty's letter was 
pleased to term them, might be most 
effectually suppressed. On the 10th of 
July, the convention passed an act impos- 
ing a cess or assessment of eighteen hun- 
dred thousand pounds Scots, or about 
£150.000 sterling, to be raised in five 
years by yearly payments of about £30, 
000 sterling, for the maintenance of an 
army sufficiently strong to suppress those 
dreaded and detested field-meetings.* Not 
only was this measure in itself oppres- 
sive, but it also proved a new cause of 
contention among the Presbyterians. It 
immediately became a question among 
them whether they could in conscience 
pay an assessment which was imposed 
for the avowed purpose of maintaining an 
army to prevent the public preaching of 
the gospel. Some argued that it was of 
the nature of general taxation, which, as 
subjects, they were bound to pay, what- 
ever use might be made of the money by 
the ruling powers of the State ; others 
reasoned from the necessity of the case, 
since their refusal would only expose 
them to greater suffering, and to the utter 

* Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 490. 



spoliation of their entire property, by 
which their enemies would obtain much 
more than the specified amount ; and the 
more resolute maintained that it was sin- 
ful to pay it, knowing precisely for what 
purpose it was levied, and how it was to 
be expended. It seems clear that the lat- 
ter opinion was the correct one. For the 
fact, that this cess was imposed avowedly 
for the purpose of supporting an army to 
suppress the public preaching of the gos- 
pel in what were termed field-conven* 
tides, deprived it of the character of com- 
mon taxation, by which a general fund is 
raised to defray all the expenditure of the 
government, and where it is impossible to 
specify the particular use of any portion 
of the public money so raised. Yet the 
conduct of the Covenanters in declining 
to pay this cess has been appealed to in 
modern times, as a justification of the con- 
duct of men who refused to pay an an- 
cient and legal tax, levied for the purpose 
of supporting the preaching of the gospel, 
by men of whose doctrines they approved, 
and whom they acknowledged to be faith- 
ful and able servants of the Lord Jesus. 
This unhappy disagreement between the 
different parties of the Presbyterians 
tended greatly to increase the divisions 
among them, which had been already 
caused by the indulgence and other simi- 
lar schemes of their crafty and merciless 
oppressors. On the strength of this assess- 
ment, it was resolved to raise and main- 
tain a standing army of five thousand foot 
and five hundred cavalry, in addition 
to the life-guards, which had been contin- 
ued in force after the previous disbanding 
of the army. It may be mentioned, that 
about this time James Graham of Claver- 
house began to distinguish himself by his 
fierce and cruel treatment of the Cove- 
nanters, earning for himself that name of 
infamy and terror by which he will be 
known and held in detestation, notwith- 
standing the laudations of writers of ro- 
mance, till the moors and mountains 
which witnessed his bloody deeds shall 
have perished amid the ruins of dissolv- 
ing nature. 

One event occurred in the beghning 
of this year, which demands notice, but 
which was omitted in order to avoid in- 
terrupting the narrative respecting the 
Highland host and other public transac- 
tions. This was the trial and execution 



A. D. 1679.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



249 



of James Mitchell, who, in the year 
1668, attempted to assassinate Archbishop 
Sharp. He had been apprehended, as 
above related, in the year 1674, and had 
confessed his guilt, on the promise of 
safety to his life ; but was imprisoned for 
two years, first in Edinburgh, and after- 
wards in the Bass. In 1676 he was 
again brought to trial ; when, finding 
that the promise of life was about to be 
broken, he refused to acknowledge his 
confession, and there being no other evi- 
dence against him, he was put to the tor- 
ture of the boot. He behaved with great j 
courage and firmness under this inhuman j 
treatment, refusing to gratify the malice i 
of his tormentors by uttering one word 
tending to criminate himself or others, \ 
till, after nine successive blows had 
crushed his leg almost to a jelly, he 
fainted under the excessive agony, and 
was again cast into prison. It was pro- 
posed to crush the other leg in the same 
manner : but this was prevented in conse- 
quence of a letter received by Sharp inti- 
mating that, if he persisted in his cruel 
intention, he should have a shot from 
a steadier hand.* After languishing two 
additional years in prison, he was again 
brought from the Bass to Edinburgh in 
the beginning of January 1678. The 
accusation was conducted by the Lord 
Advocate, well known as " the bloody 
Mackenzie," and the defence by Sir 
George Lockhart. As there was still no 
evidence except the prisoner's confession 
upon the promise that his life should be 
spared, the only way in which they could 
reach his life was by denying that any 
such promise had been given. Four 
members of the privy council — the Duke 
of Lauderdale, the Earl of Rothes, Lord 
Hatton, brother of Lauderdale, and Arch- 
bishop Sharp — positively swore that no 
assurance of life had been given to Mit- 
chell to induce him to confess. Mitchell 
produced a copy of the act of council in 
which that assurance had been given, and 
craved that the register itself might be 
examined. This was refused, and sen- 
tence passed, condemning him to death. 
When the trial was over, the lords exam- 
ined the register of the council, and found 
the act containing the assurance of life on 
which Mitchell had founded his defence. 
Lauderdale would have spared him, but 

" Law's Memorial's, p. 85. 

32 



Sharp strenuously insisted upon his death, 
as the only way of securing his own per- 
son against similar attempts. Lauder- 
dale yielded, with a profane jest j and 
Sharp's cowardly and revengeful heart 
was gratified by this act of judicial mur- 
der. Such was the conduct of Arch- 
bishop Sharp, the great apostle of Scot- 
tish Prelacy. — conduct which even Bur- 
net says " was probably that which, in the 
just judgment of God", and the inflamed 
fury of wicked men, brought him after- 
wards to such a dismal end.' - * Doubt- 
less." says Laing, ' ; the fanaticism of 
Mitchell was of the most daring and 
atrocious nature ; but his guilt is lost in 
the complicated perfidy, cruelty, perjury, 
and revenge, which accomplished his 
death.f" 

[1679.] The year 1679 is one, the 
records of which would be most appro- 
priately written in blood. Lauderdale 
had succeeded in repelling the accusations 
brought against him by the best of the 
Scottish nobility \ and he had now an 
army at his command sufficiently strong, 
as he thought, to suppress the Presbyte- 
rians entirely. But it was necessary for 
that purpose to adopt measures more sum- 
mary and destructive than had yet been 
attempted. Early in the month of Janu- 
ary the council transmitted to his ma- 
jesty, for his approbation, a series of over- 
tures, or propositions, '-for the suppression 
of the present schisms and disorders of the 
Church :" to which the king returned an 
early answer, expressing himself well 
pleased with them, and empowering the 
council to put them into effectual execu- 
tion, Some of these propositions were 
peculiarly atrocious ; such as. — authoris- 
ing the soldiers to disperse all conventi- 
cles by force of arms, with an indemnity 
for whatever slaughter they might com- 
mit; — enjoining them to seize on the 
preachers and as many of the hearer3 as 
possible. — to strip those whom they could 
not take with them of their upper gar- 
ments, as a means of future apprehension 
and conviction ; — and offering rewards of 
£500 sterling for the apprehension of Mr. 
John Welsh, 3000 merks for any inter 
communed minister, and 900 merks fox 
any other preacher. Detachments of the 
newly levied army were stationed in dif- 

* Burnet's Own Times, vol. i. p. 416. f Laing't 

History, vol. ii. p. SO. 



250 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VH 



ferent parts of the country, encouraged to 
their bloody work by the commands 
of the council, and assisted by the prelates 
and their underlings the curates. One 
effect of these oppressive measures was 
very soon apparent. It became 'certain 
death for the Presbyterians to meet for the 
worship of God, except in such large 
numbers as might enable them to defend 
themselves against their assailants. The 
field-meetings became therefore more rare 
in their occurrence, but correspondingly 
more formidable, both in the numbers 
who attended, and the army-like aspect 
which they began to wear. The preach- 
ers were generally accompanied by a 
band of armed men, who were resolved 
to protect their ministers at the hazard of 
their lives ; and when they met for public 
worship, they chose strong positions, and 
posted armed sentinels all around them, 
to watch the movements of the enemy, and 
to warn their friends for a timely flight 
or a resolute resistance. At one of these 
meetings in the parish of Lesmahago, 
near Lanark, on the 30th of March, the 
soldiers, not daring to attack the main 
body, attempted to gratify their malice by 
plundering some women on the outskirts 
of the meeting. Upon this a party of men 
left the meeting, and compelled the plun- 
derers to give back their pillage, and 
retire. About the same time two soldiers 
were murdered at Loudon Hill, not by 
the Presbyterians, but, as Wodrow has 
proved, by some of the mean villains em- 
ployed as Government spies.* 

These occurrences, as might be ex- 
pected, roused the wrath of the persecu- 
tors to tenfold fury, and more violent and 
oppressive orders were immediately issued 
by the council ; and a committee was ap- 
pointed to be ready to act at all times and 
to issue such orders as circumstances 
might seem to require, the twoarchbishops 
being members of committee. On the 1st 
of May a new order of council was issued, 
commanding the Earl of Linlithgow to 
send a strong military force against the 
Rev. Messrs. Welsh, Cameron, Kid, and 
Douglas, and the party which accom- 
pained them, to seize them wherever they 
might be found, "and, in case of resist- 
ance, to pursue them to the death, declar- 
ing that the said officers and soldiers 
shall not be called in question therefor, 

* Wodrow, vol. iii. pp. 37, 38. 



civilly or criminally." This was equiva- 
lent to a proclamation of war against 
these ministers and every person who 
should endeavour to protect their lives ; 
and it appears to have been so regarded 
by the more rash and daring of the per- 
secuted Presbyterians. It was unques- 
tionably the direct cause of the insurrec- 
tion which soon afterwards took place. 

In the meantime another event occured 
which had no little influence in precipita- 
ting the conflict. Archbishop Sharp had 
been in Edinburgh attending the meeting 
of privy council which issued the preced- 
ing order. Other measures were propos- 
ed, which would require the direct sanc- 
tion of his majesty ; and Sharp resolved 
to go to London himself, to aid in the ar- 
rangement of one great, and what he 
hoped might prove a conclusive, effort 
for the utter destruction of the Presbyte- 
rian Church of Scotland. The shire of 
Fife he regarded as under his peculiar 
care ; and being much provoked that con- 
venticles were frequently held in his do- 
main, he had resolved to suppress them 
with the utmost rigour, and for that pur- 
pose had appointed a person named Car- 
michael, to employ all the methods com- 
manded by the council without mercy or 
mitigation. Carmichael was an instru- 
ment suitable for such a purpose. His 
barbarities drove the people to despair, 
and in their misery they determined either 
to put him to death, or to terrify him so 
far as to compel him to leave that part of 
the country. For this purpose nine per- 
sons, some of them gentlemen of consid- 
erable property and rank, met on the 
morning of the 3d of May, prepared to 
carry their intention in effect. Carmi- 
chael, however, had received information 
that some gentlemen had been inquiring 
for him, and kept himself concealed. Be- 
ing thus disappointed, they were on the 
point of separating, when they were in- 
formed that Sharp was approaching. 
Startled and excited by this unexpected 
intelligence at such a moment, one of 
them exclaimed, " Our arch-enemy is de- 
livered into our hands;" and proposed 
that they should put him to death. Hack- 
ston of Rathillet opposed his design, but 
could not prevail upon his companions to 
abandon it; and though he would take 
no part in the matter, he consented to re- 
main with them. 



A. D. 1679.] 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



251 



The party then rode forward to Magus 
Moor, about three miles from St. Andrews, 
where they descried the prelate's coach, 
and immediately galloped on to intercept 
him. Perceiving himself pursued, Sharp 
cried out to his coachman, " Drive, drive," 
in that extreme terror of his life which 
his many cruelties to the Presbyterians 
may well have suggested to his dark and 
troubled mind. At length one of the 
pursuers overtook the coach, dismounted 
the postilion, cut the traces, and put an 
end to the unhappy prelate's flight, call- 
ing out to him, " Judas, be taken !" When 
the whole party had come up, they com- 
manded Sharp to come out of the coach, 
and prepare himself for death, judgment, 
and eternity. The miserable man shrieked 
aloud for mercy, and clung to his daugh- 
ter, who was with him in the carriage. 
Upon his refusing to come out, they fired 
into the carriage, but being unwilling to 
injure the person of the lady, their un- 
steady aim did not take effect, and they 
again commanded him to come forth, 
otherwise they would drag him out. At 
length he came out, repeating his vehe- 
ment cries for mercy, offering to save 
their lives, — to give them money, — to 
abandon his prelatic station, — if they 
would but spare his life. His cries for 
mercy were in vain. They reminded 
him of his apostasy, — of the eighteen 
years of bloodshed of which he had been 
the chief cause, — of his repeated acts of 
perjury, — of his withholding the king's 
letter till nine sufferers, whom it would 
have saved, were put to a cruel and 
ignominious death; and having thus set 
his crimes in terrible array before his 
face, they again exhorted him to pray to 
God for that mercy which he himself had 
never shown to man. Still the wretched 
man could raise no cry to heaven, — a cir- 
cumstance which appalled the assassins, 
and caused them to stand aghast at such 
a spectacle of utter despair. He availed 
himself so far of their half-recoiling hor- 
ror as to creep grovelling towards Hack- 
ston, who remained on horseback a little 
apart, imploring him to interpose and 
save his life ; but Hackston answering, 
" I shall never lay a hand on you," turned 
aside, and left him to his fearful fate* 
They then fired upon him, and he fell to 

* Wndrow, vol. iii. pp. 4046; Kirkton, pp. 411-421; 
Burnet's Own Times, vol. i. p. 471. 



the ground ; but when they were about 
to depart, perceiving him still alive, they 
returned and despatched him with their 
swords. So perished that deeply guilty 
and most miserable man, whose life had 
been 'one tissue of unbounded perfidy and 
remorseless cruelty, having been the 
cause to his suffering country of a greater 
amount of woe and ruin than ever was in- 
flicted on it by any other human being. 
Yet, though his death may be justly 
viewed as an instance of the retributive 
judgment of God, the deed of those by 
whom his blood was shed cannot be re- 
garded in any other light than as an act 
of murder. True, it Avas such a deed as 
Greece celebrated with loudest praises in 
the case of Harmodius and Aristogeiton, 
and Rome extolled when done by Cas- 
sius and Brutus; but the weapons of a 
Christian's warfare are not carnal, nor 
do the precepts of the gospel allow pri- 
vate individuals to stain their hands in 
blood, though for the purpose of aveng- 
ing a public wrong, and rescuing their 
suffering country from the criminal- op- 
pression inflicted by a lawless and cruel 
tyrant. And therefore, though few will 
doubt that Sharp deserved to die, none 
will approve the conduct of those men, 
outraged grievously though they had 
been, who, in the exercise of what JBacon 
terms " wild justice," took upon them- 
selves the office of his executioners. 

When the intelligence of Sharp's death 
reached the council, they immediately 
despatched information to the king, and 
issued proclamations offering a large re- 
ward for the seizure of the murderers. 
In this their efforts were ineffectual ; for 
these men, after remaining together till 
night, separated, and betook themselves to 
different parts of the country for better 
concealment. Several of them joined 
their friends in the west, but carefully ab- 
stained from stating their participation in 
the fatal deed — so well were they aware 
that the principles or impulses which 
had excited them to the slaughter of the 
arch-persecutor, were disavowed and con- 
demned by almost the entire of the perse- 
cuted Presbyterians. Yet prelatic wri- 
ters have generally accused the whole 
body of entertaining similar opinions, and 
approving of the unhappy prelate's as- 
sassination ; and the ensnaring question, 
" Whether they approved of the killing 



252 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VII. 



of the archbishop ?" was frequently put 
by the soldiers to their prisoners, imme- 
diate death being the frequent consequence 
of an unsatisfactory answer. Many of 
those to whom this question was put 
would have readily interposed to save the 
life of the wretched victim, but would not 
express condemnation either of the deed 
itself, or of those by whom it was com- 
mitted, not considering themselves en- 
tiled to judge the motives of other men, 
or to determine respecting such matters. 

On the 13th day of May, a new pro- 
clamation was issued against conventi- 
cles, sufficiently expressive of the coun- 
cil's determination to wage henceforth a 
war of extermination. After rehearsing 
the previous acts against appearing in 
arms, especially at field-meetings, those 
" rendezvouses of rebellion," his majesty 
is made to express a degree of self-cen- 
sure for his past clemency ! and a deter- 
mination that his subjects should no long- 
er be led astray by such improper len- 
ity ! Authority is then given to judges 
and officers of the forces "to proceed 
against all such, who go with any arms 
to these field-meetings, as traitors ;" and, 
lest this should seem to express lenity to 
those who went unarmed, the concluding 
clause expressly involves them in the same 
danger. The act of council on which this 
proclamation was formed was the last act 
to which Sharp set his persecuting hand, it 
having been proposed by him, and passed 
with some difficulty, on the 1st of May, 
before he left Edinburgh to meet his 
fate. From this circumstance this tyranni- 
cal act was termed "the bishop's legacy."* 

The extreme of patient endurance was 
now almost overpast. The persecuted 
Presbyterians saw no alternative between 
sinking into a state of absolute slavery 
of both soul and body, and assuming 
arms in defence of their liberties, civil 
and religious. They would not submit 
to the prelatic yoke, — they would listen 
to the preaching of the pure gospel by 
their own ministers ; and when their own 
lives and those of their pastors were as- 
sailed by the lawless soldiery, they con- 
ceived themselves entitled, by every law 
of God, nature, and reason, to defend 
themselves. To this extent who will say 
they were wrong 1 But intolerable op- 
pression began, after long endurance, to 

• Wodrow. vol. lii. 58-60. 



drive them beyond what cooler reason in 
happier times can sanction. Some of the 
more impetuous, especially among the 
laymen, began to enquire whether it was 
not their duty to do something more than 
stand on the defensive. They thought 
the time was come when they were 
called upon to make a bold and public 
declaration of their sentiments, condemn- 
ing the various steps by which the coun- 
try had been reduced to such a state of 
misery, and censuring the conduct of 
those who continued to give ,any colour 
to the proceedings of the persecutors by 
subscribing their ensnaring bonds, or 
tamely submitting to their oppressive 
tyranny. Sentiments of this kind were 
strongly advocated by a gentleman named 
Robert Hamilton, son of Sir Thomas 
Hamilton of Preston, a man of personal 
piety, but of narrow and contracted views, 
ill-directed zeal, and overbearing temper. 
His opinions were adopted by a consider- 
able number of the more youthful and ar- 
dent of the people, and" by Cameron, 
Cargill, and Douglas, among the inter- 
communed ministers. It was at length 
resolved to make a public declaration of 
these sentiments ; and accordingly, on the 
29th of May, Robert Hamilton, Douglas, 
and about eighty armed men went to 
Rutherglen, extinguished the bonfires 
which had been kindled to celebrate the 
Restoration, burned the persecuting acts 
of parliament and council, read their own 
declaration and testimony, and then peace- 
ably retired, leaving a copy of their 
declaration affixed to the market-cross.* 

The Rutherglen declaration was mag- 
nified by the prelatic party into a daring 
act of open rebellion ; and on Saturday 
the 31st of May, Graham of Claverhouse 
set out from Glasgow in quest of the 
party who had made this public manifes- 
tation. When he arrived at Hamilton, 
he surprised Mr. King, one of the inter- 
communed ministers, and about fourteen 
unarmed countrymen. Learning that a 
field-meeting was to be held next day 
near Loudonhill, he determined to assail 
and disperse it ; and set out in the morn- 
ing, taking with him his prisoners, bound 
together two by two. Before he came 
in sight of the Presbyterian party, they 
had received information of his approach, 
and had come to the determination to 

* Wodrow, vol. iii. p. 66 



A. D. 1679.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND 



253 



prevent the meeting from being dispersed, 
by placing themselves in his line of 
march, a considerable space in advance 
of their friends, intending also to rescue 
the prisoners should they find it in their 
power. Mustering about forty horse, 
and one hundred and fifty foot, indiffer- 
ently armed, but full of courage, they 
took up their position at a place called 
Drumclog, where they were somewhat 
protected by the swampy nature of the 
ground, and by a broad ditch which ran 
along their front. Hamilton took the 
chief command, supported by Hackston 
of Rathillet, Balfour of Kinloch or Bur- 
leigh, John Paton, William Cleland, 
Henry Hall, and some others of less 
note. When Claverhouse approached, 
and marked the strength of their posi- 
tion, and the resolute front which they 
presented, he perceived that they were 
not likely to be routed without a struggle, 
and therefore left a small party to guard 
the prisoners, commanding them to be 
shot should he be defeated.* Hamilton 
gave an order of a similar import that 
no prisoners should be taken. The bat- 
tle was begun by Claverhouse, who com- 
manded his men to fire upon the Cove- 
nanters. They returned his fire with 
effect ; and, after the interchange of 
several volleys, Balfour and Cleland 
burst through their own line of defence, 
rushed upon their assailants, and, after a 
sharp conflict, put them to flight. Thirty 
or forty of the soldiers fell in the battle 
and the pursuit, and five were taken pri- 
soners, one of whom was shot by Hamil- 
ton ; the rest were saved by the interpo- 
sition of the other officers. 

After this encounter, the victorious 
Presbyterians deliberated what course to 
follow, — whether to disperse, or to re- 
main together for their mutual protection. 
The latter opinion was speedily adopted, 
as they were well aware that their baf- 
fled and enraged enemies would exact a 
cruel revenge the moment it was in their 
power. They determined, therefore, to 
remain together in arms, both for their 
own defence, and to see whether the 
country would rally round them in suffi- 
cient strength to enable them to procure 
relief from the tyranny under which they 
had so long groaned. Next day they 
advanced to Hamilton, and, being joined 

* Wilson's Relation, p. 7. 



by considerable numbers, they resolved 
to march on Glasgow, and dislodge the 
army from that town. But before they 
arrived, the troops under the command 
of Lord Ross and Claverhouse had pre- 
pared such means of defence as the coun- 
trymen could not force ; and, aftjj: sus- 
taining a slight loss, they retired, and 
encamped on Hamilton Moor, on the left 
bank of the Clyde. 

Scarcely had the insurgents withdrawn, 
when the royal troops also left Glasgow, 
and retreated in hasty confusion towards 
Stirling to the main army. Proclama- 
tions and acts of council were issued, of 
which it is difficult to say whether they 
abound most in the language of terrified 
exaggeration or ferocious cruelty. Con- 
siderable exertions were made to increase 
the army, and the Duke of Monmouth, 
the king's illegitimate son, was sent down 
to take the chief command. 

In the meantime, the army of the in- 
surgents had received a considerable ac- 
cession in point of numbers, but was 
paralyzed by dissension and disagree- 
ment. As the insurrectection, like that 
which terminated at Pentland, had arisen 
out of an unforeseen event, there was no 
previous concert of opinions and plans 
for their guidance ; and when numbers 
began to flock to their army, it was con- 
sidered necessary to frame and publish 
a declaration, stating the causes of their 
rising in arms, and the ruling principles 
by which they were actuated. Hamilton 
and his party were for taking the Ruther- 
glen declaration as the basis of their 
new manifesto, and even purposed to 
emit a testimony against the indulgence 
and the payment of the cess ; but as 
many who had joined them had submit- 
ted to both these measures, such persons 
would not consent to a declaration by 
which their own conduct would be di- 
rectly condemned. These, on the other 
hand required that the manifesto should 
contain a declaration of their unshaken 
loyalty to the king, notwithstanding the 
oppressive tyranny which had been prac- 
tised in his name ; while Hamilton and 
his friends would not consent to acknow- 
ledge the king and his government re- 
garding his right to the crown, as for- 
feited by his violation of the Covenant, 
which he had sworn, and by his long- 
continued and severe despotism. Neither 



254 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VII. 



party would submit to the other, and all 
their councils became scenes of tumult 
and angry contention, discouraging the 
army, keeping back many who would 
have joined them, inducing others to 
abandon a divided and falling cause, and 
holding them spell-bound while their en- 
emies were preparing to crush them. 
They seized on Glasgow, and advanced 
about a dozen miles towards Edinburgh, 
then hesitated, returned to their former 
position on Hamilton Moor, near Both- 
well Bridge, and resumed their unhappy 
and most pernicious contests. There 
were eighteen ministers in their army, 
none of whom had taken the indulgence ; 
and only two, Cargill and Douglas, es- 
poused the opinions of Hamilton and his 
party. Not one of the sixteen approved 
of the indulgence, but they disapproved 
of condemning it in their manifesto, as 
certain to prevent a great number of true 
Presbyterians from joining the common 
cause. For this they were sharply cen- 
sured by their opponents, and accused of 
downrightErastianism, as much as if they 
had themselves taken the indulgence. 
Yet how far they were from entertaining 
Erastian opinions must be evident from 
the fact, that their leader was Mr. Welsh, 
who had been intercommuned for field- 
preaching, and for whose seizure a re- 
ward of five hundred pounds sterling 
had been offered. That he could have 
been tainted with Erastian principles 
may well be deemed incredible ; but 
while he was willing to peril his own life 
in preaching the gospel to any who had a 
desire to hear it, he was reluctant to haz- 
ard the success of the Presbyterian army 
and cause, by publishing a declaration 
which must alienate many, and which, 
in his opinion, the circumstances and 
necessities of the case did not require. 
Counter declarations were framed and 
proposed ; ministers contended against 
ministers, and officers against officers : 
the body of the army caught the spirit 
of contention, and they lay in their camp 
tossing and confused till the army of 
their enemies was upon them. 

" It is scarcely within the province of 
a historian to attempt deciding a question 
of such a nature as that which divided 
the Covenanters ; yet, as it is so closely 
connected with the principles of the 
Church of Scotland, a few remarks may 



be offered. In one point of view it 
would seem that the opinions of Hamil- 
ton and the stricter party, were sounder 
and more consistent than those of their 
opponents. The indulgence was unques- 
tionably based upon the act of supremacy, 
and, therefore, inconsistent with the fun 
damental principles of the Presbyterian 
Church. But it was not so clear a mat 
ter that a condemnation of it was imper- 
atively required till an Assembly of the 
whole Church could be held, and the 
matter fairly and deliberately adjudged. 
The direct contest was with Prelacy and 
the act of supremacy in matters ecclesi- 
astical ; and could these have been re- 
moved, the indulgence would have per- 
ished of itself. It was for those who 
had complied with it to confess and la- 
ment their own defection, publicly, if 
they thought proper ; but it does not 
seem a matter of positive duty in the 
non-indulged to have issued a condem- 
nation of any thing more than the direct 
causes of their wrongs and sufferings. 
And especially, the significant suppres- 
sion of any recognition of the king's au- 
thority as the lawful sovereign of the 
kingdom, indicated the existence of 
views, the open promulgation of which 
would expose the Presbyterians to the ac- 
cusation of rebellion, with more appear- 
ance of justice than any thing which had 
yet taken place, and might be ruinous to 
their prospects of success. Besides, it 
actually involved that very mingling of 
things civil and spiritual, which leads in- 
evitably to either Erastianism or Popery. 
It was true that Charles was a tyrant ; 
and it may be the opinion of jurists, that 
subjects are bound by no law, human or 
divine, from rising up in vindication of 
their civil liberties, and hurling a law- 
less tyrant from his throne. But that is 
not an argument which Christians and 
Christian ministers, simply as such, can 
use. A Christian may be the loyal sub- 
ject of a heathen monarch; and, even 
when persecuted, is not entitled, on that 
account, to rebel and wage war against 
his persecutor. Yet, when Christian 
subjects are exposed equally to the loss 
of their civil and religious liberties, it is 
not surprising that they should forget the 
nice distinctions which are required to 
guide them in determining what declara- 
tions they should issue, and what mode 



A, D. 1679.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



255 



of self-defence they should employ. It 
seems probable, also, that Hamilton and 
his party were led to adopt and hold 
their opinions by misunderstanding the 
conduct of the Covenanters of the prece- 
ding- generation, and especially with re- 
gard to the Act of Classes, excluding 
malignant and disaffected persons from 
places of trust, whose- whole previous 
conduct proved that they would immedi- 
ately use their power for the overthrow 
of religious reformation. And as this 
could not possibly be held w T ith regard to 
those who had merely submitted to the 
indulgence, the cases were not parallel, 
and the rule of the one could not justly 
apply to the other. After all, however, 
this may be said in favour of the very 
strictest of the Presbyterians, that the 
principles which they held were the very 
same which nine years afterwards per- 
vaded the whole nation, drove the race 
of Stuarts from the throne, and secured 
the liberty of Britain, by what all men 
with one consent rejoice to term the Glo- 
rious Revolution ; and it would not be 
easy for any man who defends the prin- 
ciples which led to that great national de- 
liverance, to show his consistency in 
condemning those of the persecuted Cov- 
enanters.* 

At length, on the morning of the Sab- 
bath day, June 22d, the royal army, 
commanded by the Duke of Monmouth, 
arrived at Bothwell, within a quarter of 
a mile of the bridge, which was in pos- 
session of the Presbyterian forces. Even 
then their baneful contentions did not 
cease. A deputation went to the duke, 
and presented a supplication for a redress 
of grievances. He refused to treat with 
them while they remained in arms ; but 
expressing that he would be able to ob- 
tain from his majesty both mercy and re- 
dress if they would immediately lay 
down their arms and submit themselves 
to his clemency, he offered them half an 
hour to consider and answer these terms. 
That half hour was spent in hot alterca- 
tion ; and when it was past, the duke 
sent a detachment to attempt the passage 
of the bridge. It was bravely defended 

" Both parties into which the persecuted sufferers 
were henceforth divided were Presbyterians and Cov- 
enanters, and equally deserve both appellations ; but 
the minority, consisting chiefly of the followers of 
Hamilton, Cameron, Cargill, &c, may be termed the 
strict Covenanters, to distinsuish them from the larger 
body, who continued to adhere to the Covenant but 
not with such unbending firmness. 



for an hour by a body of the Presbyteri 
ans under the command of Hackston, 
and Ure of Shargarton. At length their 
ammunition failed ; and when they sent 
for a supply, they received orders to fall 
back upon the main army. Nothing 
could have been more insane than, such 
a command ; but being now defenceless 
and unsupported, they were constrained 
reluctantly to comply. Even then their 
native courage signalized itself by one 
gallant deed. Looking back, and seeing 
that a party of the royalists had already 
followed them to the southern bank of 
the river, they wheeled about, charged 
them hand to hand, and driving them 
headlong across the bridge, regained 
possession of that important post. Hav- 
ing thus almost instinctively pointed out 
the path which might have led to safety, 
if not to victory, they were again obliged 
to the inert mass, whom neither danger 
could excite nor courage rouse. Slowly 
the enemy's forces crossed the steep, and 
narrow bridge, while the western army 
looked on in a state of helpless and un- 
moving stupor. One charge sufficed to 
cast the weltering mass into complete 
confusion ; and, bereft of even the cour- 
age of despair, they fled, not in bands, 
but in scattered and defenceless rout, 
hewn down on every side by the remorse- 
less hands of their fierce pursuing foes. 
Claverhouse, burning with the desire of 
revenge for his defeat at Drumclog, urged 
on the pursuit and the slaughter with in- 
exorable fury, till night compelled him to 
quit his murderous work, wearied, but 
not satiated, with bloody butchery. Few 
fell in the battle, about four hundred per- 
ished in the flight, and about twelve hun- 
dred remaining together in a body, sur- 
rendered at discretion on the field."* 

Such was the fate of that unconcerted 
and ill-conducted insurrection of the per- 
secuted Presbyterians which terminated 
in the disastrous "battle of Bothwell 
Bridge. But disastrous as the battle was, 
it was but the prelude to horrors of an 
unutterably more dreadful aspect. The 
unfortunate prisoners were stripped al- 
most naked, and compelled to lie down 
upon the ground, while a strong guard 
kept watch over them, and fired upon 

* Wodrow, vol. iii. pp. 8S-100; Russell's Account ap 
pended to Kirkton; Wilson's Relation; lire of Shar- 
garton, in M'Crie's Lives of Veitch and Brysson ; Black 
adder's Memoirs. 



256 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[chap, vn. 



them if but a single man raised his head I 
or turned his body where he lay. Next 
day they were bound together two and 
two, and driven to Edinburgh by the 
brutal soldiery, like cattle to a slaughter- 
house. There they were enclosed within 
me Greyfriar's churchyard for a period 
of five months, half-naked, half-starved, 
and exposed to all the vicissitudes of the 
season, unsheltered save by the tomb- 
stones, and a few rude sheds erected to- 
wards the close of the autumnal months. 
In the mean time, Claverhouse and some 
others proposed to burn Glasgow and 
Hamilton, and lay the surrounding coun- 
try waste ; but to these savage proposals 
vhe Duke of Monmouth would not give 
lis consent: and even exerted himself to 
meek the severities of the council, and 
mitigate the sufferings of the persecuted 
insurgents. A proclamation was, how- 
ever, speedily issued, containing a list 
of the gentlemen and ministers supposed 
to be implicated in what was termed "the 
late rebellion," declaring them traitors, 
adding, "or any others who concurred 
or joined in it." An indemnity was soon 
after published for all who would sub- 
mit, but it was so ample in its exceptions 
as to be a nullity, so far as regarded the 
insurgents A bond was also formed to 
be offered to the prisoners, the terms of 
which were such that few of them felt 
at liberty to subscribe it, even to save 
themselves from death or banishment. 
They could not conscientiously term the 
insurrection " rebellion ;" and they would 
not bind themselves to take up arms in 
self-defence. Yet this they must do, or 
prepare to suffer the extreme of tyranni- 
cal cruelty. Some of the prisoners were 
prevailed upon to take this bond ; others 
refused, and were condemned to slavery 
in the plantations. About two hundred 
and fifty of them were crowded into one 
vessel, to be transported to Barbadoes and 
sold for slaves ; but a storm wrecked the 
ship, and, being confined within the hold, 
from which the captain refused to release 
them even when the vessel was founder- 
ing, not more than fifty escaped alive. 
Two ministers, the Rev. Messrs. Kid 
and King, had been taken after the bat- 
tle ; and on the 14th of August they 
were both executed in Edinburgh. Five 
other prisoners were carried to Magus 



Moor, and there hanged, as if to appease 
the manes of the perjured Sharp.* 

But even these atrocities were slight, 
compared with those committed by the 
army. u The bloody Claverhouse," at 
the head of a strong detachment, was let 
loose upon the western and southern 
counties, and swept across them, like a 
demon of destruction guiding an exter- 
minating whirlwind. Torture, rapine, 
and murder, marked his path. Those 
who fled were hunted down and shot in 
the fields ; and these whose age or sex 
rendered them incapable of flight, were 
tortured, abused, and butchered by their 
own hearthside. The hoary head of 
threescore years and ten was dashed to 
the earth in blood ; the shrinking form 
of woman was exposed to violence and 
fiery agonies, and the tender limbs of 
youth were mangled, or their heads cut 
to the skull, with twisted cords, in the 
barbarous attempt to wring from their 
anguish a discovery where their dearest 
relatives were concealed. But humanity 
recoils from the hideous recital of such 
horrors, perpetrated by the command, 
beneath the eye, and often by the hand, 
of that relentless ruffian, the favourite 
hero whom the admirers of Scottish Pre- 
lacy delight to honour. 

To aid the sword in completing the 
ruin of the Presbyterians, circuit courts 
were appointed to be held in the different 
counties which remained most steady to 
their religious principles, empowered to 
"prosecute with the utmost rigour all 
suppliers, intercommuners, or corres- 
pondents with the rebels who had been 
at Both well," and to forfeit and burn in 
effigy those who did not appear upon 
citation.! Lists were speedily made up 
of all who had been at Bothwell, or 
were suspected to have been there, or 
were suspected of being suspected to have 
been favourably inclined towards the in- 
surgents. The curates were, as formerly, 
the chief informers ; and in innumerable 
instances gratified their personal malice 
and revenge, by naming persons against 
whom they bore a private grudge, or 
who had shown dislike to Prelacy. By 
these means all Presbyterians possessed 
of any property were either dragged to 

* Wodrow, vol. iii. 112-14v. t Wodrow vol. 

iii. p. 141. 



A. D. 1680.1 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



257 



prison, or subjected to the most ruinous 
exactions, extermination being- the object 
of their persecutors. Yet, as if to hide 
their fierce intentions, and to cast the 
odium upon their victims, an act was 
passed rescinding the acts against house- 
conventicles, and offering a new shadow 
of indulgence to Presbyterian ministers. 

About the same time the final struggle 
between Lauderdale and his opponents 
took place ; a full discussion of the de- 
merits of his administration being held in 
the presence of the king and two English 
noblemen, the l£arls of Essex and Hali- 
fax. It ended, as was to be expected, in 
the king's giving a complete acquittal to 
his despotic minion, and even expressing 
approbation of his most sanguinary pro- 
ceedings. This approbation he expressed 
in private, in terms worthy of the most 
unprincipled tyrant. " I perceive," said 
the heartless despot, "that Lauderdale 
has been guilty of many criminal actions 
against the people of Scotland ; but I 
cannot find that he has done any thing 
contrary to my interest ;"* — as if the in- 
terest of a just sovereign could ever be 
different from that of his people. But 
though Charles protected Lauderdale in 
this Jast struggle, and in letters to the 
council approved of all his proceedings, 
he nevertheless allowed him to sink out 
of public employment, the chief power in 
Scotland being held for a short period by 
Monmouth, and then by the Duke of 
York. 

[1680.] The year 1680 was remark- 
able for what appears a new aspect as- 
sumed by a section of the persecuted 
Presbyterians, but what in reality, if im- 
partially considered, may rather be re- 
garded as a more full developement of 
Presbyterian principles, somewhat bias- 
sed and exaggerated through the force of 
circumstances. The defeat of the western 
army at Bothwell Bridge was greatly 
caused, as has been already stated, by the 
contentions between the stricter party and 
those of more accommodating views. 
After that fatal day, the division between 
the two parties not only continued, but 
became wider, till it ended in a complete 
separation, Richard Cameron and Donald 
Cargill being the only ministers whom 
those zealous opponents of all practical 
tyranny and lax submissiveness of prin- 

* Burnet's Own Times, vol. i. p. 470. 

33 



ciple would acknowledge. This division 
proved highly injurious for a time to the 
Presbyterian cause, not only by the weak- 
ness which such disunion always must 
produce, but also by the tendency which 
it had to leave the disunited parties to 
fall into opposite extremes. The strict 
Presbyterians, termed sometimes " Came- 
ronians," and sometimes "Society Peo- 
ple," by keeping aloof from all others, 
and conversing only with those of their 
own sentiments, acquired a character of 
stern, inflexible determination, and poured 
their whole mental strength into a channel 
not too direct, but much too narrow, and 
became too prone to condemn the weak- 
nesses as well as the errors of many 
whom gentler treatment might have 
made their friends. On the other hand, 
those of greater natural timidity and less 
strength of principle, who startled not 
only at the prospect of danger, but also at 
the practical conclusions to which certain 
abstract principles seemed to lead, being 
left to themselves, tempted by indulgence 
after indulgence, tried by bond after bond, 
yielding to one compliance after another, 
fell gradually away from several of the 
great principles to which they ought 
to have adhered, and in their own de- 
fence, as they imagined, were led to cen- 
sure or condemn views and doctrines 
which, in more propitious circumstances, 
they would have been prompt to defend. 
In this manner both parties were left in- 
sensibly to diverge somewhat from the 
straight line along which a more com- 
prehensive view of their own leading 
principles would have conducted them ; 
and, while almost equally exposed to the 
machinations and the violence of their re- 
lentless enemies, they began to regard 
each other with mutual dislike, and at 
times to commit the folly and the crime 
of assailing each other in terms of bitter 
mutual recrimination. 

The first public manifestation of the 
principles held by the stricter party of the 
Presbyterians took place incidentally, and 
before their views had been thoroughly 
matured. The direction of their deepest 
thoughts had been indicated during the 
dissensions at Bothwell Bridge, by their 
refusal to make any public avowal of 
allegiance to the king in their declara- 
tion. Subsequent reflection, in the midst 
I of the most cruel and unmerited persecu- 



258 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VII. 



tion, had only served to confirm their 
opinions ; and they had arrived at the 
conclusion, that when sovereigns violate 
their solemn engagements with their sub- 
jects, and become tyrants, the people are 
released from theirs, and are no longer 
bound to support and defend those by 
whom they are oppressed. Few will 
now deny the abstract truth of this pro- 
position ; but in those days it was re- 
garded as the very essence of treason and 
rebellion. They had, it appears, begun 
to draw up a general statement of their 
principles, at first in the form of a mere 
outline, to guide their deliberations while 
endeavouring to mature it into what 
might form a bond of union. While in 
this indigested condition, the paper was 
in the possession of Henry Hall of 
Haughhead, who in company with Mr. 
Cargill, was lurking in the neighbour- 
hood of Glueensferry. Their conceal- 
ment had become known to the curates 
of Borrowstounness and Carriden, who 
gave information to the governor of 
Blackness Castle, by whom they were 
surprised at Glueensferry on the 3d of 
June. The brave resistance of Henry 
Hall secured the escape of Cargill, but 
he was himself mortally wounded in the 
conflict, and died as they were conveying 
him to Edinburgh. The paper contain- 
ing the rude outline of the intended de- 
claration above alluded to, was found on 
his person. It is known by the name of 
the Glueensferry Paper, from the place 
where it was seized • and, though an un- 
finished, is nevertheless a very remarka- 
ble production.* 

This paper contains a statement ma- 
terially the same with those on which 
both the First and Second Reformations 
were based, — an avowal of the Scriptures 
as the only rule of faith and conversation, 
— a pledge to promote the kingdom of 
God by every possible and lawful method, 
and to attempt the .rescue of religious 
truth from all oppression, — a declaration 
of adherence to the covenanted Reforma- 
tion of the Presbyterian Church, — a bold 
disowning of all authority which opposes 
the Word of God and persecutes on ac- 
count of religion, — and a bond of mutual 
protection and defence. But the most 
objectionable part of this paper was the 
following rash declaration : u We do de- 

* Wodrow, vol. iii. pp. 205-211. 



clare, that we shall set up over ourselves, 
and over what God shall give us power 
of, government and governors according 
to the Word of God ; — that we shall no 
more commit the government of our- 
selves, and the making of laws for us, to 
any one single person, this kind of go- 
vernment being most liable to inconveni- 
ences, and aptest to degenerate into ty- 
ranny." This rash declaration of an 
intention of attempting to change the 
form of government, was eagerly laid 
hold of by all the enemies of the Presby- 
terian Church, and urged against the 
whole body, as if it had been the unques- 
tionable purpose of them all, instead of 
being the unsigned and unauthenticated 
opinion of some unknown individuals 
among them, driven into a state of des- 
peration by long-continued and intolera- 
ble outrage. But it was no part of the 
characteristic conduct of the prelatic ty- 
rants to exercise candour with regard to 
the opinions of their Presbyterian op- 
ponents, or rather victims ; and they had 
been too long in the habit of vending the 
most malicious calumnies against them, 
to let slip so good an opportunity of 
blackening their character and theii 
cause. Therefore was the Glueensferry 
Paper keenly seized upon and universally 
referred to, as containing the real senti- 
ments of the entire Presbyterian commu- 
nity. In order so far to counteract the inju- 
rious consequences resulting from the un- 
propitious promulgation of this rash 
paper, Cameron, Cargill, and their ad- 
herents, framed another more deliber- 
ately, containing a more matured view 
of their principles and opinions, and ex- 
cluding the objectionable clause respect- 
ing a change in the form of government j 
but at the same time renouncing alle- 
giance to the reigning monarch, on ac- 
count of his perjury, usurpation of eccle- 
siastical supremacy, and tyranny in mat- 
ters civil ; and declaring war against 
him and his supporters, as a tyrant and 
usurper, and an enemy of the Lord Jesus 
Christ and his cause and Covenant. 
This document, after having been pub- 
licly read, was affixed to the market-cross 
of Sanquhar on the 22d of June, whence 
it came to be termed the Sanquhar De- 
claration.* 

* Wodrow, vol. iii. p. 218; Hind let Loose; Inform* 
tory Vindication. 



A. D. 1650.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



259 



The publication of the Sanquhar De- 
claration had no effect in mitigating the 
wrath of the persecutors, nor even in re- 
pelling their calumnies. In their procla- 
mations they contrived so to blend the 
Queensferry Paper with the Sanquhar 
Declaration, as to lead to the conclusion 
that they were identical : at the same 
time holding them forth as the real senti- 
ments of the entire body of the suffering 
Presbyterians. Nor did they fail to avail 
themselves of the opportunity which these 
papers seemed to afford, of issuing new 
and more cruel and exterminating com- 
mands to the army to pursue, seize, im- 
prison, or kill all who were suspected of 
being concerned in these bold declara- 
tions. Cameron, Cargill, and ten other 
persons, were declared traitors, and a 
high price set on their heads: and the 
magistrates throughout sixteen different 
parishes were ordered to summon before 
them all the inhabitants, male and female, 
above sixteen years of age, and take their 
oaths " whether any of the foresaid trai- 
tors were in that parish, and where, and 
when." General Dalziel and the other 
officers of the army were also ordered to 
apprehend every disaffected person, and 
send all such under a sufficient guard to 
Edinburgh. These violent proceedings 
were, as usual, productive of two different 
effects. They deterred some from join- 
ing the resolute band led by Cameron 
and Cargill ; but they served to knit that 
band into closer union, and to confirm 
their determination to maintain the 
ground they had taken, and to bear aloft 
the banner of civil and religious liberty, 
as long as as there should be a living 
hand to grasp it. and a living breast to 
form for it a defensive rampart. 

It deserves to be especially remarked, 
that the persecuting party, in their desire 
to cast obloquy upon their victims, caused 
great numbers of the Q,ueensferry Paper 
and the Sanquhar Declaration to be 
printed and circulated throughout both 
England and Scotland, and by that means 
disseminated the free and daring senti- 
ments contained in these documents to an 
immeasurably greater extent than could 
have been in the power of their authors 
to have accomplished, however desirous 
they might have been. And when we 
read these papers, and compare them 
with the great national declarations which 



form the basis of the Revolution, we can 
not resist the conviction, that in the former 
we perceive the small germ out of which 
arose British liberty, that plant of re- 
nown, under the world-wide branches 
of which all tribes and kindreds of man- 
kind rejoice. Almost the only real dif- 
ference between the Declaration of the 
Cameronians, or rather the true Presby 
terians, and that of the Convention of 
Estates at the Revolution, consisted in the 
former being the act of a small band of 
enlightened and determined patriots, the 
latter that of the nation. "While, there- 
fore, none who approve the latter can 
consistently condemn the forme 1 ', every 
generous heart will bestow the meed of 
warmest approbation upon those who, in 
the midst of reproach, danger, and death, 
laid the foundation-stone and began the 
structure, cemented with their blood, of 
civil and religious liberty, which men of 
less heroic mould were permitted in 
calmer and brighter days to rear. 

The consequence of these daring de- 
clarations on the one hand, and revenge- 
ful measures on the other, soon appeared. 
Strong bands of soldiery overran the 
country in all directions, and the country 
people were either compelled to give in- 
formation by threats and tortures, or gave 
it to avoid being suspected and treated 
accordingly. At the same time the fol- 
lowers of Cameron and Cargill kept to- 
gether in larger numbers than before, 
consequently were the more exposed to 
information and discovery. On the 22d 
of July, information was given to Bruce 
of Earlshall. who commanded a large 
body of military, that Cameron, and a 
party of armed men with him, were at a 
place called Ayrsmoss, or Airdsmoss, in 
the parish of Auchinleck. Seeing the 
enemy approaching, and perceiving that 
escape was impossible, the persecuted 
party resolved to stand on their defence, 
and either to hew out for themselves a 
path of retreat, or to sell their lives dearly. 
Hackston of Rathillet, who was among 
them, took the command of the small 
band, amounting to twenty-three horse 
and forty foot, indifferently armed. _ Being 
drawn up in battle-array, they waited the 
attack: and during the brief interval, 
Cameron, in a short but fervent prayer, 
committed their cause to God, using re- 
peatedly this pathetic expression, " Lord, 



260 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND [CHAP. Vil. 



spare the green and take the ripe." The 
encounter was sharp, but of short dura- 
tion. At the first shock, the Covenant- 
ers, led by Hackston and Cameron, broke 
the front line of the enemy, and, had they 
been vigorously seconded, might have 
cut their way through the reeling ranks 
of their antagonists ; but the foot keeping 
their position on the skirt of the moss, the 
soldiers closed round the gallant band, 
who, with instinctive Scottish bravery, 
forming back to back, their faces to their 
foes, continued the unequal conflict till 
nine were killed on the spot, and the rest 
were wounded, struck down, and made 
prisoners. Rathillet, severely wounded 
and overpowered with numbers, was 
made prisoner ; but after the conflict, the 
bodies of Cameron and his brother were 
found lying side by side among the slain. 
Twenty-eight of the soldiers were killed 
in this fierce skirmish ; and several of 
the Covenanters died of their wounds 
w T ithin a few days.* 

Cameron's head and hands were cut 
ofF and carried to Edinburgh, to be fixed 
up in some elevated position ; even the 
person who did the deed saying, " These 
are the head and hands of a man who 
lived preaching and praying, and died 
fighting and praying." But previous to 
this they were taken to his father, at that 
time in prison, who was cruelly asked if 
he knew them. The venerable man 
taking them in his hands and kissing 
them, while the tears fell fast upon the 
faded relics, exclaimed, " I know them, I 
know them ; they are my son's, my own 
dear son's : it is the Lord ; good is the 
will of the Lord !" Hackston, wounded, 
bleeding, and exhausted as he was, was 
carried to Edinburgh ; and as he was 
known to have been present at the mur- 
der of Sharp, though he laid not a hand 
upon that cruel apostate, the council de- 
termined to glut their fiend-like thirst of 
revenge in his torments. When taken to 
the place of execution, his right hand was 
cut off, and. after a considerable interval, 
his left. He was then hung up by the 
neck ; and while struggling in the ago- 
nies of death, his breast was cut open, 
and his heart torn out and exposed on the 
point of the executioner's knife, while its 
palpitations and the convulsed quivering 
of his frame showed that life and con- 

• Wodrow,vol.iii. p. 219; Life of Cameron, pp. 203,304. 



sciousness were not yet gone. Several 
other victims perished on the scaffold ; 
but their death was not attended by such 
unparalleled atrocity, the recital of which 
makes the heart to shudder with horror 
and indignation.* 

Such monstrous cruelty was not found 
to be a very effectual way of making 
proselytes to Scottish Prelacy, nor even 
of terrifying men into crouching submis- 
sion to the dictates of despotism. The 
blood-stained banner which fell from 
Cameron's dying hand, was caught up, 
and borne aloft by Cargill with unshrink- 
ing resolution. And, as if to testify in 
the most signal manner his abhorrence 
of the tyrannical "persecutors, Cargill 
publicly excommunicated the king, the 
Duke of York, the Duke of Monmouth, 
the Duke of Lauderdale, the Duke of 
Rothes, General Dalziel, and Sir George 
Mackenzie. This solemn sentence of 
excommunication he pronounced at a 
field-preaching held at Torwood in Stir- 
lingshire, in the month of September, 
after enumerating the series of grave of- 
fences against the laws of God and man 
of which they had been guilty. This 
act was much censured by many at the 
time ; but this at least may be said in its 
defence, that whether Mr. Cargill was 
entitled on his own authority to pronounce 
such a sentence or not, it was one which 
these perjured and blood-stained men de- 
served. Nor was it regarded by the cul- 
prits themselves as an empty fulmination, 
deserving nothing but contempt. Il 
roused their wrath in the first instance, 
and afterwards haunted several of them 
like a voice of doom, from whose indefi- 
nite terrors they could not escape. Dur- 
ing the course of the following year, the 
Duke of Rothes fell dangerously ill ; and 
perceiving the hand of death upon him. 
he sent for some of the persecuted Pres- 
byterian ministers, to seek for instruction 
from them, not his cherished prelates, in 
his parting hour. To one of them he 
said, — " We all thought little of what 
that man did in excommunicating us ; 
but I find that sentence binding upon me 
now, and will, I fear, bind to eternity." 
The faithful minister having spoken to 
the despairing sinner of that infinite 
atonement which can expiate every de- 
gree of guilt, prayed fervently for re- 

* Wodrow, vol. iii. pp. 222, 223; Cloud of Witnesses. 



A. D. 1681 J HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



261 



pentanc'e and mercy to the unhappy man. 
Some of the noblemen in an adjacent 
room hearing his voice, said, " That is a 
Presbyterian minister that is praying ;" 
and turning to the bishops, added, " not 
one of you can pray as they do, though 
the welfare of a man's soul should de- 
pend upon it. The Duke of Hamilton 
remarked, — " We banish these men from 
us, and yet, when dying, we call for 
them ; this is melancholy work !"* How 
mighty is the voice of conscience even in 
a hardened heart, when that heart is 
stirred to its inmost depths ! 

Before the close of this year, the Duke 
of York came to Edinburgh, and as- 
sumed the main direction of public affairs 
in Scotland, Lauderdale having sunk into 
a degree of dotage through excessive in- 
dulgence in his animal appetites. There 
was also another reason. The course of 
English politics was at that time setting 
strongly against the Duke of York's suc- 
cession to the crown, in consequence of 
his bigoted attachment to Popery ; and it 
was thought expedient to remove him 
from court for a season, till, by a series 
of intrigues, some change might be ef- 
fected in the public mind. During the 
duke's previous visit to Scotland he had 
striven to acquire some popularity, and 
had succeeded to a considerable extent 
among the selfish and ambitious, who 
were likely to be his most fitting instru- 
ments when his designs should be ma- 
tured. His present coming to Scotland 
proved a signal for increased severity 
against the persecuted Presbyterians, and 
especially against the followers of Cam- 
eron and Cargill. Of this he gave a 
fearful indication in presiding at the coun- 
cil when one Spreul, an apothecary, was 
subjected to the torture of the boot ; for 
while the greater part of the noblemen 
hurried away from the court, that they 
might not witness the dreadful spectacle, 
the Duke of York remained, and gazed 
on with grim delight, feasting his cruel 
eyes with the victim's agonies. f 

[1681.] The first trial which took 
place in the year 1681 was that of two 
young women, Isabel Alison and Marion 
Harvey. The accusation against these 
females was, that they had heard Mr. 

* Cruickshank, vol. ii. p. 116 ; Life of Careill, p. 46. 
t Wodrow, vol. iii. p. 253: Burnet's Own Times, vol. 
.p. 563. ' 



! Cargill preach, would not renounce the 
| Sanquhar Declaration, and had expressed 
; sympathy for the sufferings of some of 
the victims of prelatic tyranny. The 
most ensnaring questions were put to 
them by Sir George Mackenzie, with the 
view of drawing from them answers 
which might by his fiendish ingenuity be 
distorted into treasonable language. To 
its indelible disgrace the court pronounced 
the sentence of guilty ; and the innocent 
and helpless martyrs were brutally 
hanged on the 26th of January, for the 
heinous crime of hearing the gospel 
preached in the fields.* 

About this time there appeared a small 
sect, who assumed the name of c - Sweet 
Singers," but were generally termed Gib- 
bites, from their leader, John Gib, a sailor 
in Borrowstounness. Their number 
never exceeded thirty persons, of whom 
four were men, and the rest chiefly young 
and ignorant females. Their tenets may 
be most briefly and accurately charac- 
terised by staling, that they were an ab- 
surd compound of some of the most ex- 
travagant notions of the Quakers, with 
some of the extreme speculative views of 
the strict Covenanters. While, with the 
former, they claimed inspiration, disre- 
garded learning, and rejected the names 
of the months and the days of the week, 
with the latter they disowned the king, — 
adding, and " all authority throughout 
the world." Cargill attempted to reason 
them out of their absurdities, both in an 
interview held with them for that pur- 
pose, and by letter, but in vain. They 
despised admonitions and remonstrances, 
and spurned at reproof, condemning alike 
all denominations of Christians in the 
world who w r ould not countenance their 
extravagancies. They were, in a short 
time, seized in a body ; and, when exam- 
ined by the council, displayed such igno- 
rance and folly, that they were judged 
fitter for hard labour in the house of cor- 
rection than any other punishment. This 
proved to them a sanatory process ; and 
when liberated, they generally returned 
to their homes, resumed their occupations, 
and ceased to exist as a sect.f But the 
persecuting party did not allow their 
name to perish. It afforded too good an 
opportunity of casting obloquy upon the 

* Wodrow, vol. iii. pp. 275, 276 ; Cloud of Witnesses, 
t W jirow, vol. iii. pp. 34S-356. 



262 



HIS1JRY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. [CHAP. VII. 



true Presbyterians, who were falsely re- 
presented as holding the same opinions. 
This the prelatists could not but know to 
be false, since one of the avowed tenets 
of the Gibbites was the renouncing of the 
Covenant, the Confession of Faith, and 
the Sanquhar Declaration, for the defence 
of which the Presbyterians were suffer- 
ing the extreme of persecution. Let the 
judicious reader compare this single in- 
stance of what may truly be termed fanati- 
cism in Scotland, after above twenty years 
of persecution, with the almost innumer- 
able multitude of sects which have sprung 
up in every other country in times of 
similar excitement and suffering, — in 
Germany, for example, at the Reforma- 
tion, or m England during the time of 
Cromwell. — and he can scarcely fail to 
be astonished at the contrast. We have 
already suggested what seems the only 
explanation. The multiplicity and ex- 
travagance of sects is the consequence of 
the ignorance of the people, which has 
left them incapable of distinguishing be- 
tween what is true and what is false, what 
is rational and what is absurd. Hence 
the wild follies of the sectarians in Ger- 
many, when emerging out of Popish ig- 
norance ; and hence, also, the extrava- 
gance of English sectarians, when striving 
to escape out of Prelatic twilight. And, 
on the contrary, the fact that only four 
men, and twenty-five or twenty-six women, 
fell into enthusiastic delusions during the 
persecution in Scotland, and in a parish 
where there had been a prelatic incum- 
bent for twenty years, may be regarded 
as a conclusive proof of the superior effi- 
ciency of the Presbyterian Church, in 
communicating sound and lasting instruc- 
tion, such as the utmost malice of its 
deadly enemies could neither destroy nor 
pervert. The conduct of the council, too, 
proves sufficiently, that while they un- 
justly termed the whole of the Presby- 
terians " fanatics," they knew the differ- 
ence between those who were truly so, 
and whom, therefore, they could despise 
and dismiss without the infliction of pun- 
ishment, and those whom they knew to 
be animated by principles of indestructible 
might, because of eternal truth, before 
which they themselves bowed with guilty 
terror, and to which they paid the strange 
homage of the most deadly hatred. Had 
the Presbyterians been indeed the wild 



and gloomy fanatics which their perse 
cutors represented them to be, they migh 
have been safely left to pursue their own 
foolish and self-destructive course ; they 
would soon have died out when they had 
reached the extreme of their absurdities ; 
but the guilty souls of the perjured pre- 
latists and the tyrannical council told 
them, that there was in the Presbyterian 
Church an amount of truth, which they 
must either destroy by violence, or be by 
it themselves destroyed. They called 
them fanatics, traitors, and rebels ; and 
under these abusive names they strove to 
conceal their hatred against true and 
vital religion ; but all the while they 
knew that these names were unjustly ap- 
plied, and that they were themselves the 
fanatical devotees of sin, and actual 
traitors and rebels against the dread Ma- 
jesty of the King Eternal. 

Cargill still continued to brave the ter- 
rors of persecution, and to bear aloft with 
firm and fearless hand the banner of the 
Covenant. Against him the hottest rage 
of the tyrannical party .was directed, and 
troops of soldiers scoured the country in 
all directions in pursuit of him. Hunted 
from place to place, he still continued to 
preach in the fields, in the most solitary 
moors and mountain fastnesses, to the un- 
daunted few that dared to hear him. But 
his noble warfare was nearly accom- 
plished. His last sermon was preached 
upon Dunsyre common, between Clydes- 
dale and Lothian, on the 10th day of July. 
That night, accompanied by two of his 
adherents, Walter Smith and James Boig, 
he slept at Covington Mill. But in- 
formation respecting his movements had 
been given to Irvine of Bonshaw, who 
had obtained a military commission ; and 
he, at the head of a strong party of dra- 
goons, beset the house by daybreak, and 
seized Mr. Cargill and his two compan- 
ions. Bonshaw, whose border predatory 
habits had qualified him for such adven- 
tures, laid hold of his prisoner, exclaim- 
ing with savage delight, " O blessed Bon- 
shaw, and blessed day that ever I was 
born, that have found such a prize this 
morning !" the reward of 5000 merks, 
which had been set upon Cargill's head, 
being the only thing for which his heart 
could rejoice. The cruel moss-trooper 
then placed Cargill upon an unsaddled 
horse, tying with his own hands the feet 



A. D. 1681.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



263 



of his prisoner beneath the animal's bell}'-, 
so ha id as to cause severe pain to the suf- 
ferer.* 

The prisoners were all taken to Edin- 
burgh and brought to trial. Little proof 
was sought, and indeed little was required, 
as they all readily admitted that they had 
done what the council had called treason. 
Yet some compunction seems to have 
seized the council, for they hesitated 
whether to confine Cargill to the Bass for 
life, or to pass the sentence of death upon 
him. They were equally divided when 
it came to the vote of the Earl of Argyle, 
who gave his voice for death, by which 
the question was decided, and he was con- 
demned to die. f This fatal vote was 
afterwards remembered by the Covenant- 
ers, when Argyle wished them to join J 
his insurrection, and it prevented them ! 
from uniting with him and being involved 
ifi his overthrow. It was also remem- 1 
bered with deep remorse by the unhappy | 
nobleman himself, when his own hour : 
came to meet a similar doom. Cargill, 
the two that were taken with him, and 
two others taken about the same time, j 
were executed on the 27th of July, and 
their heads fixed on spikes above two of 
the gates of Edinburgh. They all died ! 
in full possession of the peace and joy of i 
martyrs, Cargill declaring that he went I 
up the ladder with less fear or perturba- j 
tion of mind than ever he entered a pulpit 
to preach. 

Instead of continuing to relate the 
bloody deeds of the persecutors, it seems 
expedient to mention some of their legis- 
lative enactments. It was now nine years 
since a parliament had been held in Scot- 
land, and the king determined that one 
should be called, appointing the Duke of 
York to be the royal commissioner. The 
chief objects which the king had in view 
in calling this parliament were to procure 
some new enactments against the Cove- 
nanters, and a legislative sanction to the 
Duke of York's succession to the crown, 
as appeared plainly, both from his ma- 
jesty's letter to the parliament, and from 
their obsequious answer, in which these 
were made the leading topics. The sub- 
ject of the Duke of York's succession 
had already been discussed in the English 

* Wodrow. vol. Hi. pp. 279-234; Cruickshank, vol. ii. 
p. 107; Life of Cargill, p. 44. 

t Life of Cargill, pp. 50, 51 



parliament, and a bill for securing it had 
been rejected in the House of- Lords, on 
account of the duke's avowed adherence 
to Popery. It seems to have been the 
opinion of the Romish politicians, that 
j there would be less opposition made in 
j Scotland ; and that, if the duke's succes- 
| sion were ratified in the latter kingdom, 
| England would rather submit than incur 
j the hazard of a civil war. It was, be- 
i sides, a part of the great scheme for the 
I re-establishment of Popery in both coun- 
| tries, — a scheme which was the ruling 
principle of the whole policy of both the 
royal brothers. 

The parliament began its labors by 
passing a short yet ambiguous act, ratify- 
ing all former acts respecting religion. 
In the second act there was no such am- 
biguity. It was respecting the succession 
to the crown, and asserted in the most 
stringent terms, " That the kings of this 
realm, deriving their royal power from 
God Almighty alone, do succeed lineally 
thereto, according to the known degrees 
of proximinity in blood, which cannot be 
interrupted, suspended, or diverted by any 
act or statute whatsoever ; and that no 
difference in religion, nor no law or 
act of parliament made, or to be made, 
can alter or divert the right of succes- 
sion." All attempts or designs to alter 
the succession were declared to be treason. 
Such was what Wodrow calls the ' ; ever- 
lasting act" of this subservient parliament, 
— an act the futility of which the duke was 
afterwards to experience, though its enact- 
ment must have delighted his despotic 
heart. Another act, for securing the 
peace of the country, bore directly against 
the Presbyterians, and exposed them to 
still greater severities and more arbitrary 
treatment than they had previously en- 
dured, dreadful as their oppression had 
already been. On the 3 1st of August 
was passed the crowning act of this slav- 
ish parliament, — the infamous Test Act. 
The assumed object of this act was for the 
security of the Protestant religion "against 
Popery and fanaticism ;" and for that pur- 
pose it contained an oath which was to be 
taken by all persons occupying places of 
trust and public employment, with the ex- 
ception of papists. The two main pro- 
positions of the oath were, an avowal of 
belief in, and adherence to, the First Con- 
fession of Faith drawn up by the early 



264 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VII. 



reformers ; and an acknowledgment that 
the king " is the only supreme governor 
of this realm, over all persons, and in all 
cases, as well ecclesiastical as civil." It 
contained also a distinct renunciation of 
the covenants, and a bond not to attempt 
any change in the government of either 
Church or State, as by law established, 
which of necessity implied the entire and 
final abandonment of every Presbyterian 
principle.* 

It was manifestly impossible for any 
man of candid, upright, and honorable 
mind to take an oath, containing proposi- 
tions directly opposed to each other, and 
inferring duties, the performance of 
which, according to the literal meaning of 
the terms, was absolutely impracticable. 
But the making of oaths had been so 
long a customary expedient of the Scot- 
tish administration, that but few public 
men retained any regard for the sacred 
obligation which they implied; and it 
was more consistent with the dark 
and treacherous policy of the Duke of 
York to employ men totally devoid of 
conscientious scruples, and prepared for 
any extreme which tyranny could devise, 
than to retain such as had some regard 
for truth, integrity, and religious princi- 
ples. An immediate contest accordingly 
arose between the unscrupulous minions 
of despotism, and those who had still some 
attachment to religious and civil liberty. 
Some refused the Test at once, and were 
immediately cast into prison. The Duke 
of Hamilton hesitated, but subsequently 
took the oath. The Earl of Q,ueensber- 
ry took it with an explanation, but such a 
one as was not calculated to give offence : 
declaring that he did not hold himself 
bound to oppose alterations in Church or 
State, in case it should seem good to his 
majesty to make them. A considerable 
number of the prelatic clergy refused to 
take the test, and some of them carried 
their opposition so far as to leave their 
situations rather than be guilty of what 
amounted to perjury. Not one prelate, 
however, carried his opposition so far, 
although one, the bishop of Aberdeen, 
exhibited considerable reluctance to take 
an oath so full of absurdity, and so capa- 
ble of evil. Paterson, bishop of Edin- 
burgh, framed an evasive explanation of 
the test, which had the effect of reconcil- 

• Wodrow, vol. iii 



ing the greater part of the prelatic clergy 
who had at first refused ; and the adher- 
ents of Popery had no difficulty in taking 
an oath which some of them might 
know to be intended to strengthen their 
party, and from which they all knew 
that they could very easily procure abso- 
lution. 

But the might of the storm fell first 
upon the Earl of Argyle. The well- 
known hereditary attachment of this no- 
bleman's family to Presbyterian princi- 
ples had made him an object of suspicion 
to the Duke of York, who on his coming 
to Scotland, had resolved either to gain 
Argyle wholly to his own designs, or to 
compass his destruction. Even before 
that time, Argyle had been distrusted by 
the Scottish council ; but as he had con- 
curred generally in their persecuting 
measures, and in some instances strongly, 
as in the case of Cargill, there had been 
hitherto no grounds for instituting pro- 
ceedings formally against him. The de- 
sired opportunity was furnished by the 
test. He declined taking this absurd and 
impious bond, and offered to relinquish 
all his hereditary jurisdiction, and exhibit 
his loyalty merely as a private subject: 
but having been informed that he would 
be allowed to take the test with an expla- 
nation, he consented to do so. The 
explanation he gave was, " that he took 
it in as far as it was consistent with itself, 
and with the Protestant religion." The 
Duke of York at first expressed himself 
satisfied ; but learning from Sir George 
Mackenzie, that the explanation might 
be so strained as to appear of treasonable 
import, he issued a command to Ar- 
gyle to enter the Castle of Edinburgh as 
a prisoner. Argyle complied, and was 
brought to trial before the Court of Justi- 
ciary, headed by Glueensberry as justice- 
general. The indictment, drawn by 
Mackenzie, was such a wretched piece of 
sophistry, that it seems surprising that 
the judges did not frown it out of court at 
once, as contradictory alike to law and 
reason. But unhappily the opinions and 
decisions of lawyers and judges are not 
always such as can be defended by rules 
of logic and approved of by right reason. 

Argyle was ably defended by Lock- 
hart and Dalrymple ; and when the 
judges came to express their decision, 
there were but four present, besides tha 



A. D. 1682.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



265 



justice-genera] ; and these four were 
equally divided in opinion. As Queens- 
berry had himself qualified the test, he 
regarded it as unseemly in him to give a 
casting vote against Argyle ; and there- 
fore Lord Nairn, who had been absent, 
from the pleadings in consequence of his 
age and infirmity, was sent for to decide 
a cause which he had not heard. The 
pleadings were, however, read over to 
him, during which he fell asleep ; and 
being awakened at the close, he gave his 
vote against Argyle. After this mockery 
of justice, by which the relevancy of the 
indictment was sustained, Argyle was 
tried before a jury of his peers, and pro- 
nounced guilty of treason, and a letter 
sent to the king for liberty to the justicia- 
ry to pronounce sentence upon the verdict. 
His majesty might have so modified the 
sentence as to preserve Argyle' s life ; 
but as it was now apparent that the death 
of this nobleman was intended, his friends 
contrived to procure information respect- 
ing the tenor of the king's answer before 
that answer had reached the Scottish 
council. Having ascertained that the 
sentence of death was to be passed, but 
its execution to be delayed during the 
king's pleasure, he resolved to escape 
from prison, if possible, before his ene- 
mies were fully aware of the tenor of his 
majesty's answer. That very night, the 
20th of December, he effected his escape, 
disguised as a page, and bearing the train 
of Lady Sophia Lindsay. " A proclama- 
tion was almost immediately issued, 
declaring the sentence of death against 
him, and the forfeiture of his lands and 
titles, and offering a reward for his ap- 
prehension ; but notwithstanding the 
keenness of the pursuit in all directions, 
he reached London undiscovered, guided 
by Mr. Veitch, one of the ejected and in- 
tercommuned Presbyterian ministers, and 
soon afterwards took refuge in Holland. 
When these tyrannical proceedings be- 
came generally known in England, they 
excited universal surprise and indigna- 
tion. Lord Halifax told the king that he 
did not understand the law of Scotland, 
but that English law would not have 
hanged a dog for such a crime. And 
the Earl of Clarendon, when he heard 
the sentence, " blessed God that he lived 
not in a country where there were such 
laws " Throughout Scotland the alarm 
34 



! and resentful detestation of all true Pres- 
byterians were unbounded j and some 
intelligible indications were given that 
the heart of the country was almost roused 
to a sterner resistance than had yet been 
manifested. Even children indulged 
their feelings in mock trials of dogs, for 
the crime of taking the test with a qualifi- 
cation.* From such things, slight and 
trifling as they might appear, the despotic 
rulers ought to have learned that a time of 
retribution was at hand. For when the 
youth of a nation become the assertors of 
any great principle, its triumph cannot 
be remote; it grows with their growth 
and strengthens with their strength, so 
that their manhood and its supremacy are 
realized together. 

[1682.] When Cargill perished on the 
scaffold, that determined band of Cove- 
nanters who had adhered to him were 
left without a minister, no man for a time 
daring to take up a position so imminently 
perilous. In this emergency these fear- 
less and high-principled men resolved to 
form themselves into a united body, con- 
sisting of societies for worship and re- 
ligious intercourse in those districts where 
they most abounded : and for the more 
effectual preservation of their opinions, 
and security against errors, in the ab- 
sence of a stated ministry, these smaller 
societies appointed deputies to attend a 
general meeting, which was empowered 
to deliberate upon all suggestions, and 
adopt such measures as the exigency of 
the times required. The first meeting of 
these united societies was held on the 
15th of December 1681, at Logan House, 
in the parish of Lesmahagow, Lanark- 
shire, where it was resolvedto draw up a 
public testimony against the defections 
and dangers of the times. But this testi- 
mony was not promulgated till the begin- 
ning of the year 1682, into the annals of 
which we have accordingly placed it. 
On the 12th of January, about forty men, 
armed for self-defence, if necessary, en- 
tered the town of Lanark, where, having 
publicly burnt the Test Act, they solemn- 
ly read their declaration and testimony, 
and affixed a copy of it to the market- 
cross, f 

From the fact that these people, in the 
absence of a stated ministry, formed them- 

* Wodrow, vol. iii. pp. 296-344. t Wodrow. 

vol. iii. p. 357. 



266 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CriAP. VII, 



selves into societies for mutual religious 
intercourse and edification, they came to 
be designated the Society People, a term 
frequently applied to them by Wodrow, 
as that of Cameronians has been general- 
ly given to them by other historians. 
Superficial readers are liable to be misled 
by names, of the origin and application 
of which they have no accurate concep- 
tion. But the affixing of a new name to 
a party is no sure proof that it has taken 
new grounds. That " persecuted rem- 
nant," as they called themselves, had in- 
deed taken up no new principles ; the 
utmost they can be justly charged with 
is, merely that they had followed up the 
leading principles of the Presbyterian and 
Covenanted Church of Scotland to an ex- 
treme point, from which the greater part 
of Presbyterians recoiled ; and that in 
doing so, they had used language capable 
of being interpreted to mean more than 
they themselves intended. Their honesty 
of heart, integrity of purpose, and firm- 
ness of principle, cannot be denied ; and 
these are noble qualities ; and if they did 
express their sentiments in strong and 
unguarded language, it ought to be re- 
membered, that they did so in the midst 
of fierce and remorseless persecution, ill 
adapted to make men nicely cautious in 
the selection of balanced terms wherein 
to express their indignant detestation of 
that unchristian tyranny which was so 
fiercely striving to destroy every vestige 
of both civil and religious liberty. 

The declaration of Lanark re-asserted 
and confirmed those of Rutherglen and 
Sanquhar, renewed the disavowal of al- 
legiance to the king on account of his 
long and continued tyranny, condemned 
the recent acts of parliament, and boldly 
asserted the right of freemen to extricate 
themselves from under a tyrannous yoke, 
" Shall the end of government be lost," 
said that spirited paper, " through the 
weakness, wickedness, and tyranny of 
governors ? Must the people, by an im- 
plicit submission and deplorable stupidi- 
ty, destroy themselves, and betray their 
posterity, and become objects of reproach 
to the present generation, and pity and 
contempt to the future? Have they not, 
in such an extremity, good ground to 
make use of that natural power they 
have to shake off that yoke which neither 
we nor our forefathers were able to 



bear?"* Such were the sentiments of 
that greatly oppressed and much slander- 
ed people; and instead of condemning 
severely the strong language which they 
use, we may rather admire the free and 
manly sentiments which they so well ex- 
press, at a time when nearly the whole 
aristocracy of the land were bowing their 
necks beneath the most degraded bondage, 
and uttering the language of fawning and 
sycophantic slavery. 

When the intelligence of this Lanark 
declaration reached Edinburgh, the coun- 
cil made an exhibition of empty fury, by 
ordering the magistrates to burn that pa- 
per, together with the Solemn League 
and Covenant, by the hands of the com- 
mon hangman ; which was accordingly 
done, with much unmeaning ceremony, 
at the market-cross. The town of Lanark 
was then fined in six thousand merks, 
for not preventing the publication of this 
declaration in their jurisdiction, although 
the strength of the Covenanters was such 
that the magistrates dared not attempt to 
interrupt them. 

The absence of the Duke of York, 
who had gone to London soon after the 
rising of the Scottish parliament, caused 
some relaxation of the severities directed 
against the Presbyterians, so that fewer 
perished on the scaffold this year than 
had done for several years before. Yet 
this comparative leniency was 'not so 
great as to prevent the death of several, 
the imprisonment of many more, and the 
utter destruction of estate and property to 
a still greater number. A commission 
was given to Claverhouse to proceed to 
Galloway with a troop of horse, to com- 
pel all to take the test, and to punish at 
discretion all who refused, or whom he 
suspected of being disaffected persons. 
So well did he execute his orders, that 
the council conferred on him a vote of 
thanks for his zeal against the Presby- 
terians. Similar commissions were given 
to Major White, and Urquhart of Mel- 
drum, to promote ecclesiastical conformi- 
ty in the same manner in which they 
showed themselves no less willing instru- 
ments of oppression. About the same 
time the Scottish prelates wrote a formal 
letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
applauding in the most fulsome language 
of adulation, the measures pursued by 

• Informatory Vindication, p. 251. 



A. D. 1682.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



267 



the Duke of York in Scotland, ascribing 
the increased prosperity of their order to 
his " gracious owning and vigilant pro- 
tection" of them, and to his " eminent 
zeal against the most unreasonable 
schism ;" — so naturally did Scottish Pre- 
lacy take refuge and find protection be- 
neath the wing of an avowed and bigot- 
ed Papist. 

The Duke of York paid his last visit 
to Scotland in May. Having found the 
storm of hostility against him considera- 
bly abated in England, he thought it de- 
sirable for him to reside there ; but 
deemed it expedient, before quitting Scot- 
land finally, to place the administration 
of affairs in that Kingdom in the hands 
of his devoted friends. The Earl of 
Glueensberry was accordingly appointed 
treasurer ; Gordon of Haddo was created 
Earl of Aberdeen, and made chancellor ; 
and the Earl of Perth was constituted 
justice-general. Q,ueensberry was pe- 
culiarly characterised by avarice, Aber- 
been by cunning, and Perth by cruelty: 
and with three such men at the head of 
affairs in Scotland, the Duke might well 
regard his interests as tolerably secure. 
Yet before departing, which he did on 
the 15th of May, the duke strenuously 
recommended to the council the suppres- 
sion of the Presbyterians, advising them 
to send additional troops to the most sus- 
pected counties. They thanked him for 
the excellent pattern of government which 
he had placed before them, begged the 
continuance of his kindness, and pro- 
mised constant devotion to his service in 
every respect.* 

After the departure of the duke, the 
council showed the utmost alacrity in 
complying with his directions. Full 
powers were given to the Earl of Dum- 
fries, General Dalziel, and Claverhouse, 
to search for and punish all who were 
suspected to be rebels, or disaffected to the 
government either in Church or State, — 
their commission giving them liberty to 
plunder, fine, and imprison at discretion. 
Nor did they hesitate to stain their own 
hands in blood, several victims perishing 
on the scaffold by the sentence of the 
council 

On the 15th of June, a general meeting 
of delegates from the united societies was 
held at Talla-linn, Tweedsmuir, chiefly 

* Wodrow, vol, iii. pp. 365, 366. 



for the purpose of checking some errone- 
ous opinions resembling those of the Gib- 
bites, which two or three of their mem- 
bers were accused of holding. No de- 
claration was either issued or proposed, 
nor any thing of a public nature done, 
except that, by mutual exhortation and 
prayer, the sufferers were encouraged to 
persevere in the maintenance of their 
great and sacred principles. Yet, the 
curate of the parish having sent informa- 
tion to the council after the meeting had 
quietly dispersed, misrepresenting it as a 
large armed assembly, a violent procla- 
mation was immediately issued, censur- 
ing the people of the district for not hav- 
ing given instant information, and giving 
orders how that was in future to be done. 
All were strictly commanded, that where- 
soever any number of men convocated in 
arms, or where any one or two of such 
as had been declared traitors or fugitives 
were seen, intimation was immediately to 
be given to the next authorities, who were 
to raise the inhabitants and pursue the 
fugitives " with hue and cry," till they 
should be apprehended and sent to Edin- 
burgh ; with certification that all who 
neglected to give information, or refused 
to join in the pursuit, should be held 
equally guilty with the proscribed offend- 
ers.* Even this furious proclamation 
was found ineffectual, through the natural 
reluctance which every man of common 
humility felt to allow himself to be trans- 
muted into a bloodhound, for the purpose 
of hunting down his fellow-creatures, 
whose only guilt consisted in their reso 
lute determination to obey God rathei 
than man, in spite of persecution. To 
render it more effectual, commission^ 
were given to military officers, to confer 
with the sheriffs and other authorities ; to 
call before them every suspected person ; 
and to pronounce sentence, and order im- 
mediate execution, with or without the 
concurrence of the magistrates.! It is 
scarcely necessary to direct the attention 
of any reader to this act of council, which 
contains the very essence of despotism, by 
placing in the same hands both judicial 
and executive power. Yet it was only 
the completion of what had been previous- 
ly begun, though in a less formal man- 
ner, when the soldiery were empowered 
to question those whom they seized on 

* Wodrow, vol. iii. p. 376. T Ibid., vol. iii. p. 379. 



268 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VII. 



matters involving life and death ; and it 
may be added, it was the natural conse- 
quence of the doctrine of the king's abso- 
lute supremacy, by Avhich both the legis- 
lative and the executive functions of gov- 
ernment were merged in the royal pre- 
rogative, than which there cannot be a 
more entire and perfect despotism. 

The military judges received most 
efficient aid from the curates, who fur- 
nished them with lists of suspected per- 
sons, and procured informers of the low- 
est and vilest of the populace to bear wit- 
ness against them. The mode in which 
the curates prepared these lists sufficient- 
ly proves the character of these men. If 
any person did not attend upon their 
ministry, — if he spoke in terms of respect 
and pity of the sufferers, — if he was over- 
heard reading the Bible in private, or 
conducting family worship in his own 
house, — any person guilty of any of these 
practices was immediately suspected of 
being a staunch Presbyterian, and infor- 
mation lodged against him by the curate. 
Such was the manner in which these 
wolves devoured their flocks.* Several 
instances of human barbarity occurred, 
with the recital of which we will not 
shock our readers. 

One trial of a more public nature, 
which occurred towards the end of the 
year, must be mentioned. This was the 
trial of Hume of Hume, a gentleman who 
was known to be friendly to the cause of 
the persecuted wanderers, and whom, 
therefore, it was determined to destroy. 
All the main charges brought against 
him failed through utter want of proof; 
but this did not lead to his release. It 
was ascertained that he had been near 
the house of M'Dowal of Mackerston 
when some disturbance arose, which had 
been termed rebellion ; and though he 
offered proof that he was altogether unac- 
quainted with the occurrence of that dis- 
turbance, and had gone to the vicinity 
merely to purchase a horse, he was not 
allowed to bring forward evidence in his 
own defence, was condemned to death, 
and executed on the strength of that un- 
substantial rumour. His friends, aware 
of his danger, had made application at 
court, and had actually procured a pardon, 
which reached Edinburgh two days be- 
fore the day of execution ; but the Earl 

' Wodrow, vol. iii. p. 383, et seq. 



of Perth kept it back, and allowed the 
judicial murder to be committed. His 
estate was forfeited, and his widow and 
five children exposed to the extremes of 
poverty.* 

[1683.] The beginning of the year 
1863 was signalized by an extension of 
the system of instituting commissions for 
the prosecution of the Presbyterians. 
Numerous fines were levied by these 
commissions, in many cases upon per- 
sons who had been previously reduced to 
great distress by these exorbitant exac- 
tions. Circuit courts were also renewed 
this year, for the purpose of extending the 
oppressive measures of the prelatic party 
over the whole of the western and southern 
counties. Great numbers were thrown 
into prison, several were banished or sent 
to the Bass, and a considerable number 
perished on the scaffold. Among these 
was Andrew Guillan, who had been 
present at the murder of Sharp, though 
he merely held the horses of the chief 
assassins while they were committing the 
bloody deed. Him the persecutors put 
to a cruel death, similar to that inflicted 
on Hackston of Bathillet. Lawrie of 
Blackwood was brought to trial for hold- 
ing converse with rebels, and allowing 
some who had been at Pentland and 
Bothwell to retain their farms on his es- 
tate. It was not proved that any of the 
tenantry were in the lists of ihtercom- 
muned persons ; and it could not be 
known to him, as he resided generally in 
Edinburgh, whether any of them had 
been in arms at Bothwell or not. At the 
Pentland insurrection he had been em- 
ployed by General Dalziel to hold inter- 
course with the insurgents, for the pur 
pose of endeavouring to persuade them to 
submit ; and it was not proved that he 
had subsequently maintained any corres- 
pondence with them. Yet he was con- 
demned, and, though his life was spared, 
his estate was forfeited. This caused 
great alarm, as there were very few 
landed proprietors in the south and west 
of Scotland against whom similar charges 
might not have been brought ; and his 
sentence was equivalent to the placing of 
the whole property of the kingdom at the 
arbitrary disposal of the council, upon 
false charges of constructive treason.! 

* Wodrow, vol. iii. pp 416-419. t Burnet's Owe 
Times, vol. i. p. 526. 



A. D. 1683.] HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



269 



Many began to entertain serious inten- 
tions of abandoning their country, and 
seeking in foreign lands that liberty 
which was denied them in their own, — 
feeling that there was more than an 
empty threat in the saying of the Duke 
of York, " that Scotland would never be 
at peace till the whole country south of 
the Forth was turned into a hunting- 
field." 

Since the death of Cargill there had' 
been no ministers bold enough to preach 
in the open field ; and those whom Wod- 
row calls " the Society People" had been 
left without the blessings of a stated 
ministry and the dispensation of religious 
ordinances. But Mr. James Renwick, 
who had for some time kept company 
with the persecuted wanderers in pre- 
vious years, had been to Holland, and 
having completed his education at Gron- 
ingen, and obtained ordination from the 
Presbytery there, he returned to Scot- 
land, and accepted an invitation from the 
Covenanters to be their minister. He 
commenced his ministerial career in Sep- 
tember, preaching in the fields at a place 
called Darmead, where a general meet- 
ing of the persecuted party had been as- 
sembled. In this, his first public sermon, 
Renwick thought proper to give a full 
statement of his views and opinions re- 
specting the path of duty and peril on 
which he was about to enter. In this, it 
appears, he expressed himself somewhat 
rashly, particularly in stating with what 
ministers he could not hold intercourse, 
mentioning some by name, and assigning 
the reasons why he must continue to tes- 
tify against their defections, by standing 
aloof from their communion. This open 
avowal of his sentiments, exposed Ren- 
wick at once to great obloquy. He was 
accused of having excommunicated a 
great number of the best ministers in 
Scotland, this construction being put upon 
his specific censure of their defections; 
and the effect was a more complete separ- 
ation between the Society People and 
their less resolute Presbyterian brethren 
than had previously existed. He de- 
plored this hurtful disagreement, and ex- 
pressed great regret that his unguarded 
language should have given occasion to 
it ; but he could not violate his principles 
for the sake of peace.* His was, never- 

" Life of Renwick, pp. 40-44. 



theless, a heart that loved peace, arid was 
full of natural gentleness ; but he seemed 
to feel himself devoted to a task too 
mighty and important to allow any per- 
sonal feelings to impede his course. Pie 
had once more raised aloft the banner of 
the Covenant, and spread its folds abroad 
on the free mountain winds, and he was 
determined to keep it floating there while 
life was his, and to shed his last drop of 
blood in its defence. And if, in declaring 
this high enterprise, his tongue did utter 
strong and burning words, surely there 
was more concession to be made to such 
a man, at such a time, and in such a 
cause, than to those who had stooped to 
accept an indulgence from prelatic ty- 
rants, and who, being thereby half en- 
slaved, shrunk from the bold accents of 
liberty, and basely censured what they 
wanted courage to imitate. 

The return of Renwick, and the re- 
commencement of field-preaching, roused 
anew the wrath of the persecutors, as was 
manifested in an act of council published 
on the 8th of October, imposing heavy 
fines upon the districts where Renwick 
had been known to preach.* This, how- 
ever, was but a faint beginning of a 
course of remorseless persecution, which 
raged for several successive years, with 
more intense and wide-spread fury than 
had previously been known. For not 
only is it a well-known fact, that a course 
of persecution becomes the more bloody 
the longer it continues, from the harden- 
ing and unhumanizing reflex influence 
of their own conduct upon the persecu- 
tors; but also, there was, in the case of 
the Scottish sufferers, after Renwick's 
arrival, something which excited at once 
the malice and the fear of their baffled 
foes. The prelatic party had begun to 
exult in the apparent discomfiture and 
submission of their victims, and thought 
they had now little more to do than to 
divide the spoil, when suddenly the lonely 
solitudes again resounded with the voice 
of prayer and praise, breathed forth by 
the free and fearless adherents of Scot- 
land's covenanted Presbyterian Church, 
and they began to feel that the battle was 
yet to be fought, and with men who 
knew not to yield. They might have 
begun to learn that there is an imperish- 
able life in the great principles of truth, 

* Wodrow, vol. iii. p. 446. 



270 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP, vn, 



against \v.iich the utmost power of men 
may rage and dash as vainly as do the 
wind-swept waves, when they cast their 
foam against the everlasting rocks. 

That event known in English history 
by the name of the " Rye-house Plot" oc- 
curred this year, and was wrested into a 
cause of additional suffering to the Scot- 
tish Presbyterians. Being so much a 
matter of English history, we shall not 
enter into details, further than is neces- 
sary for explaining in what manner it 
was made to bear upon the affairs of 
Scotland. It has already been mentioned, 
that the excessive oppression under which 
they groaned had caused a number of 
Scottish gentlemen to deliberate upon the 
propriety of entering upon a voluntary 
exile to the colonies. Several of them 
went to London to prepare for emigra- 
tion ; but while there, they learned that 
some English patriots were endeavouring 
to concert a scheme by which they might 
rescue their country from tyranny, and 
prevent the Duke of York's succession 
to the crown in the event of his brother's 
demise. At the head of this conspiracy 
were Monmouth, Shaftesbury, Russell, 
and Sidney. The Scottish deputation 
entered into correspondence with these 
patriotic men ; and a considerable num- 
ber of free-hearted nobility and gentry 
began to enter warmly into the enterprise, 
among whom were, Lord Melville, the 
Earl of Tarras, Sir Patrick Hume of 
Polwarth (afterwards Lord Marchmont), 
Baillie of Jerviswood, Sir John Coch- 
rane, Campbell of Cesnock, and others. 
They entered into a correspondence with 
the Earl of Argyle in Holland, which 
was conducted chiefly through the Rev. 
William Carstares, one of the Presby- 
terian ministers. A short intercourse 
with the English plotters was enough to 
show the Scottish gentlemen that the en- 
terprise could not succeed ; and they 
abandoned it before it was discovered. 
In the meantime there was an underplot, 
conducted by men of different character 
and views, which had for its object the 
death of the king, and the change of the 
monarchy into a republic. With this, 
neither the English nobility nor the 
Scottish Presbyterians were at all ac- 
quainted ; but upon its discovery the go- 
vernment endeavoured to identify the 
two, and especially to charge the whole 



upon the Presbyterians, or "the fanatics," 
as irreligious men delighted to call them. 
The results of this malicious accusation 
did not fully manifest themselves till the 
following year. 

[1684.] The year 1684 begins the last 
and bloodiest period of the persecution, 
termed by the sufferers themselves, " kil- 
ling time." All the terrible enginery of 
persecution was now brought into full 
operation ; and the practised hands and 
callous hearts of the oppressors wielded 
their murderous weapons without re- 
morse. When disappointed in one in- 
stance, their savage spirits thirsted the 
more intensely for a deeper draught of 
blood from some less protected source. 
Public judicial murders gave sanction 
and encouragement to that indiscriminate 
slaughter perpetrated >y the soldiery 
throughout the country, till the entire 
west and south of Scotland was one field 
of blood. 

The Justiciary Court began its fearful 
career on the 28th of February ; and 
before it had continued its sittings longer 
than four days, three Presbyterians ob- 
tained the crown of martyrdom. In a 
few days another guiltless victim met a 
similar fate. But these were opportuni- 
ties of gratifying only their love of cru- 
elty ; and other victims must be sought, 
possessing property, the confiscation of 
which would gratify their avarice. Their 
grasp was first laid on Sir Hugh Camp- 
bell of Cesnock, who was accused of be- 
ing accessory to the Rye-house plot. 
Finding that there was no evidence what- 
ever to corroborate that charge, and be- 
ing still determined to secure their vic- 
tim, a new accusation was framed, charg- 
ing him with participation in the insur- 
rection of Both well Bridge. Two wit 
nesses were produced ; but when con 
fronted with Cesnock, and solemnly ab 
jured by him to speak the truth, they re 
tracted their previous statements. The 
spectators shouted with delight, Sir 
George Mackenzie stormed furiously, 
terming this shout a " Protestant roar," 
declaring that he " had always had a 
kindness /or the Presbyterian persuasion 
till now, and that he was convinced it hugs 
the most damnable trinket in nature."* 
In vain he strove to browbeat the jury ; 
they returned a verdict of not guilty, and 

* Wodrow, vol. iv. p. 91. 



A, D. 1684.] 



HISTC RY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



271 



Cesnock was — acquitted ? — no ! — he was 
remanded to prison, his estate forfeited, 
and shortly afterwards he was sent to the 
Bass. The jury were compelled to 
make an apology, and the witnesses were 
laid in irons. Such was the justice 
shown to Presbyterians by their lawless 
persecutors. 

To compensate for this disappointment, 
the Military Commission Court condem- 
ned and executed five Presbyterians at 
Glasgow, after a mock trial, upon evi- 
dence not only slight, but contradictory, 
and utterly incompetent to substantiate 
the charge, which was merely that they 
had either been at Bothwell, or had at 
least held intercourse with the " rebels." 
But the joy of the persecutors was great 
when they seized Captain John Paton of 
Meadowhead, who had held a command 
both at Pentland and Bothwell. This 
gallant gentleman boldly acknowledged 
and defended what he had done, answer- 
ing every charge with such courage and 
dignity that the council, struck with ad- 
miration, entertained some intentions of 
sparing his life, to which, however, the 
prelates would not consent. He met his 
death on the scaffold with as much forti- 
tude as he had exhibited in the battle- 
field, but with the superadded dignity of 
Christian forgiveness to his murderers.* 

The absolute injustice as well as cru- 
elty of the courts, were shown peculiarly 
in the trials of Spence, Carstares, and 
Jerviswood. Mr. William Spence had 
been Secretary to the Earl of Argyle, 
and it was thought that he must be capa- 
ble of giving important information re- 
specting the supposed connection of the 
Scottish Presbyterians with the Rye- 
house Plot. He had been kept for some 
time in prison heavily loaded with iron 
fetters, which were struck off that he 
might be examined by torture. The tor- 
ture of the boot failed to wring from him 
any such disclosure as the council wished. 
He was then sent back to prison ; and an 
order of almost unparalleled atrocity 
was issued by the council, that a party 
of soldiers should keep watch beside the 
exhausted sufferer, and not permit him 
to sleep day nor night till he should con- 
fess. Several days together, Burnet says 
eight or nine, was this fearfully barbar- 
ous order enforced ; and when even this 

* Wodrow, vol. iv. p. 65 ; Scottish Worthies, p. 366. 



could not shake his constancy, he was 
subjected to the torture of the thumbkin 
or thumb screw. The utmost which they 
succeeded finally in extorting from the 
worn-out sufferer, was his assistance in 
decyphering a letter written in secret 
characters by Argyle, in which the pur- 
pose of preventing the Duke of York's 
succession was mentioned, but nothing 
tending to corroborate the charge of in- 
tended assassination. The names of 
Carstares and Baillie of Jerviswood were 
contained in Argyle's letter, and this ex- 
posed them to the wrath of the council. 

Carstares had been apprehended in 
England, at first by mistake for a differ- 
ent person, and retained in custody on 
account of being suspected to have some 
knowledge of the meditated insurrection 
for which Russell and Sidney died ; and 
also because he was believed to be in the 
confidence of the Scottish exiles in Hol- 
land. He was sent down to Scotland to 
be tried, contrary to the provisions of 
English law ; and the mention of his 
name in the papers decyphered by 
Spence exposed him to the severity of 
the Scottish council. He endured the 
torture of the thumbkin for an hour and 
a half with unwavering fortitude, refus- 
ing to answer any questions by which he 
might be led to criminate other parties. 
When released from torture and re- 
manded to prison, he learned that the in- 
formation derived from Spence contained 
nearly all that the questions to be pro- 
posed to him could involve, and accord- 
ingly he consented to answer without 
further torture, stipulating that his an- 
swers should not be used as evidence 
against the persons accused, nor himself 
confronted with them as a witness. These 
stipulations were, as usual, immediately 
violated, and an unfair account of his 
confession published, and attempted to 
be used against Jerviswood, on whose 
death the council was bent. It deserves 
to be recorded, to the credit of Carstares, 
that he was in the possession of state se- 
crets greatly more important than those 
which the council were attempting to 
wring from him, the offer to discover 
which would have secured him from tor- 
ture, and the discovery of which might 
have frustrated the success of the subse- 
quent enterprise of the Prince of Orange. 
But when Carstares had answered to the 



272 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VII. 



questions directly put by the council, they 
seem to have concluded that he was 
acquainted with nothing more ; and, after 
a short additional imprisonment, he was 
permitted to leave the kingdom and retire 
to Holland, where he remained till the 
time of the Revolution.* 

The trial of Baillie of Jerviswood 
came next, and demands attention, as pe- 
culiarly atrocious. Baillie was a man of 
great natural abilities, soundness of judg- 
ment, and high integrity and blameless- 
ness of character. He was now consid- 
erably advanced in years, and his consti- 
tution greatly broken and enfeebled by 
sufferings and imprisonment ; yet his 
life, evidently drawing near its close, 
was sought by his enemies, because they 
were aware of the high estimation in 
which he was held by the Presbyterians, 
whose proceedings and plans might be 
comparatively paralyzed by the loss of 
such a man. The main accusation 
against Jerviswood had reference to the 
conspiracy of the English patriots, Rus- 
sell and Sidney, but there was a misera- 
ble deficiency of evidence to substantiate 
the charge. Every attempt was made by 
the " bloody Mackenzie" to supplement 
this deficiency ; even the confession of 
Carstares was brought forward as corrob- 
orative evidence, contrary to the express 
stipulations into which the council en- 
tered with Carstares himself. Baillie was 
manifestly dying, but this only stimulated 
the council to hasten forward his trial, 
that they might enjoy the gratification of 
shaking rudely the ebbing sands of his 
life. When brought before the court, the 
venerable man was wrapped in his dres- 
sing-gown, as he had arisen from his 
sick-bed, and attended by his sister-in- 
law, daughter of the celebrated Warris- 
ton, who supported him from time to 
time with cordials during the course of 
the trial. Mackenzie pressed the charges 
against him with the most malignant bit- 
terness of language. At last the vener- 
able man slowly rose, defended himself 
against the articles of the accusation, so- 
lemnly declared his detestation of all 
plots against the lives of his majesty and 
his royal brother ; then fixing his eyes 
on Mackenzie, asked how he could in 
public so violently accuse him of what in 
private he had declared he did not be- 

• Dr M'Cormack'a Life of Carstares. pp. 17-22. 



lieve him guilty? The advocate quail- 
ed beneath the searching power of that 
calm clear eye, and confusedly stam- 
mered out, " Jerviswood, I own what you 
say ; my thoughts there were as a pri- 
vate man ; but what I say here is by spe- 
cial direction of the privy council," and 
pointing to the clerk, added, '■ he knows 
my orders." " Well," replied Jervis- 
wood, " if you have one conscience for 
yourself and another for the council, I 
pray God forgive you, I do;" — then turn- 
ingto the justice-general, he said, "my lord, 
I trouble your lordship no farther." But 
neither the dignity of truth nor the pa- 
thetic language of innocence could move 
the cruel conclave. He was pronounced 
guilty, and condemned to die .the same 
day, his head to be cut off, his body 
quartered, and the mutilated parts to be 
affixed upon conspicuous places in the 
chief towns in the kingdom. When this 
barbarous sentence was intimated to him, 
he . answered, " My lords, the time is 
short — the sentence is sharp ; but 1 thank 
my God, who hath made me as fit to die 
as you are to live." The brief interval 
between the sentence and its execution 
was to him one of joy unspeakable and 
full of glory. His bodily weakness and 
sufferings were unfelt, in the anticipation 
of the glory, honour, and immortality 
of that heavenly inheritance into which 
he was about to enter. The hour came. 
His devoted sister-in-law, Warriston's 
heroic daughter, supported his sinking 
frame to the scaffold; stood with him 
there, while, leaning on her shoulder, he 
attempted to address the deeply agitated 
and sympathizing spectators ; and left 
him not till, after the drums of the mili- 
tary had drowned his voice, and the rude 
hand of the executioner had hurried on 
the final deed, she beheld his earthly suf- 
ferings closed, withdrawing then from a 
place where she had undergone what 
may well be termed a martyrdom of the 
heart.* 

When such was the treatment of men 
of considerable rank, it may well be 
supposed that those in humble life would 
be subjected to injustice still more glar- 
ing, and cruelties still more intense. 
Such was indeed the case. The circuit 
courts which had been appointed to be 
held in the districts most noted for the at 

• Wodrow, yol. iv. pp. 101-112. 



A D. 1684.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



273 



tachment of the people to Presbyterian 
principles, executed their dreadful com- 
mission with unprecedented barbarity. 
To be accused was almost always the 
sure forerunner of to be condemned. To 
hesitate or refuse to take the test was 
ground enough for the exaction of ruin- 
ous fines from those who possessed any 
property, or for death to those who had 
none. The curates were not only encour- 
aged, but further enjoined, to ply their 
dreadful and degrading trade of spies 
and informers. Other spies of a still viler 
cast were employed to pretend to be Cov- 
enanters, to frequent the company of the 
persecuted wanderers, to discover their 
retreats, and then to give such informa- 
tion as might lead to their surprise and 
seizure. Renwick continued to preach 
in the fields in spite of the rage of the 
persecutors ; and, notwithstanding the 
keenness with which he and his follow- 
ers were hunted from place to place, he 
still escaped from their toils, and held 
aloft, as he had vowed to do, the banner 
of the Covenant. 

About this time an incident occurred 
which tended greatly to increase the fury 
of the persecutors. There had been a 
meeting of the Covenanters in the neigh- 
bourhood of Drumlanrig, where the sol- 
diers found these resolute men too nu- 
merous to be safely attacked. But when 
they dispersed, the soldiers scoured the 
country in the neighbourhood of the 
place of meeting, and intercepted eight 
or nine of the stragglers, among whom 
was the minister. When the Covenant- 
ers learned that the minister had been 
seized, they hastily mustered in small 
parties, each speeding to some advanta- 
geous spot to attempt a rescue. The sol- 
diers took the most direct route to Edin- 
burgh, and marched up Enterkin pass 
with their prisoners. This was immedi- 
ately observed by the countrymen, who 
swiftly scaled the mountain side, and 
placed themselves in a commanding posi- 
tion before the approach of the dragoons. 
A more suitable position for such an en- 
terprise could not be desired. The road 
is cut out of the steep side of a sheer 
precipitous mountain, not broader than 
to admit of two horses abreast, exceed- 
ingly steep on the upper side, unguarded 
by wall or bank on the under, from 
which the mountain descends almost per- 
35 



pendicularly to the bottom of a narrow 
glen, along which a mountain-stream 
toils, foaming through the shattered rocks 
that block its rugged channel. Nothing 
of vegetation is to be seen but a few loose 
tufts of wiry grass whistling in the 
wind, striving ineffectually to bind to- 
gether the sharp slaty splinters which 
cover the vast bulk of the barren moun- 
tain, so that it is impossible to recover 
the footing once lost on that pass of fear. 
As the soldiers were slowly winding up 
that tremendous path, they were sudden- 
ly hailed by a voice from the misty hill- 
side above them, calling on them to stop 
and deliver up their minister and the 
other prisoners. The officer in command 
refused with a loud oath. He was im- 
mediately shot through the head, and fell 
from his horse, which, startling back, 
staggered over the precipice, rolling and 
bounding with increased velocity till it 
descended in a mangled indistinguisha- 
ble mass into the rocky bed of the ra- 
ving torrent. The rest of the soldiers 
stood petrified with horror at this appal- 
ling catastrophe, feeling that their own 
lives were completely at the mercy of 
the men posted above them on the hill. 
But these men were not revengeful. 
They wished not to spill the blood of 
their enemies, if they could otherwise 
rescue their friends. Again they de- 
manded the minister and the other pris- 
oners ; and the officer second in com- 
mand, aware that resistance was in vain, 
consented to yield them up, saying to the 
minister, " Go, sir ; you owe your life 
to this damned mountain." " Rather, 
Sir," said the minister, " to that God who 
made this mountain."* 

When the intelligence of this rescue 
reached Edinburgh, the rage of the coun- 
cil w r as unbounded. Furious- proclama- 
tions were issued, and strong detachments 
of troops sent to traverse the adjacent 
country, and apprehend all who were 
suspected of having been in any reepect 
implicated in the deed. Nor were they 
long without finding victims on which to 
inflict their vengeance. Three men were 
found, asleep in the fields, fired upon, and 

' Memoirs of the Church of Scotland, by De Foe. pp. 
188-193; Wodrow, vol. iv. p. 173. Wodrow's account 
differ somewhat from that given by De Foe, but the- 
latter is here mainly followed, as, from having person- 
ally explored the pass, and gleaned the traditionary 
accounts still current in the district, the author is sat» 
J isfied of its accuracy. 



274 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VII. 



wounded by the soldiers where they lay, 
then seized, hurried to Edinburgh, and 
put to death the very day on which they 
reached the capital, without the shadow 
of a proof that they were concerned in the 
rescue at Enterkin path. But this did not 
satiate their thirst of revenge. The whole 
district was laid under military law, and 
unparalleled atrocities were perpetrated 
by the licentious and infuriated soldiery. 
The people were hunted from their homes 
and shot to death in the fields without 
mercy ; their houses were pillaged, and 
then reduced frequently to ashes, the 
women and children being abused, and 
then left to houseless misery and starva- 
tion. Three women were seized, and 
with difficulty escaped banishment, for 
lending assistance in her hour of travail 
to the wife of one who was suspected to 
have been at the rescue. Desolation cov- 
ered the country wheresoever the fierce 
exterminators directed their ruthless rav- 
ages. 

But while peculiar districts were thus 
exposed to excessive devastation, in con- 
sequence of peculiar events, the concen- 
trated malice of the persecutors was 
directed incessantly against the unyield- 
ing remnant of true Covenanters. They 
were hunted like beasts of prey from moss 
to mountain, from cliff to cavern. In vain 
did they make their beds in the dark 
heaths, beneath the canopy of heaven, or 
in natural caves in the rocky glens, or in 
artificial lurking-places among the shaggy 
thickets. No retreat was sufficiently 
wild and secret to secure them from the 
keen eye of the prowling informer, and 
the relentless pursuit of their vindictive 
enemies. Thus driven from the haunts 
of men, outlawed, given up to pitiless 
butchery it would have been strange in- 
deed if they had not, like a stag at bay, 
turned on their pursuers, and compelled 
them to know that there were extremities 
of persecution which human nature would 
not cr.dure. At length, after their pa- 
tience and Christian resignation had been 
tried to the extremest pitch, they did come 
to the determination of warning their ene- 
mies not to press further upon that peril- 
ous boundary, the crossing of which 
might make the great law of self-preser- 
vation the sole rule of duty, and when 
stern retaliation might become the only 
method by which that great law could 



act. This formidable warning they gave 
to their relentless persecutors, by publish- 
ing what they termed " the apologetic de- 
claration and admonitory vindication of 
the true Presbyterians of the Church of 
Scotland, especially against intelligencers 
and informers." This very remarkable 
paper bears to have been drawn up on the 
28th of October, and was to be affixed on 
the market-crosses of the chief towns in 
Scotland, on the 8th of November, which 
was accordingly done. It is of such im- 
portance, that an extract must be given. 

This " apologetical declaration" begins 
by narrating the course of persecution 
which had impelled the sufferers to dis- 
own the authority of the tyrannical sove- 
reign and government under whose cruel 
sway they were so mercilessly wasted ; it 
then declares that they " utterly detest 
and abhor that hellish principle of killing 
all who differ in judgment and persuasion 
from us, it having no bottom upon the 
Word of God, or right reason; and 
after stating the incessant danger in which 
they lived, the hardships to which they 
were exposed, and the cruel deaths in- 
flicted on their friends, through the instru- 
mentality of spies, informers, and the 
remorseless soldiery, this document pro- 
ceeds in the following strain: — 

" We do hereby delare unto all, that 
whosoever stretch forth their hands 
against us while we are maintaining the 
cause and interest of Christ against his 
enemies, in defence of the Covenanted 
Reformation, all and every one of such 
shall be reputed by us enemies to God 
and the covenanted work of reformation, 
and punished as such, according to our 
power and the degree of their offence, 
chiefly if they shall continue, after the 
publication of this our declaration, obsti- 
nately and habitually with malice to pro- 
ceed against us, any of the aforesaid ways. 
Now, let not any think that (our God as- 
sisting us) we will be so slack-handed in 
time coming to put matters in execution, 
as heretofore we have been, seeing we 
are bound faithfully and valiantly to 
maintain our Covenants and the cause of 
Christ. Therefore, let all these aforesaid 
persons be admonished of their hazard ; 
and particularly all ye intelligencers, who 
by your voluntary informations endea- 
vour to render us up into the enemies' 
hands, that our blood may be shed j for 



A D. 1684.] 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 



275 



by such courses ye both endanger your 
immortal souls, if repentance prevent not, 
seeing God will make inquisition for 
shedding the precious blood of his saints, 
and also your bodies, seeing you render 
yourselves actually and maliciously guilty 
of our blood, whose innocency the Lord 
knoweth. However, we are sorry at our 
very hearts that any of you should choose 
such courses, either with bloody Doeg to 
shed our blood, or with the flattering 
Ziphites, to inform persecutors where we 
are to be found. So we say again, we 
desire you to take warning of the hazard 
that ye incur, by following such courses; 
for the sinless necessity of self-preserva- 
tion, accompanied with holy zeal for 
Christ's reigning in our land, and sup- 
pressing of profanity, will move us not to 
let you pass unpunished. Call to your 
remembrance, all that is in peril is not 
lost, and all that is delayed is not for- 
given. Therefore, expect to be dealt 
with as ye deal with us, so far as our 
power can reach, not because we are 
actuated by a sinful spirit of revenge, for 
private and personal injuries, but mainly 
because by our fall reformation suffers 
damage."* 

It is, we think, impossible to peruse 
this remarkable document without strong 
emotions of mingled sorrow, regret, and 
admiration ; — sorrow, to contemplate the 
sufferings which such men had been com- 
pelled so long to endure ; regret, that 
these sufferings had driven them to the 
use of language, if not the adoption of 
sentiments, which might be perverted 
into something like a sanction of sum- 
mary retaliation and lawless bloodshed, 
notwithstanding the earnestness with 
which they disclaimed such principles ; 
and admiration of the invincible courage 
and perseverance which they displayed in 
the defence of civil and religious liberty, 
and in the maintenance of the fundamen- 
tal principle of the Presbyterian Church 
of Scotland, — the sole sovereignty of the 
Lord Jesus Christ over his spiritual king- 
dom, the Church. 

The effects resulting from this declara- 
tion were varied. To a certain extent it 
accomplished the intended object. The 
informers, both curates and their base 
emissaries, were appalled, and shrunk 

* Wodrow, vol. iv. pp. 148, 149: Informatory Vindi- 
cation, pp. 255-251. 



from the possible encounter with men 
rendered desperate by the deep sense 
of intolerable oppression, who knew no 
falsehood and who felt no fear, and for 
whom to act was easier than to threaten. 
They dared not, therefore, follow the per- 
secuted remnant to their desolate retreats, 
as formerly ; and, consequently, some 
diminution took place in the deadly accu- 
racy with which the military execution- 
ers had previously been guided to the 
haunts of their victims. But the rage of 
the council was stimulated beyond all 
former precedent : and failing somewhat 
in their comparatively private methods of 
destruction, they resolved to wield all 
their public weapons with more terrific 
energy than they had ever yet put forth. 
An act of the privy council was passed 
on the 22d of November, well designated 
" the bloody act," ordaining " every per- 
son who owns, or does not disown, the 
late traitorous declaration, upon oath, 
whether he have arms or not, to be im- 
mediately put to death, before two wit- 
nesses, and the person or persons having 
commission from the council to that ef- 
fect." And that this " bloody act'' might 
not remain inoperative for want of com- 
missions, these were given to several no- 
blemen, gentlemen, and military officers, 
empowering and requiring them " to con- 
vocate all the inhabitants (in certain par- 
ishes named), men and women, above 
fourteen years of age ; and if any own 
the late declaration, you shall execute 
them by military execution upon the 
place ; and if any be absent, ye shall burn 
their houses and seize their goods, &c. 
And as to the families of such as you con- 
demn or execute, you shall make prison- 
ers of all persons in their families above 
the age of twelve years, in order to trans- 
portation." An oath, termed the " abju- 
ration oath," was also framed, according to 
which every person was called upon " to 
abjure and renounce, by solemn oath, the 
late traitorous apologetical declaration ;" 
and a proclamation was at the same time 
issued, " prohibiting all past the age of 
sixteen years to presume to travel without 
certificates of their loyalty and good prin- 
ciples, by taking the oath of abjuration ; 
with certification, that all who shall ad- 
venture to travel without such certificate, 
which is to serve for a free pass, shall be 
holden and used as connivers with the 



276 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VTt. 



said rebels."* The indulgence was also 
recalled, and all the indulged ministers 
were obliged to give bond not to exercise 
any part of their ministry in Scotland. 

The dread machinery of extermination 
seemed now complete. The preaching 
of the gospel by any Presbyterian minis- 
ter was entirely prohibited, on the penal- 
ties of imprisonment, exile, or death. The 
power of enforcing contradictory oaths, 
such as the test, and judicial oaths, such 
as that of abjuration, was given to lawless 
military commissions, extended even to 
common troopers and private sentinels, 
with authority to inflict instant death on 
all who should refuse or hesitate thus 
to violate their conscience, No man 
might journey from tne part of the coun- 
try to another, however urgent the call of 
duty or of business, without a pass from 
these armed legislators ; and many were 
shot dead by the soldiers, without taking 
the trouble to inquire whether they had 
obtained the pass, that paper being found 
in their possession by the murderers when 
they were pillaging the dead bodies. 
And as the speeches, testimonies, and de- 
clarations of the persecuted party had 
made their principles familiar to their 
enemies, the latter contrived to frame a 
few leading questions to be put by the 
military inquisitors, the refusal to answer 
which was to be held as a sufficient proof 
of guilt, entitling the banditti to inflict 
torture or death upon their victims at their 
pleasure. These questions were gener- 
ally the following: — " Will you renounce 
the Covenant ?" — " Will you pray for the 
king?" — " Was the killing of the Arch- 
bishop of St. Andrews murder?" — " Was 
the rising at Both well Bridge rebellion?" 
—"Will you take the test?"— " Will 
you abjure the late treasonable declara- 
tion ?" The effect of such questions may 
very easily be imagined. Many thou- 
sands would have cheerfully lost their 
lives rather than have renounced the 
Covenants. To pray for the king, as a 
sinful human being, they were quite 
willing", but not as thereby acknowledg- 
ing his right to exercise a sinful suprem- 
acy in matters spiritual, and an arbitrary 
despotism in civil affairs. They regarded 
the question respecting the death of Sharp 
as an illegal attempt to extort from them 

• Wodrow, vol. ir. pp. 155,156, 161,164; Life of Ren 
■wick, p. 78 



a sentence of condemnation upon the 
assassins, which they were not entitled to 
pronounce, nor their enemies to require. 
Neither did they feel at liberty to call the 
rising at Bothwell Bridge rebellion, as 
they considered it essentially an act of 
self-defence, and therefore justifiable. The 
test and the abjuration they regarded as 
not only illegal and ensnaring oaths, but 
as positively sinful, containing false prin- 
ciples, and involving the subjugation of 
Christianity to the arbitrary will of a per- 
jured, licentious, and Popish tyrant. It 
was not strange, therefore, that when the 
rude soldiers put these questions to the 
people, they generally received such an- 
swers as put it in their power to inflict in- 
stant death upon the faithful Presbyterians, 
or such hideous tortures as might be 
prompted by the wild caprice of their 
savage natures. 

[1684.] As the year 1684 closed with 
the framing of the "bloody acts" already 
specified, so 1685 began by their being 
put into relentless execution. Several pri- 
soners had been seized about the close of 
the preceding year, and instantly sacri- 
ficed, even before the passing of the new 
persecuting enactments. The new year 
was begun in the same spirit, and with 
fuller powers of vengeance. About the 
middle of January, two men were hanged 
at Edinburgh for not disowning the late 
declaration ; on the same day six men 
were shot in Galloway, because they 
were detected by the military in the act 
of prayer. Another man, sick of a fever, 
not giving satisfactory answers to the in- 
terrogations put to him, was dragged 
from his bed, and murdered at his own 
door. Other two seemed willing to take 
the abjuration oath, but being told by the 
military judge that they must take the test 
also, refused, and were put to death on 
the spot, the monster exultingly exclaim- 
ing, " they thought to have cheated the 
judges, but I have cheated them." In 
some places the whole inhabitants of a 
village or a parish were called together, 
and commanded to take the test and the 
abjuration oath, without distinction of age 
or sex, surrounded by the troops, with 
loaded muskets and drawn swords, pre- 
pared to revel in their blood if they should 
hesitate.* 

A slight pause in these dreadful butch- 

* Wodrow, vol. iv. 



A. D. 1685.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



277 



eries took place upon the death of Charles 
II., which happened on the 6th day of 
February. The cause of his death is 
generally stated to have been apoplexy ; 
but there are very strong- reasons to sus- 
pect that he was poisoned.* It is not 
necessary to offer any remarks upon the 
character of a monarch whose whole life 
was a tissue of private crime and public 
perfidy and dishonour. " His ambition," 
says Fox, " was directed against his sub- 
jects ; unprincipled, ungrateful, mean, 
and treacherous, to which may be added, 
vindictive and remorseless. I doubt 
whether a single instance can be pro- 
duced of his having spared the life of any 
one whom motives of policy or revenge 
prompted him to destroy." 

Intelligence of the death of Charles 
was speedily forwarded to Scotland, and 
the Duke of York was immediately pro- 
claimed king in such terms as must have 
satisfied the most absolute despot, he be- 
ing declared " our only righteous king 
and sovereign, over all persons, and in 
all causes, as holding his imperial crown 
from God alone." The Scottish council, 
with perfect consistency, held it unneces- 
sary for James to take the coronation 
oath, for they had already recognised the 
will of the sovereign as the source of all 
law, civil and sacred ; and to have re- 
quired from their monarch an oath that 
he would govern according to his own 
will, would have been a mockery indeed. 
Yet this omission left room for the 
statement of an important principle within 
the course of a few years, furnishing an- 
other instance of the truth, that lawless 
deeds ultimately destroy their perpetra- 
tor. All public functionaries were- con- 
tinued in their offices ; and the military 
commission courts, which had been insti- 
tuted for the destruction of the Presbyte- 
rians, were renewed, and even extended. 

A meeting of parliament had been 
called by the late king, to have com- 
menced its sittings in March ; but it was 
summoned anew by James, and met on 
the 28th of April. Glueensberry was 
appointed commissioner ; and as the test 
was in full operation, every person con- 
scientiously attached to the Presbyterian 
Church was necessarily excluded. It 
would be instructive to dwell somewhat 
minutely on the proceedings of this pure- 

* Burnet's Own Times, vol. i. pp. 606-510. 



ly Prelatic parliament, did space permit, 
as its slavish spirit, and the gross flat- 
teries in which its leading members in- 
dulged, present a startling contrast to the 
conduct and language of the purely Pres- 
byterian parliament of 1649. A few of 
the leading acts of this parliament must 
be mentioned. By one of them it was 
declared, " That the giving or taking the 
National Covenant or the Solemn League 
and Covenant, or writing in defence 
thereof, or owning them as lawful or 
obligatory upon themselves or others, 
shall infer the crime and pains of trea- 
son." Another converted all the illegal 
and oppressive acts of council into statute 
law. A third declared the giving of sup- 
plies, or the concealing of supplies given 
to or demanded for traitors, to be treason, 
and to be judged accordingly. By other 
acts it was ordained, that the punishment 
of death should be extended to hearers as 
well as preachers at conventicles ; that 
the worshipping of God, in a private 
house, if five individuals more than the 
members of the family were present, was 
treason ; and that the test should be im- 
posed upon all heritors, life-renters, and 
tacksmen, Papists alone excepted. And, 
to complete their proofs of superlative 
loyalty, this prelate parliament passed 
acts of attainder against several Presby- 
terian noblemen and gentlemen, annex- 
ing their forfeited estates to the crown.* 
This obsequious parliament had not 
yet quite finished its labours, when intel- 
ligence arrived, that a double invasion of 
the kingdom was on the point of taking 
place, conducted in England by the Duke 
of Monmouth, and in Scotland by the 
Earl of Argyle, " for the purpose of re- 
covering the religion, rights, and liberties 
of the kingdom from the usurpation of 
James Duke of York, and a popish 
faction." It belongs to the province of 
the civil historian to narrate events of a 
character so much more civil than eccle- 
siastical as must needs be an attempt like 
that of Monmouth and Argyle. For it is 

• Wodrow, vol. iv. pp. 266-282. It may be stated, as a 
proof that this parliament had some perception of the 
dangerous tendency of their proceedings, that they 
passed an act by which lands might be entailed to per- 
petuity. They were bent on the utter mm of all Pres- 
byterian families ; but thoueht, by this measure, to se- 
cure their own ill-got gains from similar ruin, should a 
change of administration take place. For the law of 
entail, with all the obstacles which it presents to the 
progress of society, Scotland has that Prelatic parlia- 
ment to blame. 



278 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



ICHAP. VII. 



perfectly plain, even from the language 
of Argyle's declaration, that the main ob- 
ject of his enterprise was to redress the 
civil wrongs and grievances of the nation. 
He did not, certainly, and he could not 
omit the statement of those persecutions 
on account of religion under which the 
nation had so long groaned and bled ; 
but still it was manifest, that both he and 
the greater part of those who joined with 
him were more intent upon the restora- 
tion of the civil than of the religious lib- 
erties of the kingdom. The fate of the 
enterprise may be very briefly told. 

Before leaving Holland, symptoms of 
dissension had appeared among the lead- 
ers of the expedition. Argyle was its 
natural leader, as the man of the highest 
rank and greatest personal influence in 
Scotland ; but he appears to have been 
deficient in military talents, and in that 
high energy and decision of character so 
necessary in the leader of a dangerous 
enterprise. All their councils partook of 
the same indecision, no one man of the 
party possessing that degree of genius 
which would have given him unques- 
tioned ascendency over the rest. The 
first attempt was made in the Highlands, 
but with little success. They then moved 
to the Lowlands, — met forces greatly su- 
perior in numbers, — avoided a general 
engagement, — began to be dispirited, and 
to melt away, — divided, a very few con- 
tinuing with Argyle till he was taken, a 
large party following Sir John Cochrane, 
— till, after having crossed the Clyde, and 
been engaged in a sharp skirmish at 
Muirdykes, near Lochwinnoch, where 
they beat back their assailants, they sep- 
arated, every man seeking his personal 
safety by flight.* 

So ended this unfortunate attempt. 
The persecuted Covenanters, or Came- 
ronians as they are often called, declined 
uniting with Argyle, on the ground chief- 
ly that the declaration of that nobleman 
did not sufficiently assert the essential 
principles in behalf of which they were 
willing- to suffer and to die ; that it made 
no direct mention of the Covenants, nor 
of Presbyterian Church government ; 
and that some of the leaders had been im- 
plicated in the persecuting measures of 
the prelatists, and such as Sir John Coch- 

* Wodrow, vol. iv. pp. 282-320; Memoirs of Veitch 
and Bryason. pp. 305-340. 



rane, who directed Earlshall to Airdsmoss 
where Cameron was killed : nor had 
they forgot that Argyle himself had 
given his vote for the putting of Cargill 
to death : and on these grounds they held 
it right to avoid the hazard, and, it might 
be, the sin of entering into a close alli- 
ance with men whom they still regarded 
with distrust, both on account of their 
principles and their previous conduct. 
Even had they been willing to join with 
Argyle, they had not the opportunity of 
doing so. The country between him and 
where they chiefly resorted was com- 
pletely in the possession of the enemy ; 
and they were not sufficiently numerous 
to have forced their way openly through 
the opposing troops. Their standing 
aloof, which was chiefly caused by their 
adherence to their own high principles, 
had the effect of preserving them from a 
portion of the ruin produced by Argyle's 
failure ; and their junction with him, had 
it been practicable, could not have given 
such an accession of strength as to have 
ensured his success. Their conduct, 
therefore, need not be either censured or 
deplored ; and were we disposed to enter 
kito a more minute investigation of the 
subject, it might be shown to have been 
not undeserving of the meed of approba- 
tion, both for soundness of principle and 
for consistency. 

Argyle, after his capture, was conduct- 
ed to Edinburgh, and imprisoned in the 
castle. His trial was short, yet strange. 
Instead of being condemned for his inva- 
sion of the kingdom, and attempt to de- 
throne the sovereign, he was sentenced 
to death on the ground of his former re- 
fusal to take the test without a qualifica- 
tion. There was a pertinacious consis- 
tency of despotism in this determination 
to abide by a previous unjust and tyranni- 
cal sentence ; but it shocked the public 
mind much more than condemnation on 
the ground of his recent attempt could 
have done, and in that view his death was 
in all probability much more serviceable 
to the cause of liberty than his life could 
have been. The interval between the 
passing of the sentence and its execution 
was brief ; but it was spent by Argyle in 
such a manner as to raise his character 
in the estimation of all men to a degree 
immeasurably beyond what it had pre- 
I viously reached. He acknowledged his 



A. D. 1685.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



279 



former sinful compliances with the guilty 
deeds of the council, in language of deep 
contrition, admitting his own unworthi- 
ness to be the instrument of deliverance to 
his suffering country ; his personal piety 
was displayed signally in that calm and 
profound peace of mind wh^ch the prospect 
of an ignominious death could not for a 
moment ruffle, and which breathed no 
word of reproach against his revengeful 
enemies ; and, though his own enterprise 
had failed, he expressed the utmost con- 
fidence in the near and complete deliver- 
ance of his beloved native land from ty- 
ranny and oppression. On the scaffold he 
was attended by two ministers — one ap- 
pointed by the council, Annand, dean of 
Edinburgh, and the other one of his own 
choice, Chartris. who had been laid aside 
for refusing to take the test ; but no Pres- 
byterian minister was allowed to be with 
him. When, after his speech, he declar- 
ed that he forgave all men their wrongs 
against him, as he desired to be forgiven 
of God, Annand repeated these words, 
adding, " this nobleman dies a Protes- 
tant ;" upon which Argyle, stepping for- 
ward, added emphatically, " I die not 
only a Protestant, but with a heart-hatred 
of Popery, Prelacy, and all superstition 
whatsoever." Then, kneeling down, he 
embraced the instrument of execution, 
prayed earnestly, gave the signal, and 
joined his martyred father.* Thus died 
the Earl of Argyle, on the 30th day of 
June 1685, another noble martyr in the 
great and sacred cause of Scottish civil 
and religious liberty. 

Several other victims of less note, but 
not less excellence of character, speedily 
followed Argyle. Rumbold, an English 
officer, who had served under Cromwell, 
was executed in the same barbarous man- 
ner as Rathillet had been. The Rev. 
Thomas Archer, a young minister of 
great promise, who had been severely 
wounded in the skirmish at Muirdykes, 
was hanged. Gavin Russel and David 
Law died by a similar sentence ; and up- 
wards of twenty of Argyle's own clan 
were hanged at Inverness, while great 
numbers were banished to the plantations 

The preceding public events have 
been related in a consecutive order, for 
the sake of perspicuity; and for the 
same reason we must now give a 

* Wodrow, vol. iv. pp. 300-307. 



brief continuous narrative of the suffer- 
ings of the persecuted Presbyterians. 
The pause occasioned by the death of 
one sovereign and the accession of ano- 
ther was of brief duration ; and the mili- 
tary judges resumed their murderous 
career with increased eagerness, making 
the whole south and west of Scotland one 
scene of indiscriminate carnage. Claver- 
house had been elevated to the dignity 
of a privy councillor, and Dumfriesshire 
and Galloway were assigned to him as his 
peculiar domain. To Grierson of Lagg, 
and Windram, were given districts of the 
latter county, over which they might 
spread devastation at will ; while Claver- 
house himself, like a superior fiend, tra- 
versed the whole province, cheering on 
the red exterminators, a bloodier and 
fiercer glare of destruction marking the 
spot where he was present, or the path 
along which he had swept. The em- 
ployment of spies, who could assume the 
appearance and imitate the language and 
manners of the wandering Covenanters, 
was one of the favourite methods pursued 
by Claverhouse, that by their information 
he might trace the persecuted men to 
their most sacred lurking-places. At 
times, marking out a district, and muster- 
ing a sufficient force, he would drive all 
the inhabitants into one spot, gird them 
round with the armed soldiery, and com- 
pel them to swear allegiance to James, 
and to take the test and the oath of abju- 
ration, instant death being the penalty of 
refusal or hesitation. At other times he 
would collect all the children from six to 
ten years of age, draw up a line of sol- 
diers before them, and order them to pray, 
for the hour of death was come ; then, 
while in the agony of mortal terror, would 
offer them their lives if they would dis- 
cover where their friends, their fathers, 
or their elder brothers were concealed, 
causing occasionally the troops to fire 
over their heads, to increase their fear 
and stimulate their discoveries. Nor did 
he hesitate to stain his own hands with 
the blood of guiltless victims, rather than 
they should escape, when the troops 
showed signs of reluctance. Of this the 
death of John Brown of Priesthill is a 
fearful instance. 

John Brown lived at a place called 
Priesthill, in the parish of Muirkirk, and 
earned his subsistence by the humble 



280 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP VII. 



employment of a carrier. He was a 
man of deep personal piety, but had not 
joined in any acts of open resistance to 
the government. He was, however, 
hated by the curate, because of his sin- 
cere attachment to Presbyterian princi- 
ples, his refusal to attend upon that worth- 
less man's degraded ministry, and the 
shelter which his solitary abode occasion- 
ally furnished to the persecuted wanderers 
and their ministers. Of this information 
Had been given to Claverhouse, who im- 
mediately determined on his death. On 
the morning of the 1st of May, day hav- 
ing scarcely dawned, Brown, while at 
work in the fields, was surprised by a 
troop of dragoons, led by Claverhouse 
himself. He was brought back to his 
own house, and there the usual ensnaring 
questions were put to him, the brief exami- 
nation closing by Claverhouse saying to 
him, " Go to your prayers, for you shall 
immediately die." Caimly the martyr 
kneeled down upon the heath, and poured 
forth the emotions of his heart in a strain 
of such fervent and lofty devotion as to 
move the rude and hardened soldiery, if 
not to tears of repentance, at least to 
strong, though transient remorse. Thrice 
was he interrupted by the relentless Cla- 
verhouse, who exclaimed that " he had 
given him time to pray, but not to preach." 
Turning to the merciless man, he an- 
swered, " Sir, you know neither the na- 
ture of preaching nor of praying, if you 
call this preaching," and continued his 
devotions, untroubled, unconfused. When 
he stopped, Claverhouse bade him take 
farewell of his wtfe and children. Turn- 
ing to the afflicted woman, who was 
standing beside him, with one infant in 
her arms and another clinging to her 
knee, he said, " Now, Isabel, the day is 
come that I told you would come, when 
I first spoke to you of marriage." " In- 
deed, John," replied she, " 1 zan willingly 
part with you " " Then," said he, " that 
is all I desire ; I have no more to do but 
die ; I have been in case to meet death 
for many years." After he had kissed his 
wife and children, Claverhouse ordered 
six soldiers to fire. They hesitated ; the 
prayers of the martyr were still sounding 
in their souls ; they positively refused. 
Enraged at their delay and refusal, Cla- 
verhouse with his own hand shot him 
through the head; then turning to the 



new-made widow, in a voice of fiend-like 
mockery, said, " What thinkest thou of 
thy husband now, woman ?" " I ever 
thought much good of him," she answer- 
ed, " and as much now as ever." u It 
were but justice to lay thee beside him,'' 
exclaimed the murderer. " If you were 
permitted," replied she, " I doubt not but 
your cruelty would go that length ; but 
how will you answer for this morning's 
work ?" " To man I can be answer- 
able," said the ruthless persecutor ; " and 
as for God I will take him in my own 
hand !" and wheeling about, rode off at the 
head of his horror-stricken troop. The 
poor woman laid down her fatherless in- 
fant on the ground, gathered together the 
scattered brains of her beloved husband, 
then taking the kerchief from her neck 
and bosom, wound it about his mangled 
head, straighted his stiffening body, cov- 
ered it with her plaid, and sat down and 
wept over him, with one infant on her 
knee, and the other again clasped closely 
to her desolate heart. Not a friend or a 
neighbour was near in the dismal soli- 
tude of that dark hour, to aid her in per- 
forming the last sad duties of humanity, 
" it being a very desert place, where 
never victual grew ;" but she was not 
alone, for her soul felt the strong support 
of her very present God. # 

From the murder of John Brown, 
Claverhouse proceeded to the county of 
Dumfries, where another victim feH into 
his hands, and was dragged to the house 
of Johnstone of Westerraw or Wester- 
hall. This man, Andrew Hislop, Cla- 
verhouse would have spared — his mind, 
as he himself afterwards acknowledged, 
not being able to shake off the deep im- 
pression which John Brown's prayer had 
made ; but Johnstone insisted on his death, 
and orders were given to a Highland offi- 
cer who was with the party to shoot the 
man. He refused, and drew off his troop, 
declaring- that he would fight Claverhouse 
and his dragoons rather than do so bar- 
barous a deed. Claverhouse then com- 
manded three of his own men to execute 
the sentence, and this time they did not 
refuse. Placing the innocent man before 
them, they desired him to draw his bon- 
net over his eyes. Raising it higher on 
his dauntless brow, and stretching out his 

* * Wodrow, vol. iv. pp. 244, 245 ; Life of Peden, pp. ' 



A. D. 1685.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



281 



hand, in which he held his Bible, he re- 
plied, that he could look his death-bringers 
in the face without fear, charging them 
to answer for what they had done, and 
were about to do, at the great day, when 
they should be judged by that book — 
and so fell a dreadless martyr for the 
truth * 

On the same day in which Hislop was 
thus murdered, the 1 1 th of May, a still 
more hideous crime was committed near 
Wigton, in Upper Galloway. Gilbert 
Wilson occupied a farm belonging to the 
laird of Castlestewart, in the parish of 
Penningham. He and his wife had both 
yielded to the acts enforcing conformity 
to Prelacy ; but his children had im- 
bibed higher principles, and refused to 
conform. At length they were com- 
pelled to quit their father's house and 
join the persecuted wanderers, that they 
might avoid falling into the hands of the 
soldiers. Margaret Wilson, aged about 
eighteen, her brother Thomas, aged six- 
teen, and their sister Agnes, aged only 
thirteen, were ail thus compelled to seek 
refuge in the wild moors of Upper Gal- 
loway ; and by the dreadful intercom- 
muning act, their parents were forbid to 
give them food or shelter, under the pen- 
alty attached to treason. In the slight 
pause of persecution which took place at 
the death of Charles, the two sisters ven- 
tured to quit the desert solitudes, and to 
come to Wigton, where they resided a 
short time in the house of an aged and 
pious widow, named Margaret M'Lauch- 
lan. A base wretch, named Stuart, gave 
information against them, and they were 
all three dragged to prison. After they 
had lain there for some weeks, and had 
suffered much inhuman treatment, they 
were brought to trial before Lagg and 
Major Windram. who commanded the 
military force in that district. As if to 
stretch this mockery of justice to the ut- 
most extreme at once of cruelty and of 
intense absurdity, these three helpless wo- 
men were accused of rebellion at Both- 
well Bridge and Airdsmoss, and also of 
having been present at twenty conven- 
ticles. This accusation it was impos- 
sible to urge; but they were required 
o take the abjuration oath, which all 
three refused, and were accordingly 
condemned to die. The specific terms 

Wodrow, vol. iv. p. 250. 

36 



of the sentence were, that they should be 
tied to stakes fixed within the flood-mark 
in the water of Blednock, where it meets 
the sea, and there be drowned by the tide. 
From this dreadful doom the entreaties 
of the distracted father prevailed so far 
as to rescue the innocent girl of thirteen, 
yet only by the payment of one hundred 
pounds sterling to the merciless and mer- 
cenary murderers. But nothing could 
avail to save the lives of the young wo- 
man and her widowed friend. 

The day of execution came, the 11th 
of May, bright, it may be, with the fresh 
smiles of the reviving year, but dark and 
terrible to many a sympathizing heart. 
Windram and his troop guarded the vic- 
tims to the place of doom, accompanied 
by a crowd of people, filled with fear and 
wonder, and still doubting whether yet 
the horrid deed would be done. The 
stakes were driven deep into the oozy 
sand. That to which the aged widow 
was tied was placed farthest in, that she 
might perish first. The tide began to 
flow, — the water rose around them, — the 
hoarse rough billows came advancing 
on, swelling and mounting inch by inch, 
over limb, and breast, and neck, and lip, 
of the pious and venerable matron, while 
her young companions in martyrdom, 
still in shallower water, gazed on the aw- 
ful scene, and knew that in a few minutes 
more her sufferings would be the same. 
At this dreadful moment some heartless 
ruffian asked Margaret Wilson what she 
thonght now of her fellow-martyr in her 
dying agonies 1 Calmly she answered, 
i; What do I see but Christ, in one of his 
members, wrestling there ? Think you 
that we are the sufferers? No, it is 
Christ in us ; for he sends none a war- 
fare on their own charges." But the 
water now began to swell cold and deadly 
round and over her own bosom ; and: 
that her last breath might be expended in 
the worship of God, she sung the 25th 
psalm, repeated a portion of the Sth chap- 
ter of the Epistle to the Romans, and 
prayed till her voice was lost amid the 
rising waves. Before life was quite ex- 
tinct the torturers cut the cords that bound 
her to the stake, dragged her out, waited 
till she was restored to consciousness, 
and then asked her if she would pray for 
the king. She answered, ' ; I wish the 
I salvation of all men, and the damnation 



282 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VII. 



of none," " Dear Margaret," exclaimed 
one of the spectators, in accents of love 
and sorrow, " Say God save the king! 
say God save the king !" With the 
steady composure of one for whom life 
had few attractions and death no terrors, 
she replied, " God save him, if he will, 
for it is his salvation I desire." Her 
relatives and friends immediately cried 
aloud to Windram, " Oh, Sir, she has 
said it, she has said it !" The ruthless 
monster, reluctant thus to lose his victim, 
required her to answer the abjuration 
oath. In the same firm tone she an- 
swered, " I will not j I am one of Christ's 
children; let me go!" By his command 
she was again plunged into the heaving 
waters, and, after a brief struggle, the 
spirit of this virgin martyr entered into 
the rest and peace of everlasting happi- 
ness.* 

This and similar instances of heroic 
Christian fortitude were termed by the 
persecutors, and will still be termed by 
their apologists, instances of obstinate 
fanaticism. And men who wish to be 
regarded as peculiarly persons of en- 
lightened minds and liberal sentiments, 
will affect to pity the narrow and gloomy 
bigotry, as they will term it, which im- 
pelled these Christian martyrs to encoun- 
ter death in every form the most terrific, 
rather than abandon the principles of 
eternal truth. But the true Christian 
alone can comprehend by what sacred 
might it was that not only the strength 
of manhood, but the weakness of age, 
womanhood, and infancy, was upheld 
and enabled to triumph gloriously in the 
midst of persecutions so fierce and bar- 
barous that the heart turns with sick and 
shuddering horror from the bare recital. 
Their hearts were filled with "the peace 
of God which passeth all understanding," 
beyond the power of human rage to dis- 
turb ; their souls had obtained both an 
earnest and foretaste of heaven, in that 
love of God and communion with him 
which had been imparted to them by 
" the spirit of adoption ;" and feeling that 
" the Son had made them free," they re- 
cognised it as their bounden duty and 
their great privilege to defend the rights, 
and liberties of Christ's spiritual kingdom, 
willing to die rather than violate their 
allegiance to their Divine Redeemer, by 

• Wodrow, vol. iv. pp. 247-249. 



yielding to a sinful mortal that sole su- 
premacy and lordship over the conscience 
which belongs to Him alone, and that 
high and undivided sovereignty over His 
Church, which is the inalienable prerog- 
ative of the Mediator's crown. These 
principles they held, and by these prin- 
ciples they triumphed over every foe ; for 
thus were they enabled to do all things, 
and bear all things, "through Christ 
strengthening them," and to go forward 
along their perilous and blood-dyed path 
undismayed and invincible, strong in the 
Lord and in the power of His might." 

With the brief recital of one instance 
more of the horrors of the " killing time," 
we shall quit that dreadful period. When 
the tidings of the Earl of Argyle's enter- 
prise reached the council, orders were 
immediately given to remove the prisoners 
confined in Edinburgh, probably that 
there might be room for the incarceration 
of the new victims, on whom they ex- 
pected speedily to lay their grasp. On 
the 18th of May, these prisoners, both 
men and women, about two hundred and 
forty in number, were collected together, 
hurried to Leith, embarked in open boats, 
and conveyed in this manner to Burnt- 
island. There they were crammed into 
two small rooms in the prison, incapable 
of affording tolerable space for half the 
number, and kept in that condition for 
two days, without being permitted to taste 
so much as bread and water. The oath 
of supremacy was then tendered to them. 
About forty accepted, and were sent back 
to Edinburgh ; the rest, refusing to ac- 
knowledge an avowed Papist to be the 
head of the Church, were prepared for 
their northward journey. Their hands 
were tied together behind their backs, 
and in this helpless condition they were 
driven forward by the rude unfeeling sol- 
diers, who heaped upon them mockery 
and abuse of every kind. The sufferings 
which they endured in their journey were 
so great that several died by the way, 
and many contracted diseases from which 
they never recovered. They reached 
Dunnottar, the place of their destination, 
on the 24th of May, and were immedi- 
ately thrust into a dark vault in the castle, 
which had but one small window on the 
side next the sea, was full of mire, ankle 
deep, and was of such narrow dimensions 
as to allow scarcely more than room to 



A, D. 1685.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



283 



stand upright. In this dreadful dungeon I 
they remained almost the whole summer, 
crowded together, men and women, in 
one dense mass, without the slightest 
means of preserving what decency re- 1 
quires ; compelled to purchase the worst 
provisions at the most extravagant prices, 
so long as they had any money, even 
water being refused without a heavy 
price. Not even the horrors of the Black 
Hole of Calcutta surpassed those of Dun- 
nottar Castle ; for, in the former, the suf- 
ferings of the victims, if more intense, 
were of shorter duration, while the per- 
secuted Scottish Presbyterians died many 
deaths in the lingering agonies of these 
slow dreadful months. At length disease 
began to release them more quickly from 
their miseries ; and the governor's lady, 
having been induced to look into the 
hideous dungeon, was so shocked and 
appalled with the scene which met her 
brief gaze, that she prevailed upon her 
husband to remove the women to an 
apartment by themselves, and to put the 
men into other places, where they might 
at least breathe a less noisome and pesti- 
lential air. But many died of the dis- 
eases which they had already contracted, 
and about the end of the year the wasted 
survivors were banished to the planta- 
tions for slaves, — the men after having , 
their ears cut off, and the women branded 
with hot irons on the face. Many died 
on the passage ; the remainder met with 
humane treatment and Christian pity from 
the American settlers, which their own 
countrymen had denied them.* 

Although the Society People declined 
joining in Argyle's enterprise, yet they 
were no inattentive or careless spectators I 
of its progress, and especially of the events 
wmich had directly led to it. The suc- 
cession of tije Duke of York, an avowed 
Papist, to the throne, they regarded with 
the utmost abhorrence ; and immediately 
published a full and able declaration 
against it, and also against the legality 
and validity of that servile parliament, 
which had been called by him whom 
they did not hesitate to term a usurper. 
But this declaration, though even more 
pointed and argumentative than its pre- 
decessors, did not so strongly attract the 
notice of the council, probably because 
their attention was for the time engrossed 

* Wodrow, vol. iv. pp. 322-323, 333. 



by the more dangerous movements of 
Argyle and his adherents. The Cove- 
nanters, though they did not join Argyle, 
manifested their sympathy with his enter- 
prise by assisting in the escape of his 
scattered followers, notwithstanding the 
certainty that they were thereby increas- 
ing their own dangers, and provoking 
the rage of the victorious enemy. John 
Nisbet of Hardhill, who had been en- 
gaged in the insurrections both of Pent- 
land and of Bothwell Bridge, fell into the 
hands of the persecutors in November, 
and accordingly sealed his testimony in 
the cause of true religion with his blood. 

[16S6.] The fires of persecution began 
to grow fainter, and the sword was less 
incessantly bathed in blood, during the 
year 1686; not, however, because the 
rage of the persecutors had abated, but 
partly because the exterminating process 
had so far reduced the number of accessi- 
ble victims, that they could not now so 
easily lay hold on objects on whom to 
exercise their barbarities. Their pro- 
gress had been like that of Roman con- 
quest, characterised in such briefly and 
terribly emphatic terms by the historian ; 
they had made a solitude, — they called it 
peace. 

There was also another cause which 
tended to abate the violence of the perse- 
cution. The king appears to have 
thought the state of the country now 
nearly ripe for that great change, to pro- 
duce which had been the main though 
unavowed cause of the greater part of 
the previous persecuting enactments. 
Both Charles and James knew well that 
the Presbyterian Church formed the 
strongest obstacle to the restoration of 
Popery, and neither of them expected 
Prelacy to offer any very determined or 
protracted opposition to it. They there- 
fore directed all their efforts against Pres- 
bytery, confidently anticipating, that if it 
were destroyed, they would easily induct 
Prelacy to accept what would be a com 
paratively slight change, from a hierarchy 
acknowledging the headship of the king, 
to a hierarchy acknowledging the head- 
ship of the pope. In this they erred ; foi 
the Episcopalian Church, though prela- 
tic, was still truly Protestant. Yet there 
was much probability in the error ; foi 
they had experienced so much subser- 
viency from the prelates, that they were 



284 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP, m 



led to conclude that they could command 
nothing with which the prelates would 
not comply. Still it was thought expedi- 
ent to cover the ulterior designs of the 
Popish monarch a little longer under 
some plausible pretexts, and to remove a 
few more obstacles before the final at- 
tempt should be made. 

The first step towards restoring the 
Papists to power had been already made 
by their exemption from taking the test, 
which was still urged upon Presbyterians. 
The next was to repeal the penal statutes 
against them, and the disabilities under 
which they were placed. For this pur- 
pose a parliament was summoned to meet 
at Edinburgh on the 29th of April. 
When parliament met, the Earl of Mur- 
ray, his majesty's commissioner, produced 
a letter from the king, the most prominent 
topic of which was, a glowing encomium 
on the loyalty and peacefulness of his 
Roman Catholic subjects ; concluding 
with recommending them to the care of 
the parliament, that they " might not lie 
under obligations which their religion 
could not admit of;" "by doing whereof 
you will do us most acceptable service." 
In vain did the commissioner employ all 
his eloquence to enforce compliance with 
the suggestion of his majesty's letter. In 
vain did several of the prelates argue 
strenuously for the complete toleration of 
Popery. A considerable proportion of 
the parliament saw. in such a toleration, 
the first step towards the complete ascen- 
dency of a religion from which they 
could expect nothing else but a persecu- 
tion as severe as that which they had em- 
ployed against the Presbyterians ; and, 
however willing to inflict injuries upon 
others, and to violate to the utmost of their 
power every conscientious principle or 
scruple entertained by the Church of 
Scotland, they were sufficiently reluctant 
to be exposed themselves to similar inju- 
ries. The recent events which had oc- 
curred in France tended greatly to con- 
firm this dread of Popery, where the 
unjust revocation of the edict of Nantz 
exposed innumerable French Protestants 
to every kind of suffering. The public 
mind caught the alarrr s both in England 
and Scotland, and this had no small in- 
fluence in preventing the Scottish parlia- 
ment's compliance with the king's desire. 
In more guarded terms than any Scottish 



parliament since the Restoration had been 
accustomed to use, they promised to take 
the subject into their serious considera- 
tion, and to go as great lengths therein 
as their consciences would allow, not 
doubting that his majesty would be care- 
ful to secure the Protestant religion. 
Baffled and disappointed, the commis 
sioner prorogued the parliament, which 
met no more during the reign of James. 

The weight of the king's indignation 
fell upon some of the prelates who had 
presumed to oppose his wish. The arch 
bishop of Glasgow and the bishop of 
Dunkeld were deprived of their benefices. 
Paterson, who had been exceedingly ac 
tive in striving to promote the king's 
views, was made archbishop of Glasgow ; 
and one Hamilton, " noted for profane- 
ness and impiety, which sometimes broke 
into blasphemy,"* was made bishop of 
Dunkeld. But the greater part of these 
servile and unprincipled men signed an 
address to his majesty, offering to concur 
with him in all he desired, provided the 
laws might still continue in force and be 
executed against the Presbyterians.! 

But the previous servility of the Scot- 
tish parliaments had put into his majesty's 
hand a weapon which he was resolved to 
wield against them. They had admitted 
his absolute supremacy in the strongest 
possible terms, and he now employed this 
absolute supremacy to accomplish what 
the parliament had shrunk from doing. 
On the 21st of August, a letter was ad- 
dressed to the council, from which he had 
previously expelled the best men, replac- 
ing them by sycophants, in which his 
majesty gives them to know, that " it was 
not any doubt he had of his power that 
made him bring his designs before the 
parliament, but merely to give them an 
opportunity of showing their duty to him; 
that he now, according to his undoubted 
right and prerogative, takes the Roman 
Catholics under his royal protection, al- 
lowing to them the free exercise of their 
religion, and giving to them the chapel 
of Holyrood-house for a place of public 
worship, appointing chaplains and others, 
whom he recommended to special pro- 
tection." Thus had the Prelatic party 
prepared the way for the restoration of 
Popery, by their yielding up all power 

* Burnet's Own Times, vol. i. p. 681. t Burnet's 
Own Times, vol. i. p. 680. 



A. D. 1687.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



285 



and law co the absolute supremacy of the 
monarch, upon whose will, according to 
their own principles, must depend the re- 
ligion of his subjects. And they could 
not, without the most glaring inconsis- 
tency, offer any resistance to the despotic 
conduct of a sovereign whose will they 
had declared to be the fountain of law, 
which no man was entitled to question or 
resist. But the Presbyterians were still 
the bold guardians of the nation's liber- 
ties, civil and sacred, and under their pro- 
tection that inestimable charge was safe. 

In the meantime, there were some 
movements taking place among the 
Presbyterians of considerable importance. 
Several conferences were held between 
the persecuted followers of Renwick, and 
that larger body who had partially sub- 
mitted to the indulgences of former years, 
or remained silent and passive, while 
their more daring brethren maintained an 
open conflict. The object of these con- 
ferences was to attempt a union among all 
Presbyterians, both for mutual protection 
and to be ready for any propitious mo- 
ment in which to secure their common 
rights and liberties. But the desired 
union was found impracticable. The 
larger body had unquestionably yielded 
a sinful compliance with much that was 
directly subversive of Presbyterian prin- 
ciples ; but their pride would not allow 
them to acknowledge their errors. On 
the other hand, the society people or 
Cameronia^.s, or, more properly, the 
strict Covenanters, would not consent to 
any union without a previous acknow- 
ledgment from their brethren that they 
had indeed fallen into greivous and sin- 
ful defections. There were, besides, some 
points of minor importance on which 
their disputes were equally warm, and 
with much less reason. The result was, 
that it was found impracticable to form a 
union of all Presbyterians, although it 
was earnestly desired by the wisest and 
the best of both parties. When the sub- 
ject is contemplated at this distance of 
time, we may form a more dispassionate 
opinion on the conduct of both parties 
than either of them could have done ; 
and our opinion is, that decidedly the 
greatest amount of blame rests not on the 
Covenanters, but on their brethren, who 
had meanly and unfaithfully yielded far 
more to fear than now they were required 



to yield to principle. Had they possses- 
sed magnanimity enough to have admit- 
ted that they had failed in the hour of 
conflict, through human weakness, there 
is no reason to doubt that the high-hearted 
and dauntless Covenanters would have 
ceased to stickle pertinaciously for less 
important matters, and almost the entire 
body of the Scottish Presbyterians might 
have been prepared to assume a more 
commanding attitude at the Revolution, 
such as would have secured a more com- 
plete re-establishment of all their great 
principles than they actually obtained. 

The celebrated Alexander Peden died 
early in this year, after a reconciliation 
had been effected between him and Ren- 
wick, from whom he had been for a time 
estranged. Renwick was joined by Mr. 
David Houston and Mr. Alexander 
Shields, and field-preaching was con- 
tinued, although the king, in the midst 
of his zeal for toleration to the Papists, 
issued a furious proclamation against 
them, offering a large reward to any 
person who should seize Renwick, alive 
or dead. 

[1687.] Although the king had failed 
in obtaining from parliament that ready 
submission to his wishes, which he had 
expected with regard to the legislative 
repeal of the penal statutes against Papists, 
he was by no means disposed to mention 
his intention, but thought it expedient tc 
adopt another mode of procedure. His 
plan was now to quit the crimson robe 
of the fierce persecutor, and to assume 
the garb of universal toleration. Ac- 
cordingly, on the 12th of February 1687, 
a letter was sent to the council, accompa- 
nied by a proclamation, in which his 
majesty, "by his sovereign authority, 
prerogative royal, and absolute power, 
which all his subjects are to obey with- 
out reserve, did give and grant his royal 
toleration to the several professors of 
Christian religion." " In the first place," 
continues his majesty, "we allow and 
tolerate the moderate* Presbyterians to 
meet in their private houses, and there to 
hear all such ministers as either have, or 
are willing to accept of our indulgence, 
and none other." But all those who held 
or attended field-preachings were still 
subjected to the utmost rigour of law. 
Then comes the main object of the pro 

* Is this the origin of that ill-omened designation. 



286 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



ICHAP. VII. 



clamation, in which, by his prerogative 
and absolute power, his majesty at once 
abrogates and annuls all acts of parlia- 
ment and laws against Roman Catholics, 
gives them the free and public exercise 
of their worship, and renders them eligi- 
ble to all places of public trust, abolishing 
the test, and enacting a new oath, which 
affirmed chiefly the entire supremacy and 
absolute power and authority of the 
sovereign.* 

This, which was called King James's 
First Indulgence, gave satisfaction to no 
party but the Papists. The Prelatists 
were irritated and alarmed to see their 
own weapons wrested out of their hands, 
dreading that the power which they had 
so long and relentlessly employed against 
the Presbyterians might soon be put into 
the hands of Papists, and directed against 
themselves. The Presbyterians gener- 
ally regarded it with suspicion and dis- 
trust, viewing it as not intended for their 
relief, but as a deceptive mode of restor- 
ing Popery ; and the Covenanters not 
merely rejected it, but set its thread at 
defiance, and continued their field-preach- 
ings as usual. 

On the 31st of March a second indul- 
gence was published, by which the coun- 
cil were empowered to dispense with the 
oath, and to suffer Presbyterian ministers 
to preach in private houses during his 
majesty's pleasure. This was equally 
disregarded by the Presbyterians, with 
this exception, that some of the ministers 
preached in private houses, having been 
requested to do so, irrespective of the in- 
dulgence ; and this was represented by 
the council, in their letter to the king, 
as the compliance of the whole body. 
The king, imagining that his schemes 
were producing the desired effect, issued 
a still more extensive toleration to the 
Dissenters in England ; but neither did 
this hollow and crafty stratagem delude 
that conscientious body of Christians, 
who, greatly to their honour, declined to 
avail themselves of the power of retalia- 
tion against the Established Church, 
which was so far placed within their 
reach. 

At length a third indulgence was 
granted to the Scottish Presbyterians, 
dated from London on the 28th of June, 
and from Edinburgh on the 5th of July, 

* Wodrow, vol. iv. pp. 417-419. 



In this third indulgence, his majesty, in 
his usual strain, " by his sovereign au- 
thority, prerogative royal, and absolute 
power," suspends all penal and sangui- 
nary laws made against any for non-con- 
formity to the religion established by 
law; granting to the Presbyterians 
u leave to meet and serve God after their 
own way and manner, be it in private 
houses, chapels, or places purposely hired 
or built for that use, so that they take 
care that nothing be preached or taught 
among them which may any ways tend 
to alienate the hearts of our people from 
us or our government." It was, how- 
ever, expressly provided that they were 
not to meet in the open fields ; and all 
the laws against field-preaching were 
left " in full force and vigour," on the 
ground that, after this act of royal grace 
and favour, there was not a shadow of 
excuse left for them. 

His majesty had now declared himself 
an advocate for liberty of conscience and 
universal toleration. But few were de- 
ceived by these hypocritical pretences. 
All true Protestants, whether Episcopa- 
lians, Presbyterians, or Dissenters, per- 
ceived clearly enough, that direct favour 
to the Papists was intended ; and it was 
not unfairly surmised that, by the univer- 
sal toleration, the king hoped to throw 
the various denominations of Protestants 
into such a state of rivalry and collision, 
that they would weaken each other, and 
prepare for the establishment of Popery 
upon their ruins. There is little reason 
to doubt that such was his majesty's aim 
and expectation ; but both the immediate 
and the ultimate consequences were very 
different from what he intended and 
hoped. In England a sharp controversy 
was carried on against the distinctive 
tenets of the apostate Church of Rome, 
in which, as might be expected, both from 
the goodness of their cause and the high 
talents of the learned and eminent men 
who engaged in it, the English divines 
were signally victorious. The universi- 
ties also joined in the opposition to Po 
pish ascendency; even royalist Oxford, 
notwithstanding its previous declaration 
of passive obedience, resisted when op- 
pression was directed against itself. The 
nation began to awaken, alarmed by the 
rapid strides which his majesty was mak- 
ing towards Popery, and by the utter dis- 



A. D. 1688.] HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



287 



regard for all liberty, civil and religious, 
which he displayed in his impetuous 
haste to accomplish what he regarded as 
the great object of his life. 

In Scotland the third indulgence led 
to a result different in aspect, but not more 
favourable to the designs of the king. 
Almost all the Presbyterian ministers in 
the kingdom availed themselves of the op- 
portunity which it gave them of resuming 
public worship, and collecting again their 
scattered congregations. Many, both 
ministers and people, were released 
from prison, returned to their long-lost 
homes, and engaged with renewed fer- 
vour in the reconstruction of the Presby- 
terian Church by the revival of its unfor- 
gotten forms of government and disci- 
pline, the reunion of its scattered but still 
living members, and the resuscitation of 
its imperishable principles. Several of the 
ejected or intercommuned ministers who 
had fled to Holland, returned and resum- 
ed the discharge of their sacred duties 
among their countrymen in their own be- 
loved native land. Thus did the Pres- 
byterian Church begin to " shake her- 
self from the dust, and to put on her 
beautiful garments ;" yet the yoke was 
not wholly loosened from her neck, nor 
was her robe unstained. A meeting of 
ministers from different parts of the coun- 
try was held in Edinburgh, to deliberate 
respecting the course which ought to be 
followed in this change of circumstances. 
It was generally agreed, that the benefit 
of this indulgence should be accepted ; 
but a strong difference of opinion arose, 
whether an address of thanks should be 
transmitted to the king. Fortunately for 
the character of the Presbyterian Church, 
so large a number of the ministers disap- 
proved of any address of thanks to a Po- 
pish tyrant for giving what he had no 
right either to give or withhold, that the 
meeting separated without consenting to 
transmit such an address as from the 
body, leaving it to individual ministers 
to act as they might think proper in the 
matter. This, however, while it pre- 
vented a total loss of character, was an 
ominous manifestation of weakness, and 
want of resolute adherence to Presby- 
terian principles. Not merely no address 
of thanks should have been sent from 
them as a body, but there should have 
been a prohibition issued, forbidding any 



to do what in reality amounted to at least 
a partial admission of the royal supre- 
macy in matters spiritual. Yet a con- 
siderable number of the ministers con- 
curred in writing and transmitting an ad 
dress of thanks, but ill accordant with 
the free and independent principles of 
the Presbyterian Church.* 

The firm, unyielding Covenanters 
adopted a more consistent couise. The 
conferences in which they had been 
engaged with their more compliant bre- 
thern during the preceding year had 
caused them to institute a thorough in- 
quiry into the nature and value of their 
own leading principles, the result of 
which was the publication, early in this 
year, of a work entitled " An Informatory 
Vindication," &c. In this work they 
republished their former declarations, 
giving a mitigated explanation of some 
objectionable sentiments and expressions, 
but reasserting the great principles in de- 
fence of which they had suffered, and 
were willing still to suffer, every extreme 
of persecution. The writing of this 
work had tended both to give clearness 
to their conception of what these principles 
were, and to confirm them in their reso- 
lute determination to resist every infringe- 
ment of what they firmly believed to be 
principles of infinite value and eternal 
truth. They therefore rejected at once 
any and every indulgence or toleration 
of man's inalienable right to worship God 
according to the direction of His own re- 
vealed word and will, and the dictates of 
an enlightened conscience; especially 
when such indulgence was founded upon 
and proceeded from that pernicious prin- 
ciple, the unlimited prerogative and ab- 
solute power of the monarch, — a princi- 
ple equally inconsistent with the laws of 
God and the liberties of mankind. Alike 
defying the tyrant's threats and spurning 
his favours, they resolved to hold on their 
unswerving course, to continue their 
field-preachings, and to oppose the exer- 
cise of arbitrary power on the one hand, 
and a course of weak and sinful submis- 
sion on the other, f Men may censure 
their conduct as too rigidly unaccommo- 
dating but none who understand the sub- 
ject will deny that at least "their fail- 
ings leaned to virtue's side," and that 

* Wodrow, vol. iv. p. 428. 
t Faithful Contendings, p. 310 ; Hind Let Loose, p. 182. 



288 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VH. 



their principles and proceedings bore a 
closer resemblance to those of the First 
and Second Reformations, than did the 
measures adopted by the greater number 
of the more compliant and larger party. 
Still, notwithstanding these dissensions, 
the Presbyterian cause grew and pros- 
pered generally. Some important regu- 
lations were framed by the meeting of 
ministers, for the guidance of the body 
in the great work, on which they were 
about to enter, of reviving the worship, 
government, and discipline of the Presby- 
terian Church. 

[1688.J The year 1688, destined to be 
so memorable in the annals of civil and 
religious liberty, wore at its beginning 
in Scotland the aspect of returning per- 
secution. The bold language and un- 
yielding behaviour of Renwick and the 
Covenanters provoked the council, and 
led to redoubled efforts for the seizure of 
that fearless asserter of religious purity 
and freedom, and for the enforcement of 
all the acts against field-preaching. A 
proclamation was issued also, condemn- 
ing all books which defended the conduct 
of the Presbyterians, censured that of the 
persecutors, and assailed Popery ; from 
which the Bible was scarcely exempted, 
although its suppression was deemed yet 
premature.* Several instances of cruelty 
and oppression inflicted upon the perse- 
cuted wanderers might be mentioned ; 
but omitting these, we proceed to relate 
the sufferings and death of the last and 
one of the most distinguished victims of 
prelatic tyranny. 

It has been already stated, that the 
small band of determined Covenanters 
refused to accept the indulgence offered 
by King James, which was accepted by 
so many Presbyterian ministers. In this 
refusal Renwick not only heartily concur- 
red, but was anxious that those who 
might accept it should at least guard 
against giving utterance to any such sen- 
timents as might disgrace the Presby- 
terian cause, and widen the breach be- 
tween them and him, which he so much 
deplored. For this purpose he wrote a 
paper containing his views, and went 
privately to Edinburgh to lay it before 
the meeting of ministers held there. 
When this was done, he went to Fife, 
where he continued preaching some time, 

* Wodrow, vol. iv. p. 444. 



and then returned to Edinburgh, where 
he lodged for the night. On the very 
next day, the 1st of February, early in 
the morning, he was seized, dragged be- 
fore the council, committed to prison, and 
heavily fettered like a condemned felon. 
His accusation was based chiefly on his 
disowning the king, refusing to pay the 
cess, condemning the toleration, main- 
taining the right of self-defence, and con- 
tinuing to hold field-preachings. All 
these points he openly and unhesitatingly 
admitted and defended, never once shrink- 
ing from a full and clear avowal of the 
principles which he had taught. The 
pleasing simplicity of his manners, the 
manly and candid frankness of his 
answers, the unflinching integrity of his 
sentiments, and the youthful elegance of 
his handsome person, all combined to 
command the respect and awaken the 
compassion of his council, who manifest- 
ed an unusual desire to save his life. 
After he was condemned to die, he was 
asked if he wished longer time to be % 
granted to him ; his answer was, " It is 
all one to me: if it be prolonged, it is 
welcome ; if it be shortened, it is wel- 
come: my Master's time is the best." 
The day of execution was however, post- 
poned, and considerable efforts were made 
to induce him to yield, or to make such 
a concession as would have justified the 
council in-sparing his life. He was visit- 
ed by one of the bishops, by some of the 
curates, and by the lord advocate ; but he 
remained unshaken in his principles, 
and calmly resolute to lay down his life 
rather than consent to their violation in 
the slightest degree. He had been ex- 
posed to much calumny and reproach for 
his unbending maintenance of them, in 
his conferences with other Presbyterian 
ministers ; and he judged rightly, to 
abandon them through the fear of death, 
if unconvinced that they were erroneous, 
would cast great discredit upon these 
principles, discourage those who had 
been his faithful followers and fellow- 
martyrs, and be utterly ruinous not only 
to his own character, but also and espe- 
cially to his peace of mind. For him to 
die was infinitely less terrible than to dis- 
own the Covenants, cast a stumbling- 
block in the way of God's people, and 
violate his own allegiance to Christ. 
Finding that there was no prospect of 



A. D. 1683.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



289 



his submission, orders were given for his 
execution. On the day appointed, the 
17th of February, he obtained permission 
for his mother and sisters to spend a little 
time with him in the prison. To them he 
spoke even in terms of jovful anticipation 
of his near approaching death-hour, ad- 
dressing to them the kind and gentle lan- 
guage of warm and pure affection, which, 
while it smoothes the stream of sorrow, 
increases its depth and perpetuity. When 
the hour approached, the council, appre- 
hensive of the effect which might be pro- 
duced, sent to request him neither to pray 
nor address the people from the scaffold ; 
intimating that, if he would not comply 
the drums should be beat so that not a 
word should be heard. He refused to 
comply; and accordingly, whenever he 
attempted to speak, his voice was drown- 
ed, or nearly so, in the harsh discordant 
sound of the beaten drums. Yet a few 
broken sentences were caught by the 
keen ears of his admiring followers and 
friends, and treasured up as the precious 
fragments of a distinguished martyr's dy- 
ing testimony.* So died James Renwick, 
three days after he had completed his 
26th year ; a youth in years, but an ex- 
perienced Christian, and a most faithful, 
zealous, and indefatigable minister ; in 
temper mild, gentle, and patient, — in man- 
ners courteous and amiable, — in contro- 
versial discussion clear, vigorous, and 
eloquent, as his writings amply prove, — 
in principle a Presbyterian of the ancient 
and heroic mould, inflexible as Knox and 
vehement as Melville, though unequal to 
either in genius and power. This sin- 
gularly pious and highly-gifted youth 
was the last who publicly sealed with his 
blood his testimony in behalf of Scot- 
land's Covenant, and the Divine Media- 
tor's sole sovereignty over his Church. 

The dreadless banner of the Covenant, 
which Renwick had so long upheld, was 
not allowed to fall prostrate to the earth 
when his hand was cold in death. It 
was seized and borne aloft by the Rev. 
Alexander Shields, who had previously 
been a sufferer in the same cause, and 
who. having been called by the society 
people to be their minister," boldly stept 
into that honourable but most perilous 
of duty. Thev held a large gene- 



• Wodrow. vol. iv. pp. 445-454; Life of Renwick 
Cloud of Witnesses. ■ 

37 



ral meeting in the parish of Galston, 
where Mr. Shields preached in defiance 
of the sanguinary laws still in force 
against them. The soldiery were sent 
immediately to pursue the delinquents ; 
but though they pillaged the country se- 
verely, only one youth fell into theil 
hands, who was killed on the spot with 

' out so much as the form of a trial 
Several of the indulged ministers were 
interrupted in their ministry and brought 

1 to trial on account of alleged violations 
of the terms of the late indulgence. By 

i these proceedings the country was made 
fully aware that the king's boasted uni- 
versal toleration was not intended to be a 

' measure of mercy, but merely a decep- 

' tive pretext for the restoration of Popery 
to universal power in the kingdom. 

It is not our province to trace the civil 
events of this period, by which the revo- 

i lution was effected, especially as it may 
be assumed that these are familiar to al- 
most every reader. A few sentences will 
contain an outline sufficient for our pur- 
pose, which is merely to preserve the con- 
tinuity of the narrative, that what belongs 
peculiarly to the church of Scotland may 

' chief)' engage our attention, and at the 
same time be seen in proper sequence and 
natural connection. 

The attention of all lovers of freedom 

! had for some time been directed to the 

| Prince of Orange, husband of James's 
eldest daughter, and heir-presumptive to 
the crown. But on the 10th of June the 
queen gave birth to an infant prince, by 

! which the joy of the Papists was raised 
to the highest pitch, and the nation 
generally alarmed by the dread of a suc- 
cession of Popish sovereigns. At the same 
time, the acquittal of the seven bishops, 

' who had been committed to the Tower 

; by James because of their petitioning 

! against being compelled to read one of 
his arbitrary indulgences from the pulpit 
gave occasion to the display of the na- 
tion's joy at the defeat of absolute power. 

| The vigilant eye of William marked well 
the importance of the juncture. He saw 
the Scottish Presbyterians availing them- 

\ selves of the king's deceptive truce, to 

I muster their strength, and to recover that 
position which belonged to them as form- 

i ing the great majority of the population 
in the kingdom. He perceived that 
James had succeeded in alienating the af- 



290 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VII. 



fections of the English Church and peo- 
ple, while yet his popish support was in- 
considerable. The nation, he perceived, 
was ripe for a change, and the favourable 
moment was come, which, if not prompt- 
ly seized, might never return. The 
birth of the infant prince put an end to 
all indecision, as it put an end to 
his hope of ascending the throne by nat- 
ural succession. Having made the ne- 
cessary preparations for an enterprise so 
momentous, he committed the cause 
solemnly to God, set sail, and landed at 
Torbay, without having encountered any 
opposition, on the 5th of November. 

In the meantime, James had been act- 
ing like a man under the spell of infatua- 
tion. In England he ceased not to ir- 
ritate the feelings of that high-spirited 
people, already provoked beyond endur- 
ance by his despotism. He attempted the 
perilous measure of remodelling the ar- 
my, from which he was compelled to 
desist. He drew the greater part of 
the forces from Scotland, with the view 
of employing them to keep his refractory 
English subjects in obedience, but leav- 
ing his Scottish minions destitute of pow- 
er to maintain his interests in that coun- 
try against the rising and rapidly increas- 
ing strength of the Presbyterians. A 
proclamation was issued for raising the 
militia in Scotland ; but that was little 
else than putting arms into the hands of 
his opponents. Yet the Scottish council 
showed their willingness, if not their 
power, by transmitting an address making 
offer of their lives and fortunes to the 
king, and requesting directions how to 
act in such a dangerous juncture. When 
the Prince of Orange issued his declara- 
tion and manifesto, that document was 
prohibited to be circulated or read ; but 
the zealous Covenanters assisted greatly 
in spreading it throughout the length and 
breadth of the land, in spite of all prohibi- 
tions, and it was received with general 
satisfaction. On the 3d of November, all 
the Scottish prelates, except two, concurred 
in sending a letter to the king, containing 
the most extravagant eulogiums on that 
tyrant and his course of government, 
avowing their steadfast allegiance to him, 
" as an essential part of their religion," 
and wishing him u the hearts of his sub- 
jects and the necks of his enemies."* 

* Wodrow, vol. iv. p. 463. The address of the Pres- 



Any thing more servile, and at the same 
time despotic and persecuting in its spirit, 
it is impossible to imagine ; and as this 
was the last public act of Scottish Prela- 
cy, at the close of its bloody reign, it de- 
serves to be recorded, as a proof that it 
was still the same slavish, intolerant, 
irreligious, and persecuting system which 
it had ever been, and as a warning also, 
that Prelacy and civil and religious free- 
dom cannot exist together in Scotland. 

On the 10th of December there oc- 
curred a riot in Edinburgh, caused chiefly 
by the students of the college and the 
city apprentices, which ended in their 
driving a body of troops out of Holyrood 
House, which had been fortified and gar- 
risoned, rifling the Abbey, and burning 
the images and other idolatrous symbols 
employed in the popish worship. This 
riot the council had not power to quell ; 
and the Duke of Perth, the chancellor, 
fled from the capital in terror of his life. 
On the 14th the council published an act 
for disarming Papists, and at the same 
time protecting their persons and proper- 
ty against tumults, which was intended to 
prevent the recurrence of similar riotous 
scenes. On the 24th they issued a pro- 
clamation, founded upon a rumour that 
the Irish Papists had been called on by 
the king to invade Scotland. In this pro- 
clamation they require all Protestant sub- 
jects to put themselves in a state of defence, 
for securing their religion, lives, liberties, 
and properties, against the attempts of 
Papists ; and all heritors are summoned 
to meet, well armed and provided, at the 
head burghs of their respective counties, 
and to place themselves under the com- 
mand of the persons named in the procla- 
mation. This was a virtual repeal of the 
whole proceedings of the government 
during the preceding twenty-eight years, 
in which to appear armed in defence of 
life and religion was condemned and pun- 
ished as treason. After this act the Scot- 
tish privy council voluntarily dissolved 
and disappeared, leaving the people in a 
great measure to their own government, 
and to the defence of that form of reli- 
gion to which they were most attached. 
This, therefore, we may regard as the 
end of the long and bloody persecution 

byterian ministers to the Prince of Orange furnishes a 
noble contrast to this servile letter, as will be shown in 
its proper place. 



A. D. 1688.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



291 



which the Church of Scotland endured 
from perjured and remorseless Prelacy, 
and the absolute despotism of the Brother 
Tyrants. 

It would not have been strange if the 
Presbyterians had inflicted a terrible 
retribution on their merciless oppressors. 
But they acted in general like men con- 
scious of a glorious cause, which they 
might not permit their own passions to 
sully and disfigure. When the rumour 
that an Irish invasion was intended 
reached the Covenanters, they immedi- 
ately mustered in a considerable body, 
and prepared to defend their country and 
their friends from the invaders ; but find- 
ing the rumour groundless, they resolved 
to take that opportunity of expelling the 
prelatic curates from the parishes which 
they had so long polluted with their pre- 
sence and devastated with their cruelty. 
They accordingly seized upon these 
wretched men, turned them out of their 
usurped abodes, marched them to the 
boundaries of their respective parishes, 
and sent them away, without offering 
them further violence.* No plunder, no 
bloodshed, stained the hands of the Cove- 
nanters. As their constancy through the 
long period of fiery trial had been almost 
unparalleled, so their high-principled 
self-government was conspicuous in Tpieir 
hour of bloodless triumph. How glori- 
ously different the conduct of the Scottish 
Presbyterians from that of their prelatic 
persecutors, rendering it manifest to the 
world, as if written with a sunbeam, 
which of these two forms of Church 
government possessed most of the princi- 
ples, and displayed most of the charac- 
ter of the gospei of peace and good-will. 

When the landmg of the Prince of 
Orange, and the revolution which fol- 
lowed, put an end to the persecution 
which had continued for twenty-eight 
years, a computation was made, from 
which it appeared, that above eighteen 
thousand had suffered by death, slavery, 
exile or imprisonment, inflicted in the 
vain endeavor to destroy the Presbyterian 
Church of Scotland, and establish Prela- 
cy on its ruins. f This is exclusive of 
the desolation spread over the country by 
oppressive fines, assessments, and the 

• Cruickshank, vol. ii. p. 474: Burnet's Own Times, 
vol. i. p. 805. 

t Memoirs of the Church of Scotland, pp. 290-294. 



lawless pillage of the licentious soldiery, 
by which whole districts were almost 
turned into a wilderness. Surely those 
who talk of the possibility of Prelacy 
ever becoming the religion of Scotland, 
must expect it to be preceded by such a 
revolution both in the constitution of the 
human mind and in the frame of nature, 
as shall completely sweep away all re- 
cords of the past; for so long as our 
mountains, heaths, and glens, are studded 
with the gray memorials of our martyred 
fathers, and so long as the free blood 
courses more warmly and the heart beats 
higher in one true Scottish bosom, at the 
narrative of their glorious sufferings and 
the savage cruelty of their merciless per- 
secutors, so long must it be absolutely im- 
possible for Prelacy to be regarded in 
Scotland with any other feelings than 
those of indignant reprobation, as alike 
hostile to the principles of civil liberty, 
and contrary to the mild and gracious 
spirit of Christianity. 

In taking a retrospective glance over 
that dark and stormy period of the 
Church of Scotland's history between the 
Restoration and the Revolution, there are 
some topics which force themselves upon 
the mind so strongly as to demand a brief 
investigation before proceeding further. 
What was the ruling motive which in- 
duced Charles and James to persecute the 
Presbyterian Church with such relentless 
cruelty ? In the case of Charles, it could 
not have been his preference of Prelacy 
on religious grounds, as he was evidently 
a man of no religion at all. In the case 
of James, it was as manifest, that if he 
preferred that form of church govern- 
ment, it was only because he regarded it 
as less directly opposed to Popery, on the 
re-establishment of which his heart was 
bent. The steady and unswerving per- 
severance with which the whole course of 
public affairs was guided in Scotland, to- 
wards the effecting of one object, during 
so many years, proves clearly that some 
one ruling principle was in continual 
operation all the while. That principle, 
we think, Burnet's " History of His Own 
Times" furnishes the means of detecting. 
From that work, as well as from many 
other sources, we learn that Charles had 
joined the Church of Rome before he left 
France. Burnet tells us further, that 
soon after the restoration, Charles in con- 



292 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[C?HAP. VII. 



versation with him, reprobated the liberty 
that, under the reformation, all men took 
of inquiring in matters of religion, from 
which they proceeded to inquire into 
matters of state ; adding, that he thought 
government was a much safer and easier 
thing when the authority was believed 
infallible, and the faith and submission of 
the people were implicit. The king's 
predilection for Popery was evidently not 
on the ground of conscience, but because 
by its means alone he could hope to ac- 
quire absolute power, and to reduce the 
people to the implicit obedience of slaves. 
To effect this tyrannical intention was 
the constant endeavor of both Charles 
and his brother ; and there are many sig- 
nificant indications, that even in the case 
of James, the love of Popery was subor- 
dinate to the love of despotism. This 
view completely explains both the direct 
endeavors and the evasive changes and 
fluctuations of these two reigns. Lau- 
derdale appears to have early penetrated 
into the king's designs, and to have made 
the attempt to realize them the ruling aim 
and effort of his whole administration. 
Remembering also, that it was the pres- 
ence of the Scottish army in England 
which turned the wavering balance in fa- 
vor of the parliament during the civil 
wars, he made it his steady endeavour to 
bring Scotland into a state of such com- 
plete subserviency to the king, that a 
powerful army might be raised in sup- 
port of his majesty, should any contest 
arise between him and his English sub- 
jects. In this view, the act which Lau- 
derdale procured from the Scottish par- 
liament in 1663, offering to the king an 
army of twenty thousand foot and two 
thousand cavalry to be at his own dispo- 
sal, was no empty bravado, as it has gen- 
erally been regarded, but a significant 
hint from that despotic statesman, that the 
time for the monarch's assumption of ab- 
solute power was near at hand. The 
oath of supremacy, and the acts enforcing 
it became, when viewed in this light, not 
only perfectly intelligible, but pregnant 
with meaning of fearful import. They 
were all so many steps towards that abso- 
lute despotism which the king desired to 
establish, and that state of utter slavery 
to which he wished to reduce the king- 
dom. It is not necessary to suppose that 
the prelatic party were fully aware of 



this intention, and were willing to become 
the base instruments by which it should 
be accomplished ; yet their conduct and 
their written sentiments not only support- 
ed, but too often seemed to lead the way to 
the full establishment of the most arbitra- 
ry and cruel tyranny, And it must nev- 
er be forgotten, that the execrable design 
of reducing Britain to a state of abject 
slavery was, under Providence, frustrated 
solely by the unconquerable fortitude with 
which the Presbyterian Church of Scot- 
land endured every extremity of suffering 
which a long, relentless, and desolating 
persecution could inflict. 

At the same time it must be observed, 
that the resistance of the Presbyterian 
Church proceeded from a far higher 
principle than merely the determination 
to defend the civil liberties of the country, 
— a principle without which civil liberty 
can never be fully realized, and which, 
in free and active operation, would ren- 
der the dire counterparts — absolute power 
and abject slavery — for ever impossible. 
This great principle, as abstractly stated 
and most tenaciously maintained by the 
Church of Scotland, is, " That the Lord 
Jesus Christ is the sole Head and King of 
the Church, and hath therein appointed a 
government distinct from that of the civil 
magistrate." In the form in which it 
practically appears, this great principle 
realizes such a disjunction of the civil 
and the ecclesiastical powers from each 
other as to assign and secure to each a 
separate, co-ordinate, and independent su- 
preme court for the exercise of their re- 
spective functions. The direct conse- 
quence of this great and sacred principle, 
thus realized, is, that it preserves the 
whole region of the conscience entirely 
free from the control of external power ; 
and where the conscience is free, men 
cannot be enslaved. The attempt to es- 
tablish an absolute despotism, involved, 
of necessity, the destruction of this prin- 
ciple : and the oath of supremacy was 
the weapon by which it was directly and 
fiercely assailed. The cruel policy of 
the assailants needs little explanation. It 
was an easy matter for them to enact an 
unjust and irreligious law, such as that 
which virtually declared that the sove- 
reignty of the Church should be taken 
from Christ, and given to the king, and 
then to shout, H Obey the law, obey the 



A. D. 1688.] HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



293 



law !" proclaiming men rebels and trai- 
tors, and persecuting- them to the death, 
because they could not yield obedience to 
a law which required the violation of 
their allegiance to the Divine Redeemer, 
but chose to obey God rather than man in 
matters of religion. It requires but little 
Christian principle, metaphysical acumen, 
or knowledge of the general principles of 
jurisprudence, to perceive that no law can 
possibly be binding upon man which 
is manifestly contrary to the law of God. 
So reasoned and so felt our covenanted 
fathers ; and in defence of that sacred 
and eternal principle they " endured a 
great fight of afflictions," through which 
they were triumphantly borne by the 
mighty power of God. unfolding and 
realizing in the fearful struggle, what, 
though of subordinate importance, was 
still of inestimable value, that noblest 
charter of civil liberty which man has 
ever framed, the British Constitution. 

The only accusation which can, with 
any degree of propriety, be urged against 
the Covenanters is, that they did to a cer- 
tain extent misunderstand and overpass 
some of the essential distinctions between 
things civil and things sacred. But this 
cannot justly either excite our surprise or 
call forth our censure. Few seem yet to 
have any accurate perception of these dis- 
tinctions ; and many seem disposed to 
deny that they either do or can exist, or, 
at least, that they can be so specifically 
marked out as to prevent the incessant 
mutual 'encroachments of the civil and 
the ecclesiastical jurisdictions upon the 
respective provinces which rightfully be- 
long to each. It was not strange, there- 
fore, that the Covenanters partially erred, 
especially when engaged in such a deadly 
struggle. The contest was, on their part, 
at first waged solely in defence of the cen- 
tral principle of religious liberty. But as 
civil and religious liberty exist or perish 
together, they were soon compelled to 
contend equally for both, and thus the 
scene of conflict was both enlarged and 
altered, involving a complication of in- 
terests which tended to produce confusion. 
It was this which led them to the idea of 
disowning the king, and declaring what 
they explained. to be a c; defensive war" 
against him, as against a lawless tyrant, 
whose own acts involved the invalidation 
of his right to reign. The Revolution 



| was indeed a substantial confirmation of 
1 the justness of their bold opinions. But 
' still, for any section of a community to 
proclaim and act upon such opinions, 
; must unavoidably expose them, as citi- 
zens, to the charge of rebellion, and as 
ministers and members of the Christian 
Church, to the charge of interferino; with 
matters beyond their legitimate province. 
There seem to be but two conditions by 
which such a course of procedure can be 
fully justified, either of which can rarely 
i occur, and the one of which cannot be 
known beforehand, and, therefore, ought 
not to be assumed as a primary cause. 
; These are, the direct cornmo/nd of God, 
\ of which the Bible relates various in- 
1 stances; and ultimate success, which, cor- 
| rectly speaking does not justify the at- 
tempt, but merely ratifies the deed, from 
t which it may be inferred, that the enter- 
■ prise was accordant with the will of 
j Divine Providence. This second con- 
dition, we are aware, may be both misun- 
: derstood and misrepresented, as if it were 
identical with the false principle, that the 
: end justifies the means. What we mean 
is this, that when an attempt is made by 
any considerable party in a nation, for an 
I object which appears to be in accordance 
: with Scripture, reason, and civil liberty, 
its failure may prove it to have been pre- 
mature, but will not prove it to have been 
wrong ; whereas its success will go far to 
prove it to have been essentially right. 
! The first, many of the Scottish Covenant- 
! ers conceived themselves to have, both by 
| reasoning from Scripture analogies, and 
• from the directly unchristian character of 
\ the principles attempted to be enforced by 
1 their opponents: the second they obtained 
when the Revolution completed what they 
had begun and carried forward with 
determined resolution, heroic fortitude, 
and Christian patience ; and it must be 
remarked, that they never doubted of the 
ultimate triumph of their sacred cause, 
even in the most disastrous periods, and 
amidst the darkest horrors of the fierce 
: exterminating persecution directed against 
them by their despotic and merciless op- 
pressors. Any censure, therefore, which 
' could justly be pronounced against them, 
must be exceedingly slight, and, when 
' compared with the vast debt of gratitude 
| due to them by the entire empire, must be- 
! come almost invisible, like a speck in the 



294 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VII. 



sun. Still, while such must be the senti- 
ments of every enlightened lover of free- 
dom, it is the true spiritually-minded 
Christian alone who can enter fully into 
the feelings of these much-enduring and 
devoted men, comprehend the true nature 
of the great and sacred principles in de- 
fence of which they encountered the perils 
and suffered the extremities of poverty, 
imprisonment, exile, torture, and death, 
and appreciate the real value of the 
service rendered by them to the cause of 
vital piety, and to the interests of the 
Divine Redeemer's spiritual kingdom. 



CHAPTER VIII 

FROM THE REVOLUTION, IN THE YEAR 1688, 
TO THE TREATY OF UNION IN 1707. 

Meeting of the Convention of Estates — Declaration and 
Claim of Right — Petition of the Covenanters — Their 
Loyalty and Patriotism— Condition of the Church 
and Country — King William and Carstares — The 
Prelatists — Meeting of Parliament — Acts abolishing 
Prelacy, ratifying the Confession of Faith, establish- 
ing the Presbyterian Church, and abolishing Patron- 
age — Meeting of the General Assembly — Acts of 
Assembly — Remarks on the Revolution Settlement — 
State of the Conflicting Parties — The restored Min- 
isters, the Conformists, the Covenanters — Views of 
the King, of the Church, and of the Jacobites, and 
Prelatic Party— Origin of the Moderate Party— The 
Commission — The Assembly forcibly adjourned— Its 
Firmness— Act of Parliament for settling the Quiet 
and Peace of the Church — Its Character and Conse- 
quences — A Mutual Compromise— A New Collision 
threatened — The King and Carstares — Meetings of 
the Assembly — Proceedings of the Church— Conduct 
of the Jacobites and Prelatists — Act against intruding 
into Churches— Competing Calls and Transporta- 
tions — The Rabbling Act — Misrepresentations of the 
Prelatic Party — Death of King William — Queen Anne 
— Political Intrigues against the Church — Proposals 
for a Union — Act of Security — The Union — General 
View of the State of the Church 

The dissolution of the Scottish privy 
council relieved the country instantly and 
completely from a tyranny and persecution 
under which it had groaned and bled for 
a period of twenty-eight terrible years ; 
but it left the kingdom in a state of 
anarchy dangerous to the peace and wel- 
fare of the community. Had the Presby- 
terians been influenced at all by the spirit 
of revenge, there was nothing to have 
prevented them from inflicting a dreadful 
retribution upon their paralyzed and de- 
fenceless oppressors in their hour of utter 
weakness. Nothing, therefore, could 
have given a more perfect proof of the 
injustice and falsehood of the accusations 
formerly urged so vehemently against 



them on account of the pernicious, treach- 
erous, and murderous principles which 
they were said to hold, than the fact, that 
when their principles had free scope, the 
most remarkable characteristic which 
they displayed was the forgiveness of 
their fallen enemies. The expelling of 
the curates, which has been already no- 
ticed, was in truth nothing else but the 
ejection of lawless intruders from positions 
and property on which they had wrong- 
fully seized, with the view of having 
them restored to their rightful owners. 
Still, the condition of the country was full 
of peril, which was held in check by the 
power of religious principle alone ; and 
it was the manifest interest of all classes 
to reconstruct :he disorganized frame 
of society as speedily as possible. On 
this account men of all political par- 
ties hastened to London, to hold inter- 
course with each other and with the 
Prince of Orange, to ascertain their re- 
spective strength, and to deliberate on 
the course to be pursued. 

[1689.] The legislature of England 
met in the form of a convention, avoiding 
the term parliament, as not being called 
by the king, and, after considerable dis 
cussion, voted, " That James the Second, 
having endeavored to subvert the con 
stitution of the kingdom, by breaking tho 
original contract between the king and 
the people, and, by the advice of Jesuits 
and other wicked persons, having vio- 
lated the fundamental laws, and with- 
drawn, himself out of this kingdom, has 
abdicated the government, and the throne 
is become vacant." After some further 
discussion, the vacant throne was given 
to the Prince and Princess of Orange, as 
joint sovereigns, the title constantly run- 
ning William and Mary, King and 
Queen of England, — the sole administra- 
tion resting in the king. On the 8th 
of January, 1689, William assembled 
the leading Scottish noblemen and gentle- 
men who were in London, and after re- 
ferring to his Declaration, told them that 
he had called them together to ask their 
advice respecting the best method of 
securing the civil and religious liberties 
of their country. Their advice was, that 
he would assume the administration of 
affairs till a convention of estates could 
be held in Edinburgh, and a proper 
settlement be effected, which convention 



A. D. 1689.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



295 



they requested to be empowered to meet 
on the 14th of March ; and to this he 
gave his assent. 

The Scottish convention met on the 
day appointed, the short interval having 
been employed by the two contending 
parties, — the adherents of James, who 
were generally Prelatists, and the sup- 
porters of the Revolution, who were 
Presbyterians, — in the most strenuous 
endeavours to muster their whole strength 
for the struggle. It had been stipulated 
by the meeting in London, that in the 
election of representatives to the conven- 
tion, none who were protestants should be 
excluded from legally voting, or from be- 
ing returned as members. This at once 
removed the disabilities under which the 
oppressive acts of the preceding reigns 
had laid the greater part of the Presby- 
terians, and enabled them to send to the 
convention a majority of right-minded 
men. Still the peril was great. Claver- 
house, who had been created Viscount 
Dundee by James, was fully determined 
to maintain the right of that despot by 
war ; and had brought with him to 
Edinburgh a considerable body of armed 
and desperate men to overawe the con- 
vention. There were no military forces 
in the kingdom to prevent Dundee from 
any extreme to which his daring- and 
ferocious spirit might impel him; and 
the castle was held by the Duke of Gor- 
don, who also favoured the interests of the 
fallen monarch. In this dangerous junc- 
ture recourse was had to the Cameronian 
Covenanters, as the only body which 
both possessed the power and the inclina- 
tion to protect their country's liberties, 
and might be trusted in this hour of 
peril. They were requested to come to 
Edinburgh, armed and prepared to resist 
any outrage which might be offered to 
the convention or the town by Dundee, 
their former relentless persecutor. This 
was a noble tribute to the character of 
these much injured and greatly calum- 
niated men. They had formerly been 
hunted down as disturbers of peace and 
the very enemies of society ; they were 
now sought and hailed as conservators of 
peace, and protectors of the public wel- 
fare. 

T * first trial of strength in the con- 
vention took place on the subject of 
choosing a president. The Duke of 



Hamilton was named by the Presby- 
terians ; the Prelatists gave their support 
to the Marquis of Athol. The Duke of 
Hamilton was chosen by a majority of 
fifteen ; and as this proved the superiority 
of the Presbyterian party, a considerable 
number of that wavering class of poli- 
ticians who act from selfish motives, 
joined the side which they saw to be the 
strongest, increasing its majorities, though 
adding nothing to its moral influence. 
The struggle was no longer doubtful, so 
far as regarded the transfer of the crown 
from James to William; but the adjust- 
ment of the many great interests therein 
involved, was still a matter of an ex- 
tremely difficult nature. Viscount Dun- 
dee, having in vain attempted to disturb 
or overawe the convention, abandoned 
the wily arts of the politician, and deter- 
mined to have recourse to the sword. 
His abrupt and threatening departure 
ruined the plans of the adherents of 
James, by precipitating them into a conflict 
for which they were not prepared, and by 
relieving the convention in a great mea- 
sure from the impediments which the 
supporters of despotism, had they re- 
mained, might have thrown in the way of 
the Revolution Settlement. The conven- 
tion then ratified the London Address, in 
all its tenor and conditions. A committee 
was next appointed, similar to the Lords 
of the Articles, for preparing the over- 
tures for settling the government; and in 
this committee the prelates were omitted, 
— by which a sufficiently intelligible inti- 
mation was given what was likely to be 
the fate of Prelacy. Two letters were 
presented to the convention, the one from 
King James, the other from the Prince of 
Orange ; the first was disregarded, the 
other treated with great respect. An an- 
swer to the Prince's letter was prepared, 
and then the convention proceeded to de- 
clare their opinion respecting the state of 
the nation, and the necessary remedial 
measures. This declaration was pub- 
licly read and agreed to, on the 4th of 
April, the day on which the Prince's let- 
ter in reply was received ; and having 
been embodied in the " Claim of Right," 
in the conclusion of which was contained 
an offer of the Scottish crown to William 
and Mary, together with a brief and 
simple oath of allegiance, the whole docu- 
ment was read, and the king and queen 



296 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VIIL 



publicly proclaimed in Edinburgh, on the 
11th day of April, 1689. 

A few sentences of this most important 
document must be engrossed in the body 
of this work, in vindication of the princi- 
ples and conduct of the oppressed and 
persecuted Church of Scotland. It be- 
gins as follows : — 

" Whereas King James VII. being a 
professed Papist, did assume the regal 
power, and acted as king, without ever 
taking the oath required by law, whereby 
the king, at his accession to the govern- 
ment, is obliged to swear to maintain the 
Protestant religion, and to rule the people 
according to the laudable laws, and did, 
by the advice of wicked and evil counsel- 
lors, invade the fundamental constitution 
of this kingdom, and alter it from a legal 
limited monarchy to an arbitrary despotic 
power ; and in a public proclamation as- 
serted an absolute power to cass, annul, 
and disable all the laws, particularly the 
laws establishing the Protestant religion, 
and did exercise that power to the sub- 
version of the Protestant religion, and to 
the violation of the laws and liberties of 
the kingdom." (Then follows an enu- 
meration of the arbitrary acts, complained 
against, forming, in fact, a brief outline 
of the history of the persecuting period.) I 
u Therefore, the estates of the kingdom of 
Scotland find and declare that King 
James VII. being a professed Papist, did 
assume, &c. (in the same terms as above,) 
Whereby he hath forfeited the right 
to the crown, and the throne is be- 
come vacant." 

The reader will observe, that this de- 
claration of the Scottish convention of es- 
tates is the same in spirit, and almost the 
same in words, as the declarations emitted 
by the covenanted Presbyterians, on ac- 
count of which they were calumniated 
and persecuted as rebels and traitors. 
The only essential difference between 
their declarations and that of the conven- 
tion is, that the Covenanters took for I 
their central and leading principle that ' 
which forms the essence of religious 
liberty, and at the same time renders ab- 
solute civil despotism impossible, namely, 
the sole sovereignty of Christ, as the only . 
Head and King of his free spiritual king- 
dom, the Church. This the convention ! 
did not declare, — in all probability they j 
neither understood nor held it; but so far j 



as their declaration went, it stated the 
very same reasons for the tyrant's forfei- 
ture of the crown which had been re- 
peatedly stated by the followers of Came- 
ron, Cargill and Ren wick, and in defence 
of which these high-principled men had 
cheerfully laid down their lives. 

A short time previous to the issuing of 
the convention's Declaration and Claim 
of Right, a petition was laid before them, 
embodying the sentiments and requests 
of the maligned Cameronian Covenant- 
ers, in a strain at once of sublimity and 
pathos, such as rarely has been sur- 
passed. 

" We prostrate ourselves, yet under the 
sorrowing smart of our still bleeding 
wounds, at your honours' feet, who have 
a call, a capacity, and, we hope, a heart 
to heal us ; and we offer this our petition, 
conjuring your honours to hearken to us. 
By all the formerly felt, presently seen, 
and, for the future, feared effects and 
efforts of Popery and tyranny, — by the 
cry of the blood of our murdered brethren, 
— by the sufferings of the banished free- 
born subjects of this realm, now groaning 
in servitude, having been sold into slavery 
in the English plantations of America, 
by the miseries that many thousands for- 
feited, disinherited, harassed, and wasted 
houses have been reduced to, — by all the 
sufferings of a faithful people, for adher- 
ing to the ancient covenanted establish- 
ment of religion and liberty, and by 
all the arguments of justice, necessity, 
and mercy, that ever could join together, 
to begin communication among men of 
wisdom, piety, and virtue, — humbly, be- 
seeching, requesting, and craving of your 
honours, now when God hath given you 
this opportunity to act for His glory, the 
good of the Church, of the nation, your 
own honour, and the happiness of pos- 
terity, — now when this kingdom, the 
neighbouring, and all the nations of 
Europe, have their eyes upon you, ex- 
pecting you will acquit yourselves like 
the representatives of a free nation, in re- 
deeming it from slavery otherwise inevi 
table, — that you will proceed without any 
delay to declare the wicked government 
dissolved, the crown and throne vacant, 
and James VII., whom we never owned, 
and resolved in conjunction with many 
thousands of our countrymen never to 
own, to have really forfeited, and rightly 



A. D. 1689.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



297 



to be deprived of, all right and title he 
ever had, or ever could pretend to have 
hitherto, and to provide that it may never 
be in the power of any succeeding ruler 
to aspire unto or arise to such a capacity 
of tyrannizing." (They then petition 
that the crown may be bestowed on 
William, with such necessary provisions 
as may secure liberty civil and religious, 
specify the king's duty to profess and 
preserve the pure religion and the work 
of reformation, and conclude thus:) — 
" Upon such terms as these we render 
our allegiance to King William, and 
hope to give more pregnant proofs of our 
loyalty to his majesty, in adverse as well 
as prosperous providences, than they 
have done or can do, who profess im- 
plicit subjection to absolute authority so 
long only as Providence preserves its 
grandeur."* 

Such were the earnest, free, and digni- 
fied, loyal, and pious sentiments of men 
who had been slandered, reviled, and 
persecuted for the space of twenty-eight 
years ; and whose characters, principles, 
and memory, the greatest author of mo- 
dern times has vainly striven to blacken 
and disgrace, his own reputation alone 
suffering from the malignant and abortive 
attempt, through the fatal recoil which ig- 
norant and calumnious falsehood sustains, 
when it dares to encounter unsullied and 
majestic truth, f Their loyalty and patriot- 
ism were not confined to words. In the 
distressed state of the country, a civil war 
commencing, led on by the fierce and in- 
furiated Dundee (Claverhouse), with few 
troops in the kingdom, and some of these 
disaffected to the new sovereign, and 
others almost undisciplined, the generous 
Covenanters stood forward in defence of 
their native land, and offered to raise a- 
regiment for public service, stipulating 
only that the officers should be men of 
conscience, honour, and fidelity, and un- 
stained by the persecuting proceedings 
of the late reigns, and that their service 
should be for the defence of the nation 
and the preservation of religion, in oppo- 
sition to Popery, Prelacy, and tyranny. 
These terms were gladly accepted ; and 
in one day, without beat of drum, or the 

* Cruickshank, vol. ii. pp. 279,280; Memoirs of the 
Church of Scotland, pp. 303-308. 

t See Sir Walter Scott's Old Mortality; and Dr. 
M'Crie's Vindication of the Covenanters, in his Miscel- 
aneous Works. 

38 



expenditure of levy-money, they raised a 
regiment of eight hundred men, com- 
monly termed the Cameronian regiment, 
commanded by the Earl of Angus, and 
Lieutenant-Colonel Cleland ; the latter 
of whom had led a party of the insur- 
gents both at Drumclog and Bothwell 
Bridge, and was afterwards killed in the 
gallant and successful defence of Dun- 
keld by that regiment against a far supe- 
rior force of Highlanders. Such, indeed, 
was their loyalty and zeal, that they even 
offered to raise two more regiments, if 
their services should be required, for the 
protection of the nation's liberties ; a suffi- 
cient proof that they were neither the 
narrow-minded fanatics, nor the misera- 
ble handful, which their enemies and 
persecutors pretended, but in reality a 
powerful body of high-hearted and pa- 
triotic men. 

It deserves to be remarked, that in the 
Claim of Right, which forms the basis of 
the Revolution Settlement, the convention 
did not rest satisfied with the rather am- 
biguous mention of the Protestant re- 
ligion, but inserted a clause in the follow- 
ing terms : " That Prelacy, and the 
superiority of any office in the Church 
above Presbyters, is, and hath been, a 
great and insupportable grievance and 
trouble to this nation, and contrary to the 
inclinations of the generality of the peo- 
ple, ever since the Reformation, they 
having been reformed from Popery by 
Presbyters, and, therefore, ought to be 
abolished." The insertion of such a 
clause was imperatively necessary in 
order to satisfy the Presbyterians, who 
had at least as much reason to dread 
Prelacy as they had to dread Popery it- 
self, having suffered from Prelacy a per- 
secution unspeakably more intense than 
ever Popery had been in a condition to 
inflict. 

The Revolution Settlement was now 
as complete as the temporary expedient 
of a convention of estates could legally 
render it ; and in order to connrm it in 
the amplest manner, without incurring 
the danger of intrigues and divisions, the 
king empowered them to pass an act 
converting the convention into a parlia- 
ment, to meet formally on the 5th of 
June, and for despatch of business on the 
17th of the same month, in which the 
Earl of Crawford was to preside, the 



298 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



fCHAP. VIII. 



Duke of Hamilton representing- his ma- 
jesty as commissioner. The general 
confusion prevailing in the kingdom at 
this time rendered the sitting of the par- 
liament short, and comparatively unsatis- 
factory. Yet some important measures 
were carried and others proposed. On 
the 22d of July an act was passed " abol- 
ishing Prelacy, and all superiority of 
any office in the Church in this kingdom 
above Presbyters," and rescinding those 
acts of parliament passed in the reign of 
Charles II., by which Prelacy had been 
established. An "overture for settling 
church government in Scotland" was 
then laid before the parliament by the 
Duke of Hamilton, but was so ill re- 
ceived, that it was withdrawn. An act 
was prepared, and with some difficulty 
passed, excluding from places of public 
trust those persons who had either been 
ready instruments of tyranny .and perse- 
cution in the former reigns, or had ex- 
erted themselves against the recent pro- 
pitious changes which had rescued the 
nation from civil and religious despotism. 
But this the commissioner refused to 
ratify, and it was not again revived in 
any subsequent parliament. The dissen- 
sions in the parliament continued to run 
high, increased on the one hand by ru- 
mours of conspiracies among the adhe- 
rents of James, who began to be termed 
Jacobites, and who were composed of 
Papists, Prelatists. and supporters of ab- 
solute power, whether of any religious 
creed, or of none ; and on the other, by 
the disappointment of the Presbyterians, 
who had as yet experienced little return 
of gratitude from the king for having so 
greatly contributed to that Revolution 
which transferred to his brow the crown 
of three kingdoms. It was accordingly 
adjourned, and appointed to meet again 
early in the beginning of the following 
year. 

Having thus traced a brief outline of 
the main civil events which took place 
during the first year of the new reign, 
and while the nation was still tossing in 
all the fitful uncertainties which charac- 
terize a state of transition, it is necessary 
to direct our attention a little more closely 
to the actual condition of the Presbyterian 
Church, which was now struggling from 
amidst the ruins in which it had been so 
long overwhelmed and kept prostrate. 



When King James's last indulgence 
was issued, several of the exiled and in- 
tercommuned ministers returned from 
abroad, and availed themselves of its pro- 
visions so far as to recommence preach- 
ing, some m the parishes from which 
they had been formerly ejected, in barns 
or in meeting houses erected expressly 
for their accommodation ; others in such 
places as their friends could procure iii>. 
the most favourable situations. Some of 
these were again interrupted, driven 
from their places of worship, and impri- 
soned, or otherwise silenced, before the 
abdication of James, and the dissolution 
of the persecuting privy council. And 
when, by the act of forfeiture passed by 
the convention, the despotic power was 
abolished and religious liberty secured, 
all the surviving Presbyterian ministers 
were at once allowed to come forward, 
ready for the reconstruction of their na- 
tional temple. It then appeared, that of 
upwards of four hundred ministers, who 
had been ejected to make way for Prelacy, 
only about sixty survived to see the res- 
toration of Presbytery. Well might the 
worn and wasted band gaze sadly on 
each other, as they contemplated the 
great work which was to be done, and 
their own inadequacy to accomplish the 
arduous task. 

The difficulties to be encountered were 
both numerous and formidable. They 
had to meet the determined and deadly 
hostility of the defeated Prelatists through- 
out the kingdom ; under which designa- 
tion must be classed not only the few who 
favoured Prelacy on purely religious 
grounds, if any such there were, but 
also, and especially, all secular politicians, 
all ambitious or licentious men of the 
world, all Papists, and all who hated re- 
ligion because they loved immorality. 
They had also to attempt the very diffi- 
cult task of uniting all Presbyterians into 
one compact harmonious body, able both 
to confront their enemies, and to insure 
the respect and support of their friends. 
But the greater part of the Presbyterian 
ministers in Scotland, at that juncture, 
were those who had either partially con- 
formed to Prelacy, or had accepted of the 
indulgences which had from time to time 
been offered, and had repeatedly excited 
such unhappy and pernicious divisions 
among them. These men conscious of 



A. D. 1689.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



299 



their feeble-minded and faithless defec- 
tions, were on that very account the more 
ready to take offence at the slightest allu- 
sion to their former conduct by their 
more consistent brethren. There was, 
therefore, the utmost reason to dread the 
instantaneous rising of such internal dis- 
sensions as would prevent the possibility 
of reuniting the Presbyterian body into 
such a harmonious form as might enable 
it to become again the Established Church 
of the nation. The danger of such a dis- 
astrous result was greatly increased by 
two entirely opposite causes. On the one 
hand, those who were merely, ©r chiefly, 
political Presbyterians, strongly urged 
upon the ministers, that all mention of 
past defections, errors, and weaknesses 
among their brethren should be most 
carefully avoided, so that offence might 
neither be given nor received ; on the 
other, the unyielding Covenanters, who 
had not shrunk from the hottest of the 
conflict, whose firm and steady strength 
had contributed greatly to the protection 
of the convention, and by that means had 
lent effectual aid to the assertors of free- 
dom, and who were doubtless somewhat 
elated to see so many of their boldest prin- 
ciples in the course of being realized, — 
these high-minded and inflexible men 
urged upon the whole Presbyterian body 
the absolute necessity of making a full 
acknowledgement of all past errors and 
defections, and of resting satisfied with 
nothing short of the revival of the Na- 
tional Covenants, and the restoration of 
the Church to the position she had occu- 
pied in the year 1649. It was absolutely 
impossible that views so diametrically 
opposed to each other could both be 
adopted ; and it was almost inevitable 
that the wish and the endeavour to frame 
some compromise, or to take up some in- 
termediate position, would plunge the 
Church into inextricable difficulties, and 
perhaps also into serious errors. 

The peculiar character and views of 
King William, and the advice given to 
him by those in whom he reposed the 
greatest confidence, did not tend to dimin- 
ish the difficulties of the Scottish Pres- 
byterians. There is no reason to doubt 
that William was well aware of the 
value of true religion, and was himself 
considerably under its influence. But he 



was a statesman in the strictest sense of 
the term ; and his mind was so engrossed 
with the great idea of maintaining the 
balance of power in Europe against the 
gigantic strength of France, that every 
other thing occupied but a subordinate 
place and value in his thoughts. A com- 
plete union between Scotland and Eng- 
land he regarded as of essential impor- 
tance, to enable him to meet the compact 
might of the French monarchy ; and 
though personally favourable to the Pres- 
byterian form, yet seeing the improba- 
bility that he could persuade England to 
accept of it, he was desirous to induce 
Scotland to consent to a modified Episco- 
paey. He did not regard any form of 
church government as of divine authority; 
and therefore thought it practicable to in- 
duce both kingdoms to abate somewhat 
of their distinctive peculiarities, and to 
meet and unite in some intermediate ar- 
rangement. For that reason he abstained 
from a full recognition of Presbytery in 
Scotland at first, waiting to try the effect 
of returning peace to produce unanimity ; 
and when he did consent to the establish- 
ment of the Presbyterian Church in Scot- 
land, he did so in terms which have been 
thought to admit of a somewhat lax in- 
terpretation, declaring it to be "agree- 
able to the Word of God," instead of 
"grounded upon the infallible truth of 
God's Word," which was the form of 
expression used by Knox, at the first es- 
tablishment of the Presbyterian Church. 
The same course of policy led him to 
desire in Scotland itself a union of the 
prelatic clergy of the two preceeding 
reigns and the restored Presbyterians j 
though, bow he could expect any degree 
of cordiality to subsist between humbled 
and fangless persecutors and their res- 
cued, yet wounded and still bleeding vic- 
tims, it is not easy to imagine. By 
prosecuting this specious yet most bane- 
ful policy, dictated do doubt by that great 
deceiver of the world's sages and states- 
men, expediency, William both alienated 
and so far paralyzed his Presbytenan 
friends, to whom chiefly he owed the 
British crown, left power in the hands 
of enemies and traitors, and excited those 
feelings of discontent in the minds of the 
one party, and turbulent anticipations of 
change and counter-revolution in the 



soo 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VIH. 



other, by which his whole reign was 
rendered a scene of distraction and tur- 
moil. 

Nor was it fortunate for either William 
or the Church of Scotland, that Car- 
stares, whom he had made his private 
chaplain, and on whose advice he so 
much relied in the management of Scot- 
tish affairs, held opinions so congenial 
to those of his royal master. Carstares 
was unquestionably a man of great abil- 
ity, and his resolution and fidelity had 
borne a severe trial on a former occasion. 
But, though a sincere Presbyterian, he 
seems to have been so more from politi- 
cal than from religious considerations, 
and to have viewed a religious establish- 
ment more as an engine of state than as 
a Church of Christ. The great Presby- 
terian principle, that the Lord Jesus is 
the only Head and King in his Church, 
he does not seem to have understood or 
felt, at least neither his conduct nor any 
of his writings give any indication that 
it formed the ruling principle in his 
.views of ecclesiastical polity. That he 
was a sincere friend to the Church of 
Scotland, is certain ; but the defective 
nature of his own perception of its great 
principles not only prevented him from 
making any effort to obtain their free de- 
velopement, but even led him to obstruct 
and thwart what it ought to have been 
the business of his life to promote. It 
was, therefore, morally impossible that 
Carstares should give to the king the 
wisest and the best advice with regard to 
the establishment of the Presbyterian 
Church, since he did not himself under- 
stand the very essence of the Presby- 
terian system of Church government. 
Some will thinK this a strange assertion, 
when employed respecting a man of 
such eminence as Carstares, and one to 
whom the Church of Scotland is in re- 
ality under deep obligations. Let them 
studiously compare the principles and 
conduct of Carstares with those of the 
great men who conducted the First and 
Second Reformations in Scotland, and 
they will be compelled to feel, whether 
they fully understand the cause or not, 
that in him they perceive but a cold re- j 
fleeted lunar light, — in them the life-giv- 
ing power and fervour of direct sun- 
shine. He was a Presbyterian greatly, 
if not chiefly, through the force of edu- 



cation and habit, and by the convictions 
of human prudence and political saga- 
city ; and therefore, he strove for the re-es 
tablishment of the Presbyterian Church 
as most likely to confirm his sovereign's 
throne, and most agreeable to the inclina 
tions of the people ; — they were Presby- 
terians by the grace of God and the in- 
dwelling power of divine truth within 
their souls ; and, therefore, they strove 
for the establishment of a Presbyterian 
Church, as directly founded upon the 
Word of God, and therefore of divine 
institution and authority. Yet the errors 
of Carsta»es were those chiefly of omis- 
sion : to the extent to which his own de- 
fective views enabled him to reach, he 
had an accurate conception of the Pres- 
byterian polity and discipline, and did 
his utmost to obtain its establishment, and 
to protect it in times of danger. 

Another point demands our observa- 
tion. On the 13th of April a proclama- 
tion was issued by the convention of 
estates, against the owning of King James, 
and appointing public prayers for Wil- 
liam and Mary, as king and queen of 
Scotland ; with certification, that those 
who refused should be deprived of their 
benefices. This proclamation was disre- • 
garded by a great number of the prelatic 
clergy, who neither read it as required, 
prayed for William and Mary, nor kept 
a day of thanksgiving, subsequently ap- 
pointed. They were, besides, discovered 
to be in close correspondence with the 
exiled king, and with Dundee, both giv- 
ing- him information and doing their ut- 
most to furnish him with supplies of men 
and money. This was very different 
from any thing which the Presbyterians 
had done during any period of the perse- 
cution ; and to have allowed it to pass 
unpunished would have been giving di- 
rect encouragement to a counter-revolu- 
tion. The matter was therefore taken up 
by the privy council, during the interval 
between the convention and the parlia- 
ment, and after the adjournment of the 
latter, and prosecutions were instituted 
against the delinquents. From the records 
of council it appears that, in all, two hun- 
i dred and two were publicly tried for dis- 
obeying the proclamation and maintain- 
ing direct intercourse with the armed 
supporters of James, twenty-three were 
acquitted, and one hundred and seventy- 



A. D. 1689.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



301 



nine were deprived of their benefices.* 
Such was the sentence pronounced against 
them ; but in a very great number of in- 
stances this sentence was not enforced, 
and these men continued to enjoy their 
official situations and emoluments, not- 
withstanding their direct and pertinacious 
hostility to the existing government of the 
country. This has been termed persecu- 
tion ; and loud and vehement have been 
the vituperative outcries of prelatic writers 
against the Presbyterian Church, accus- 
ing it of excessive cruelty and intoler- 
ance the moment it obtained power. But 
the whole procedure was the work of the 
convention and the council ; the Presby- 
terian ministers were not consulted in the 
matter ; and the process had been begun 
nearly three months before the passing 
of the act abolishing Prelacy. One in- 
evitable consequence, however, was the 
increased hatred with which the Prelat- 
ists regarded the Presbyterians, rendering 
William's scheme for a compromise, and 
a union founded upon it between those 
rival parties, the more hopelessly imprac- 
ticable. 

It has been already stated, that Wil- 
liam's general views of state policy led 
him to be anxious for a thorough union 
of all interests and parties in the empire. 
He well knew that this was impossible so 
long as men were not only divided, but 
keenly opposed to each other in religious 
matters. Having failed to induce the 
prelatic Church of England to abate its 
haughty pretensions, and having ascer- 
tained that the Scottish Presbyterians 
were not disp^rd to submit to the replac- 
ing upon their necks of that bloody yoke 
from which they had yet but scarcely 
escaped, he proposed a general toleration, 
intended to give immediate religious 
liberty to all Protestants, and to prepare 
the way gradually for that complete union 
which he so much desired. But the true 
principles of toleration were at that time 
little, if at all, understood ; and instead of 
giving satisfaction to the contending par- 
ties, the greatest hazard was incurred, of 
giving offence to all, and completely frus- 
trating his own favourite object. It is, 
indeed, scarcely possible to use the very 
word toleration even now without being 
misunderstood by some party, and offence 

• Records of the Privy Council : Life of Carstares, 
pp. 41 42. 



being taken on the ground of that misun- 
derstanding. When the mere politician 
uses the word, he too generally means 
nothing more than that he regards all 
religious creeds and forms with equal in- 
difference ; and that, in his opinion, it is 
a matter of convenience or expediency, 
whether a certain amount of encourage- 
ment should be shown to all alike, or to 
none at all. The mode of viewing the 
matter every man of principle must un- 
hesitatingly condemn ; and it may safely 
be presumed, that few of any Christian 
denomination would support religious 
toleration on the plea that religious truth 
could not be known, and, since it might 
possibly be in the possession of some 
party, it was best to tolerate all. Even if 
statesmen and mere politicians should take 
that ground, it is not likely that sincere 
Christians will. Yet almost all will 
admit, that error cannot be suppressed, 
nor truth taught, by means of civil pains 
and penalties, which, therefore, ought 
never to be employed in matters of reli- 
gion ; but surely it might be easily per- 
ceived, that abstaining from conferring 
power on those who hold certain opinions 
is a very different thing from inflicting 
pains, penalties, persecution, and death. 
The utmost that the Church of Scotland 
ever required was the former, — the mere 
abstaining from conferring power on men 
by whom it was certain to be abused ; 
while Prelacy, not content with exclud- 
ing Presbyterians from places of public 
trust, followed them into private life, 
assailed them in person and property, 
drove ti.om from their houses, hunted 
them to we wildest dens and lurking- 
places, and inflicted upon them every 
kind and degree of suffering which the 
most intolerant and savage persecution 
could suggest and execute. The true 
Presbyterian cannot adopt the politician's 
plea, which is scepticism and indifference, 
for he believes that truth may be known, 
and that he has been taught to know it ; 
but while he tolerates no error, he perse- 
cutes no erring man, but pities, forgives, 
loves, and endeavours to instruct him, 
that he may be relieved from the dark- 
ness and the bondage of ignorance and 
be rendered capable of enjoying that full 
and glorious liberty experienced by those 
alone whom truth has made free indeed. 
The only direct steps taken by the 



302 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VIII 



Presbyterian ministers in the course of 
the year 1689, were the resumption of 
their churches, where that was rendered 
practicable by the departure of the curates ; 
the holding of several meetings with each 
other, preparatory to the re-establishment 
of their general forms of government and 
discipline ; and the drawing up of an ad- 
dress to the Prince of Orange, early in 
the year, before the meeting of the con- 
vention. The free, generous, and noble 
sentiments contained in that address, con- 
trast strongly with the spirit, equally ser- 
vile and tyrannical, of the address trans- 
mitted by the Scottish prelates to James, 
on the very eve of his abdication.* The 
very comparison of those two documents 
alone, might have been enough to have 
convinced William to which of these 
Churches his entire and strenuous sup- 
port was due, if he were indeed sincere in 
his assumed character of a defender of re- 
ligious and civil liberty. 

[1690.] When parliament met in April 
1690, it was felt by the conflicting parties 
that their proceedings would be of vital 
importance in determining the completed 
form which the Revolution Settlement 
must now assume. The Earl of Mel- 
ville was appointed commissioner, instead 
of the Duke of Hamilton, and the Earl 
of Crawford president, — changes which 
augured well of the king's favourable in- 
tentions, both of those noblemen being 
sound Presbyterians, particularly the lat- 
ter, who was distinguished by an upright 
integrity of character, and an earnest sin- 
cerity of religious principle, but rarely 
seen in men of rank. The Tacobites 
were considerably weakened uy the de- 
feat and death of Dundee, ?\nd the sup- 
pression of the insurrection raised by him, 
and also by the detection of subsequent 
plots in which they had been engaged. 
Their attempts had satisfied William of 
the truth of what Carstares had told him, 
that the stability of his government would 
depend upon the Presbyterians ; and had 
correspondingly disposed him to grant 
their requests. The private instructions 
to that effect which he gave to the com- 
missioner were sufficiently ample, prov- 
ing that he was prepared to grant larger 
concessions than he did, had they been 
seriously and urgently required, while he 
was desirous to retain as much direct 

■ Wodi iw, vol. iv. pp. 481, 482. 



influence in ecclesiastical affairs as might 
be practicable. On the 25th of April an act 
was passed, rescinding the act of suprem- 
acy, which had been the cause of so much 
suffering to the Church of Scotland. On 
the same day another important act was 
passed, restoring to their churches all that 
were still alive of the Presbyterian minis- 
ters who had been ejected since the 1st of 
January 1661,andorderingtheremoval of 
the prelatic incumbents from these usurped 
parishes. Some difficulty arose about the 
passing of an act restoring the Presbyte- 
rian form of church government partly 
from the attempts of those who favoured 
Prelacy, and partly from the king's re- 
luctance to make any decided recognition 
of the divine right of Presbytery, which 
might preclude the possibility of some 
future modification of both that and the 
prelatic form, such as might enable them 
to be moulded into one. When the 
draught of the proposed act was sent 
to him for his approbation, he made sev- 
eral remarks on its language, altering 
some expressions so far as to allow at 
least a possible construction of the mean- 
ing according to his views, yet leaving to 
the commissioner " some latitude," in case 
he might find it necessary to adhere more 
closely to the original form than his ma- 
jesty's alterations seemed to allow.* At 
length, on the 7th of June, that impor- 
tant act was passed, " ratifying the Con- 
fession of Faith, and settling Presbyterian 
church government." 

In this act Prelacy is again termed a 
" great and insupportable grievance, and 
contrary to the inclination of the general- 
ity of the people, ever since the Reforma- 
tion, they having been reformed from 
Popery by Presbyters :" the Presbyte- 
rian government is characterized as " the 
government of Christ's Church within 
this nation, agreeable to the Word of God, 
and most conducive to the advancement 
of true piety and godliness, and the estab- 
lishing of peace and tranquillity within 
this realm." The act then " ratifies and 
establishes the Confession of Faith, now 
read in their presence, and voted and ap- 
proven by them, as the public and avowed 
confession of this Church ;" " as also, 
they do establish, ratify, and confirm the 
Presbyterian church government and 
discipline, ratified and established by the 

' Life of Carslares, pp. 44-46. 



A. D. 1GS9 ] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



303 



act of 1592, reviving, renewing - , and con- 
firming the foresaid act in the whole 
heads thereof, except that part of it relat- 
ing to patronages, which is hereafter to 
be taken into consideration ;" ' ; and allow- 
ing and declaring that the church govern- 
ment be established in the hands of, and 
exercised by these Presbyterian ministers 
who were outed since the 1st of January 
1661, and such ministers and elders only 
as they have admitted and received, or 
shall hereafter admit and receive.'' The 
General Assembly was allowed also ' : to 
try, and purge out, all insufficient, negli- 
gent, scandalous, and erroneous ministers, 
by due course of ecclesiastical proofs and 
censures." 

On the 19th of July the subject of 
patronage was taken into consideration, 
and an act passed. " discharging, cassing. 
annulling, and making void the power 
of presenting ministers to vacant church- 
es ;" and declaring, M that in the case of | 
the vacancy of any parish, the heritors 
of the said parish, being Protestants, and 
the elders, are to name and propose the 
person to the whole congregation, to be 
either appro ven or disapproven by them," 
their reasons to be stated if they disap- 
proved, to be judged of by the Presbytery. 
And in lieu of the right of patronage, the 
patrons were empowered to raise from 
the heritors and life-renters of the several 
parishes the sum of 600 merks (£33. 6s. 
8d.). on the payment of which the patron 
was bound to execute a renunciation of ' 
his right in favour of the parish. By| 
the same act the teinds or tithes, to which 
no person could show an heritable title, ! 
and which had been considered always 
as the proper patrimony of the Church, 
were also made over to the patron, who. 
however, was bound to sell to each heritor 
the teinds of his own lands, at the rate of j 
six years' purchase, subject to the deduc- [ 
tion of the ministers' stipends. In this 
manner a very valuable compensation 
was given to patrons for relinquishing 
the right of patronage, as it was termed. 
— a right which in by far the majority of 
cases was a most flagrant wrong, a direct 
and illegal usurpation. But the friends 
jf the Presbyterian Church were so de- 
sirous to be released from the grievous 
yoke of patronage, that they were con- 
tent to submit to the loss of their rightful 
property, if, by the same means, they ; 



could obtain deliverance from that galling 

and pernicious bondage. The act was 

drawn up by a true Presbyterian. Sir 

James Stewart of Goodtrees, assisted by 

three ministers, Gabriel Cunningham, 

Hugh Kennedy, and Gilbert Rule. 

Goodtrees told the historian "Wodrow, 

that the design of those who framed the 

act was to bring the matter of settling 
° ■ . . . . & 
ministers as near the ancient primitive 

xeiQOToua as the circumstances of the 
time would permit ; that they were care- 
fully cautious not to bring the heritors 
and elders into the patron's room in the 
matter of presentation, when the patron- 
age was abolished : which in their judg- 
ment would have been as great slavery, 
if not worse, and a mere substitution of 
many patrons in the room of one. •• And 
therefore they were very careful to ab- 
stract the word present, which might 
have imported something like this, and 
of design put in the word propose in its 
room. 1 ' Goodtrees further expressed his 
astonishment that people still confounded 
these two, and supposed that the heritors 
and elders were in the patron's place, 
when they were only to propose, and the 
people to approve, or, if they disapprove, 
to give their reasons to the presbytery. 
The express intention of the act was to 
abolish patronage entirely, to put an end 
to presentations, and to cause the voice of 
the people to be heard as much as pos- 
sible in the choice of ministers, and the 
assigning of the six hundred merks as an 
equivalent was intended to prevent the 
possibility of a subsequent parliament 
rescinding the act and restoring patron- 
age.* Such were the legislative enact- 
ments for the re-establishment of the 
Presbyterian Church ; and, that they 
might take full effect, a meeting of the 
General Assembly was appointed to be 
held in Edinburgh on the 16th of Oc- 
tober. 

On the appointed day, the 16th of Oc- 
tober 1690, after a violent and illegal in- 
terruption of nearly forty years, the 
General Assembly again met for the dis- 
charge of its sacred duties. The first 
day was appointed as a day of fasting and 
humiliation, previous to entering upon the 
discharge of any official duties, when 
Mr. Gabriel Semple, who had assisted in 

* Wodrow. MS. as siven in the evidences of Dr. 
M-Crie, in toe Patronage Report, pp. S61, 3G2. 



304 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. [CHAP. VIII 



renewing the Covenants at Lanark before j 
the battle of Pentland Hills, preached, — 
Mr. Gabriel Cunningham acting as in- 
terim moderator till the Assembly was 
properly constituted, when Mr. Hugh 
Kennedy, one of the ministers of Edin- 
burgh, was elected.* Lord Carmichael 
was the commissioner appointed by his 
majesty ; and produced a letter from the 
king, strongly recommending calm and 
peaceable procedure. The reply of the 
Assembly was expressed in the most tem- 
perate language j and was followed by a 
declaration, " that it was not the mind of 
the Assembly to depose any incumbent 
simply for his judgment anent the govern- 
ment of the Church, or to urge reordina- 
tion, nor to ratify any sentences against 
any ministers but such as were either 
ignorant, insufficient, scandalous, or erro- 
neous." Proceeding in the same spirit, 
the Assembly received into the national 
Church the three Cameronian ministers, 
Messrs. Shields, Linning, and Boyd. 
But in the very act of receiving these min- 
isters offence was given to their inflexible 
adherents, by the refusal of the Assembly 
to enter so fully into the subject of griev- 
ances and defections as that strict section 
of zealous Presbyterians required. The 
consequence was, that though the minis- 
ters were admitted, the people recoiled, 
continued to remain aloof, and ultimately 
succeeded in obtaining a sufficient num- 
ber of ministers holding similar opinions 
to form themselves into a separate body, 
since known by the designation of the 
Reformed Presbytery. 

An act of Assembly appointing a na- 
tional fast, and stating the causes of it, 
gave rise to a long and somewhat perilous 
discussion. The more zealous party in- 
sisted that there should be a full enumera- 
tion of all the sinful deeds of the nation, 
whether committed by the rulers, the 
Church, or the people generally ; but the 
same dread of uttering any thing which 
might tend to rekindle strife, or to widen 
divisions, induced the Assembly to avoid 
any very specific mention of several ( 
topics, and to restrict their confession as 
much as possible to general acknowledg- 
ments of public guilt displayed in the 
conduct of all ranks and classes in the 
kingdom. The Assembly then rescinded 
all the sentences passed by Resolutioners 

* Acts of Assembly, and MS. Minutes. 



| and Protesters against each other, during 
their time of angry contention ; appointed 
a commission to visit the northern dis- 
! tricts of the kingdom, and to inquire into 
the conduct of the ministers in those 
parts of the country, giving them full in- 
structions for their course of procedure, 
and enjoining them to act with temperate 
caution towards the accused, and giving 
urgent directions respecting the dissemi- 
nation of the Scriptures among the High- 
landers in their own language, and the 
settling of no ministers among them who 
were ignorant of Gaelic. A letter was 
sent to the king, informing him respect- 
ing what had been done, and was intend- 
ed ; and Messrs. Gilbert Rule and David 
Blair were appointed to confer with his 
majesty concerning the affairs of the 
Church. Such is a brief outline of the 
proceedings of the first General Assem- 
bly after the Revolution. 

So much has been written regarding 
the Revolution Settlement, both in terms 
of approbation and censure, that it seems 
necessary to offer a few remarks on it, 
less in the character of a logician or a 
churchman, than in that of a historian, 
for the purpose of directing the reader's 
attention to those points, the considera- 
tion of which may enable him to farm 
his own judgment respecting its merits 
and demerits. The situation of the 
General Assembly, when it met, was 
one of peculiar difficulty. It was not 
merely surrounded by numerous and 
conflicting hostile forces, but it contained 
also within itself many jarring and dis- 
cordant elements, threatening to produce 
instantaneous disruption. The king's 
desire for the admission of trie prelatic 
party was well known, and the danger 
of offending him was great ; Carstares 
was incessantly and strongly urging the 
necessity of compliance with his ma- 
jesty's desires ; the prelatists were loud 
in their complaints and vehement in their 
demands for such a measure of power as 
would have enabled them speedily to 
have resumed their persecuting and ex- 
terminating career ; and the Jacobites 
were secretly instigating the enemies of 
William to employ every method for 
embroiling the Church in internal strife, 
till their schemes for a counter-revolution 
should be ripe. Within the Church 
there were three parties : the aged minis-. 



A. D. 1685.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



3Q5 



ters who had been ejected at the com- 
mencement of the persecution, and, hav- 
ing escaped its deadly perils, were now 
the proper representatives of the Church 
of the Second Reformation; the ministers 
who had, to a greater or lesser degree, 
conformed to Prelacy, accepted the indul- 
gences, and become tainted somewhat 
with a tendency to laxity and indifference 
in doctrine, discipline, and government ; 
and the unconquered Covenanters, who 
had followed Cameron, Cargill, and 
Renwick, spurning every weak com- 
pliance, braving every danger, and seal- 
ing cheerfully their testimony in defence 
of Christ's Crown and Covenant with 
their blood. The ministers of the first 
party were not more than sixty, those of 
the last only three, while those of the 
middle party amounted to more than 
double the number of both the others 
combined. It was perfectly manifest, 
therefore, that no measure which the 
more faithful and zealous party should 
propose could be carried, if the middle 
party should resolve to oppose it ; and 
there was no reason to hope that men 
who had tamely submitted to the tyranny 
of Charles and James, and even bowed 
beneath the prelatic yoke, would readily 
assume an attitude of bold resistance to 
the Erastian policy of William. Ac- 
cordingly, from the very hour when it 
met, the Assembly was laid under an 
almost fatal necessity of entering into a 
compromise, and keeping in comparative 
abeyance Avhat its wisest and best mem- 
bers knew to be the great and essential 
principles of the true Presbyterian 
Church. 

Such being the estate of affairs, it was 
not strange that the Revolution Settle- 
ment was defective in several very im- 
portant respects. The chief of these 
arose out of the Erastian policy of Wil- 
liam, and his unwise desire to include the 
prelatic clergy within the established 
Church of Scotland, in both of which 
views he was supported by the. temporiz- 
ing management of Carstares. This is 
manifest from the two leading maxims 
recommended to his majesty by that 
politic divine ; which were, to avoid giv- 
ing the slightest ground to either of the 
contending parties, for supposing that he 
entertained more regard for the one than 
the other ; and, to be extremely cautious 
39 



in giving up any one branch of the royal 
prerogative.* By adhering to these max- 
ims, William discouraged and offended 
the Presbyterians, not only without con- 
ciliating the prelatists, but even giving 
occasion to them to entertain the hope 
that he would cast off the Presbyterians 
and restore Prelacy. There is no reason 
to think that such was ever his intention, 
though it has often been asserted by pre- 
latic writers. His scheme was to retain 
as much of an Erastian power within the 
Presbyterian Church as might be pos- 
sible, and for that reason he was ex- 
tremely reluctant to consent to the aboli- 
tion of patronage. For the same reason, 
the act re-establishing the Church revived 
the act of the year 1592, instead of the 
more perfect acts which were passed at 
the close of the Second Reformation, 
carefully avoiding all mention of the Na- 
tional Covenant and the Solemn League 
and Covenant. To have mentioned 
these and acknowledged their obligation, 
would unquestionably have put an end to 
all possibility of including the prelatists 
within the National Church ; and it 
might have given, at the same time, 
ground of serious alarm to the Church 
of England, which his majesty was not 
in a condition to hazard. But even 
with these conflicting interests and de- 
signs operating to the detriment of the 
Revolution Settlement, it approaches very 
near to what it ought to have been, — 
much more so than many will allow. 
The various acts restoring Presbyterian 
church government never assume the 
tone of conferring power, but merely re- 
move obstructions by rescinding the 
tyrannical and unconstitutional enact- 
ments of Charles and James, and thereby 
permitting the Church to put forth anew 
its own intrinsic powers. These acts 
gave nothing to the Church which she 
did not previously possess ;. they did not 
even pretend to restore what had been 
taken away ; but they broke the fetters 
which had been forcibly imposed, and 
allowed the Church to resume the exer- 
cise of her own indestructible energies 
and inalienable rights, derived from her 
own Divine and only Head and King. 
This was at least a tacit recognition of the 
great truth, that the State can neither 
give nor take away any of the tru*y 

* Life of Carstares, pp. 40, 42. 



306 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



(CHAP. VIII. 



essential powers of a Church. These 
are derived from Christ alone. The 
State may obstruct their public and na- 
tional exercise, or give them freedom and 
encouragement ; but it can neither create 
them nor destroy them, though it may 
destroy itself in the wicked and vain 
attempt. 

The conduct of the Church is, per- 
haps, more censurable than that of Wil- 
liam. It was the duty of the Church to 
take care that none of her inherent prin- 
ciples should be overborne and fall into 
abeyance at such a juncture. She could 
not of herself repeal any act of parlia- 
ment ; and her appropriate attitude was 
that of calmly and respectfully, but 
firmly, stating her own principles and 
powers, and leaving it to the State to 
rescind those despotic and unchristian 
enactments which impeded their free ex- 
ercise. Where that was not obtained, it 
was her duty to remonstrate and petition ; 
and if still unsuccessful, then to enter 
such declarations and protests as should 
reserve her rights till a more propitious 
period might arrive, when they could be 
re-asserted and obtained. Instead of this, 
yielding to the force of external circum- 
stances and internal dissensions, she 
abstained from the bold and free state- 
ment of those great principles which at 
the same time she continued to hold, 
seeking a temporary peace by a weak 
suppression or concealment of what she 
thought it inexpedient to avow, yet could 
not abandon. Though the acts of par- 
liament made no mention of the Second 
Reformation and the National Covenants, 
it was the direct duty of the Church to 
have declared her adherence to both ; 
and though the State had still refused to 
recognise them, the Church would, by 
this avowal, have at least escaped from 
being justly exposed to the charge of hav- 
ing submitted to a violation of her own 
sacred Covenants. In the same spirit of 
compromise, the Church showed herself 
but too ready to comply with the king's 
pernicious policy, of including as many 
as possible of the prelatic clergy within 
the National Church. This was begun 
by the first General Assembly, and con- 
tinued for several succeeding years, 
though not to the full extent wished by 
William, till a very considerable number 
of those men whose hands had been 



deeply dyed in the guilt of the persecu- 
tion were received into the bosom of that 
Church which they had so long striven 
utterly to destroy. It was absolutely im- 
possible that such men could become true 
Presbyterians ; and the very alacrity 
with which many of them subscribed the 
Confession of Faith, only proved the 
more clearly that they were void of 
either faith or honour. Their admission 
into the Presbyterian Church of Scot- 
land was the most fatal event which ever 
occurred in the strange eventful history 
of that Church. It infused a baneful 
poison into her very heart, whence, ere 
long, flowed forth a lethal stream, cor- 
rupting and paralyzing her whole frame. 
It sowed tne noxious seed which gradu- 
ally sprang up, and expanded into the 
deadly upas-tree of Moderatism, shedding 
a mortal blight over the whole of her 
once fair and fruitful vineyard, till it 
withered into a lifeless wilderness. 

It was, in short, the weak policy of all 
parties at that time, to temporise and 
watch the progress of events ; to keep 
concealed, or at least undeveloped, their 
own ruling principles, without any in- 
tention of abandoning them ; and thus, 
by a process of general and deceptive 
compromise, to give time to the still seeth- 
ing elements of the great revolutionary 
movement to subside and gradually crys- 
tallize into their most congenial forms. 
The king so far relinquished his Eras- 
tianism as to abolish Prelacy and patron- 
age, and to pass general enactments giv 
ing the sanction of law to the liberated 
Presbyterian Church ; but he carefully 
avoided all mention of the Second Re- 
formation and the National Covenants, 
although the very act abolishing patron- 
age was in itself a virtual ratification of all 
that tthe Church had done in that period of 
her greatest purity and faithfulness. The 
Church abstained from the direct mention 
of her Covenants, partly in compliance 
with the known wishes of his majesty, 
and partly in consequence of the reluc- 
tance of many of her own members to 
refer to those sacred bonds, the very men- 
tion of which would have been a severe 
condemnation of their own previous con- 
duct ; but there are such allusions to the 
Covenants in several of the acts of that 
Assembly, as to show distinctly that the 
best and ablest of the ministers still ac- 



A. D. 1689.] HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



307 



knowledged their obligation, and wished 
to act in their spirit. The Jacobites and 
the Prelatic party were sufficiently lavish 
of their professions of loyalty to King 
William, and of their earnest desire of 
such moderate measures of church policy 
as might comprehend all forms and per- 
suasions within one National Church ; 
but they were at the same time maintain- 
ing a private intercourse with James, and 
cherishing the hopes of speedily obtain- 
ing such an ascendency in both Church 
and State as might enable them to repeal 
all that had been done, and resume their 
reign of terror.* The Cameronian Co- 
venanters alone disdained to stoop to com- 
promise or concealment, boldly avowed 
their principles, and loudly censured the 
Church for want of faithfulness and zeal, 
especially, because in the Revolution Set- 
tlement no direct recognition had been 
made of the National Covenants, and of 
the Reformation which these solemn 
bonds had been so instrumental in effect- 
ing ; but while they deserve the praise 
due to courage and consistency, it may 
be doubted whether their own conduct 
did not tend to injure the very cause which 
they wished to promote. Had they joined 
the Church in a body, without any com- 
promise, recording their protests against 
those omissions of which they complained, 
they might have contributed powerfully 
to counteract the pernicious influence of 
those men of lax principles and prelatic 
tendencies who were but too willing to 
enter ; whereas by standing aloof, and 
indulging too much in the utterance of 
sharp and bitter censures of their bre- 
thren, they gave a repulsive aspect to 
their cause, alienated the minds of many 
whom a different course would have 
gained, and furnished somewhat of plausi- 
bility to the statements of those who loved 
to declaim against the intolerance of Pres- 
byterians, and who were ready enough to 
refer to the language and conduct of the 
Cameronians as the inevitable result to 
which Presbyterian principles led, instead 
of being, as it really was, the intemperate 
outbreak of honest but imprudent zeal, in 
high-minded and fearless men, who had 
been roused by persecution and irritated 
by disappointment. 

Every candid reader will perceive, that 
the Revolution Settlement, though not -so 

• Burnet's Own Times, vol. ii. p. 74. 



full and perfect as it might have been 
made, did, nevertheless, contain and dis- 
play, either directly or virtually, all the 
great principles of the Presbyterian 
Church for which she had so long con- 
tended, removing several restrictions 
which had been left in force by the act 
of 1592, in particular the clause relating 
to patronage; and realized to both the 
Church and the kingdom an amount of 
civil and religious liberty greatly beyond 
what had ever previously been enjoyed. 
By the ratification of the Confession of 
Faith, the great and sacred principle of 
Christ's sole Headship and Sovereignty 
over the Church, and its direct conse- 
quence, her spiritual independence, were 
affirmed ; and by the abolition of patron- 
age, the religious rights and privileges 
of the Christian people were secured, as 
far as security could be given by human 
legislation. Its defects were of a nega- 
tive rather than of a positive character ; 
and though some vitiating elements were 
allowed to remain, and some others intro- 
duced, of which it could not have been 
very safely predicted whether the pro- 
gress of events would cause their devel- 
opement or their extinction, still it merits 
its lofty designation, the Glorious Revo- 
lution ; and for it, and the precious bles- 
sings which it secured to the empire at 
large, our grateful thanks are due, under 
Providence, to the persecuted but uncon- 
querable Presbyterian Church of Scot- 
land. 

Soon after the Assembly rose, the Com- 
mission which had been appointed to visit 
and purify the Church, by making in- 
quiry into the state of religion and the 
conduct of ministers throughout the king- 
dom, began its labours. The instructions 
given by the Assembly were exceedingly 
cautious, for the purpose of preventing 
any thing which might even bear the 
semblance of severity and oppression, 
i The Commission were not empowered 
> to depose any minister summarily, nor to 
receive every kind of accusation : the 
: only charges which they were allowed 
i investigate were, " Doctrine inconsistent 
[ with the Confession of Faith," and " Con- 
1 versation unbecoming the grace of the 
Gospel," and these were to be substanti- 
t ated by sufficient evidence. A consider- 
i able number of worthless men were de- 
posed from the ministry, on account of 



108 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. Yin 



their grossly vicious and immoral con- 
duct ; few for unsoundness of doctrine ; 
and very few for a conscientious ad- 
herence to the forms of Episcopacy. 
The greatest error committed by the 
Church of Scotland consisted in a degree 
of leniency, and readiness to admit " on 
the easiest terms" into the bosom of the 
Church its most deadly enemies, which 
almost amounted to either a suicidal in- 
fatuation, or a treacherous dereliction of 
principle. 

[1691.] The year 1691 was chiefly 
employed by the Church of Scotland in 
repairing its broken walls, and rebuild- 
ing its ruined temple, impeded by the 
most violent assaults which its inveterate 
enemies, the Jacobites and the Prelatists, 
now thoroughly united, could make. 
Loud were the outcries of oppression 
raised by the disarmed tyrants, whose 
own deeds in their day of power had 
made Scotland a field of blood. Their 
complaints were carried to the ears of 
William, and repeated incessantly in the 
most exaggerated terms, till they made 
some impression on his mind, and in- 
duced him to write twice to the Com- 
mission, urging the admission of the pre- 
latic clergy. Irritated by the failure of 
his scheme, based on a compromise, the 
king adjourned the meeting of the Assem- 
bly from November 1691 till January 
1692, in the hope that this mark of his 
displeasure might render the Church 
more compliant. 

[1692.] The General Assembly met 
on the 15th of January 1692, and re- 
ceived a letter from his majesty, convey- 
ing sufficiently plain indications of his 
dissatisfaction with the proceedings of the 
Commission. He censured them for not 
having complied with his desire, that those 
who were willing to conform should be 
admitted to the full possession of all the 
rights and privileges enjoyed by them- 
selves ; and, that there might be no doubt 
respecting the full amount of what he 
wished, he signified his pleasure that 
those of the Episcopalian persuasion who 
were willing to sign the Confession of 
Faith should not onN retain their 
churches, but also be admitted to sit and 
act in church judicatories ; and that the 
Commission of Assembly should be com- 
posed of one-half Presbyterians, and the 



other half of these admitted Prelansts. # 
This was an extent of compromise to 
which the Church was not prepared to sub- 
mit. The General Assembly had frankly 
consented that the curates should not be 
disturbed in the possession of their 
churches and stipends on account of their 
views of church government, — a degree 
of toleration and forbearance totally un- 
known to Prelacy in any age or country ; 
but to admit their persecutors to the enjoy- 
ment of equal power of government in the 
Church which they had striven to destroy, 
was what the king ought never to have 
asked, and what the Assembly could not 
grant. At the same time, the conduct of 
the Prelatists was violent and insulting 
in the extreme. They seemed to regard 
themselves as on the point of being not 
only restored to equal power, but of ob- 
taining a decided ascendency ; and they 
gave no obscure indications of the temper 
and spirit in which they were prepared to 
exercise it. But the Assembly remained 
firm ; and when the commissioner, the 
Earl of Lothian, found that they could 
neither be intimidated nor deluded, he, in 
his majesty's name, declared the Assem- 
bly dissolved. The moderator asked 
whether it were to be dissolved without a 
day being named for the meeting of an- 
other. His grace replied, that his majesty 
would appoint another in due season, of 
which they should receive timely notice. 
The moderator then declared the intrinsic 
power of the Church to meet in the name 
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Head 
and King thereof, for the discharge of its 
necessary spiritual affairs ; and that its 
dissolution now should be without preju- 
dice to its right to meet annually, accord- 
ing to the laws of the kingdom. He 
then named the third Wednesday of 
August 1693 for the next meeting, and 
concluded in the usual form, dissolving 
the Assembly after prayer, and praise, 
and blessing.f 

Great was the excitement caused by 
this most injudicious procedure on the 
part of the king ; but the calmness of the 
ministers, waiting with deliberate intre- 
pidity the issue of their adherence to theii 
principles, and to the constitution of the 

* MS Minutes of the Assembly ; Volume of Tracts. 

t Burnet's Own Times, vol. .1. pp. S7, 88; MS. Mill* 
utes ; Tracts ; Willison's Fair and Impartial Testimony 
pp. 25, 26; Hog'fi Memoirs, pp. 64, 65. 



A. D 1692. J 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



309 



country, contributed greatly to prevent 
the ferment from producing any convul- 
sion. They had done their duty, and 
they were read}' patiently to meet the 
result. The fearful massacre of Glen- 
coe, which took place about the same 
time, tended also both to divide the atten- 
tion of the public mind, and to direct its 
indignation so strongly against the Scot- 
tish administration, that they did not dare 
to provoke additional hostility by further 
interference with the Church. A season 
of half-suppressed dissatisfaction, intrigue, 
and jealousy prevailed, tending greatly to 
alienate the mind of Scotland from Wil- 
liam, and fostering the hopes of the Jaco- 
bites, that they might ere long succeed in 
overturning the government, and bring- 
ing back the exiled king. 

[1693.] In the spring of the year 1693, 
the Scottish parliament again met, in cir- 
cumstances certainly very far from pro- 
pitious, though somewhat less fraught 
with the elements of strife than had been 
the case during the preceding year. The 
chief management of affairs was intrusted 
to Secretary Johnston, son of the cele- 
brated Warriston, chiefly because of the 
respect entertained for that family by the 
Presbyterians. The great difficulty to 
be surmounted was with regard to the 
General Assembly. The king had no 
intention of calling an Assembly, and the 
Church was determined to hold one on 
the day specified by the last moderator, 
in virtue of its own inherent powers. But 
great apprehensions were entertained that, 
if this was done, the king might be so 
highly offended as to proceed to enforce 
coercive measures, and probably to throw 
the kingdom into a convulsion. The 
great endeavour of Johnston was, to per- 
suade the Church to desist from meeting 
on the appointed day ; and to induce the 
ministers to submit so far, he promised to 
prevail upon the parliament to address 
the king, requesting that an Assembly 
might be held. By great exertions he 
succeeded in the accomplishment of his 
scheme, and by this new compromise 
partially saved the honour of both the 
I king and the Church, neither directly 
yielding to the other, and both abandon- 
ing the antagonist attitudes which they 
had assumed.* 

But there were other and scarcely less 

* Carstares' State Papers, p. 160. 



perilous matters to manage. The Jaco- 
bite party, and especially the prelatic 
clergy, had still continued to evade as far 
as possible the direct recognition of Wil- 
liam as king. A new oath was framed 
for the purpose of putting an end to these 
evasions, termed the Oath of Assurance, 
because it declared William and Mary 
king and queen, both dejure and de facto 
— both rightfully and in reality. This 
oath caused nearly equal dissatisfaction 
to both the Prelatic clergy and the Pres- 
byterian ministers. The former were dis- 
posed to refuse it, because it was contrary 
to their secret, yet dete: mined, allegiance 
to James ; the latter, because they re- 
garded the imposition of any civil oaths 
as a qualification to sit in church courts, 
as an Erastian encroachment upon the 
freedom of a Christian Church, although 
they had no positive objection to the oath 
itself. The enactment of this oath was, 
neverthless, carried in the parliament, 
there being a tacit understanding that it 
would not be rigorously enforced. 

Another act was passed on the 12th of 
June, "for settling the quiet and peace of 
the Church," the object of which was to 
promote the admission of the prelatic cler- 
gy to the full enjoyment of all the privile- 
ges of the Presbyterian Church. After 
ordaining that no person be admitted as a 
minister or preacher within this Church, 
till he take the oaths of allegiance and as- 
surance, — subscribe the Confession of 
Faith, acknowledge Presbyterian church 
government, and conform to its worship 
and discipline, — the act, after addressing 
his majesty with an humble request to call 
a General Assembly for the ordering of 
the affairs of the Church, and the admis- 
sion to the exercise of church government 
of those ministers prossessing churches 
who had not yet conformed, provides, 
"that if any of the said ministers who have 
not been hitherto received into the govern- 
ment of the Church, shall offer to qualify 
themselves, and to apply in manner fore- 
said, they shall have their majesties' full 
protection, aye and until they shall be ad- 
mitted and received in manner foresaid." 
The meaning of the latter clause is, that 
if the Assembly should refuse to admit to 
a participation in church government 
those of the Prelatists who might apply 
for it, his majesty would not attempt to 
compel the Assembly to admit them, but 



310 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VIII. 



would secure to them the possession of 
their churches, manses, and stipends. 
Even in that act there is a distinct recog- 
nition of the independence of the Church 
in spiritual matters. Anxious as the king 
was to secure the admission of the prela- 
tic incumbents into the National Church 
of Scotland; he did not attempt to employ 
any directly compulsive measures for at- 
taining the object on which he was so 
much bent. Admission to an equal share 
in church government was for the Church 
alone to give or to withhold ; but the en- 
joyment of the fruits of the benefice was 
a civil matter, and that he could bestow 
according to his pleasure, — with the 
strong conviction, that those who pos- 
sessed the wealth would ere long obtain 
possession also of the power. 

The baneful effects of this act did not 
immediately appear in their full extent; 
for the heavings of the Revolution had 
not yet completely subsided. The Pre- 
latists still entertained the hope that the 
exiled monarch might be yet restored; 
and therefore they were not eager in 
pressing for admission into the Presbyte- 
rian Church, which they could not enter 
without swearing allegiance to William, 
and obedience to Presbyterian church 
government, which their whole heart 
longed to subvert ; and the Presbyterians, 
aware of the king's strong desire for a 
" comprehension" of both parties within 
the National Church, of which they 
could not approve, and of the jealousy 
with which he regarded themselves, — 
influenced also by a temperate and for- 
giving Christian spirit towards their ene- 
mies, — did not eagerly institute proceed- 
ings against those of the Prelatists who 
still refused to conform and make appli- 
cation to be admitted, but allowed them 
to retain possession of their manses, sti- 
pends, and even churches, sending mere- 
ly from time to time Presbyterian minis- 
ters to preach and instruct the people in 
those parishes where the curates still con- 
tinued to reside. But in the course of a 
series of years the pernicious consequen- 
ces of the act became but too apparent, in 
the numbers of unfaithful, irreligious, and 
worldly-minded men, who were admitted 
into the Church, and who, joining natu- 
rally with the lax moderate party already 
within it, gave to that party the ascenden- 



cy which it so long enjoyed and so griev 
ously abused. 

These acts it seemed expedient to state 
and explain at considerable length, be- 
cause of the erroneous notions which 
prevail so widely regarding them. It is 
not strange that the leaders and adherents 
of that party which owed its being to the 
defects of the Revolution Settlement, 
should endeavour to represent these de- 
fects as positive merits.* And there are 
many so enamoured of that which pro- 
fesses to secure " quiet and peace," that 
they yield at once the homage of their 
weak applause to whatsoever employs 
these terms, however fallaciously, — una- 
ble apparently to distinguish between 
that peace which is but the appalling 
stillness of a deadly lethargy, and that 
peace which is the harmonious movement 
of warm and energetic life. But it is 
desirable for the true friends and mem- 
bers of the Church of Scotland to know, 
that almost all the defects which have at 
any time marred her beauty and impaired 
her usefulness, have been caused by the 
unwise and unhallowed influence of 
kings, and statesmen, and politicians of a 
lower order, within her pale and with- 
out, obstructing the free developement of 
her pure scriptural principles, and endea- 
vouring to infuse into her system the ele- 
ments of a worldly policy, more conge- 
nial to themselves, but fatally pernicious 
to "any true Christian Church. 

It has been already stated that a spe- 
cies of mutual compromise took place 
between the State and the Church, for 
the purpose of avoiding a destructive col- 
lision. The General Assembly, in con- 
sequence of this arrangement, was not 
held on the day named by the moderator ; 
but a proclamation was issued appointing 
it to meet at a later period of the same 
year. The absence of the king on the 
continent, and the entire engrossment of 
his mind by wars and continental politics, 
led to another adjournment, so that no 
meeting of Assembly was held that year 
at all, and additional time was thereby 
allowed for the animosity of the antago- 
nists either to ripen or subside. It soon 
appeared that the former had been the 
case, to a remarkable degree. 

[1694.] A short time previous to the 

* Cook's History of he Reformation, vol. hi. p. 453 



A. D. 1693.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



meeting of the Assembly, which had 
been appointed to take piace in March 
1694, the ministers applied to the privy 
council to be released from the necessity 
of taking the oaths of allegiance and as- 
surance, especially since these oaths had 
not been enforced with regard to the Pre- 
latists. The council refused to comply 
with this request ; and instructions were 
issued in the name of his Majesty, not to 
permit any member to take his seat till 
he had taken the oaths. The ministers 
were equally resolute not to take the 
oaths, and yet to hold an Assembly. 
They had consented to refrain from hold- 
ing the previous meeting appointed by 
their own intrinsic authority and rights, 
in order to avoid an immediate collision, 
and to allow time to his Majesty to recon- 
sider the line of conduct on which he 
was entering; but they had reached the 
extreme limits of prudent forbearance, 
and they would not submit to the sacri- 
fice of a sacred principle and inherent 
right, to whatsoever perils the assertion 
of principles indestructible and rights in- 
alienable might expose them. Such was 
the state of matters when Lord Carmi- 
chael, who had been appointed commis- 
sioner, arrived in Edinburgh. Perceiv- 
ing clearly the extreme peril in which 
the peace and safety of both Church and 
nation was placed, the commissioner im- 
mediately despatched a messenger to the 
king, who had recently returned to Lon- 
don, with an account of the state of af- 
fairs, and a request for further instruc- 
tions. At the same time the ministers 
sent a memorial to Carstares, earnestly 
requesting his interference with his Ma- 
jesty in behalf of the Church at this cri- 
tical juncture. When the express reach- 
ed the King, Carstares happened not to 
be at hand, and before he returned to 
court, William, by the advice of Stair 
and Tarbet, who represented the conduct 
of the Church as obstinate and rebellious, 
renewed his orders in more peremptory 
terms, and commanded them to be re- 
turned by the same messenger. Carstares 
returned the same evening, received and 
perused the memorial which had been 
sent to himself, immediately inquired into 
the nature of the despatches which had 
been ordered to be sent off to Scotland ; 
having ascertained this point, and avail- 
ing himself of his known free intercourse 



with the king, he went to the messenger, 
and in his majesty's name demanded 
from him the papers with which he had 
been intrusted. It was now late, but the 
welfare of the Church and kingdom was 
wavering on the point of the passing mo- 
ment, and Carstares hastened to the king 
The lord in waiting informed him that 
his majesty had retired to repose ; but 
Carstares insisted on being admitted to 
his presence even at that unseasonable 
hour. Entering the chamber, he found 
the king fast asleep ; but turning the cur- 
tain aside, and falling on his knees, he 
gently awoke him. The king, surprised 
to see him at so late an hour, and in such 
a posture, inquired what was the matter. 
" I come," he answered, " to beg my life." 
" Is it possible," said the king, " that you 
can have been guilty of a crime that de- 
serves death 1 ?" He acknowledged that 
he had, and then produced the despatches 
which he had brought back from the 
messenger. " Have you indeed presu- 
med," exclaimed William, frowning se- 
verely, "to countermand my orders'?" 
Carstares begged leave to be heard only 
a few words, and then he would submit 
to any punishment which his majesty 
might think proper to inflict. The king 
gave him permission to explain his con- 
duct, and listened attentively to his state- 
ment respecting the peculiar principles, 
views, and position of the Church of 
Scotland, and the malicious intrigues and 
misrepresentations of her enemies, and 
to the clear proof which he adduced, that 
the Presbyterians were the only party m 
that country who were truly attached to 
his majesty's person and government. 
The king remained for a moment in 
deep and thoughtful silence, then com- 
manded him to throw the despatches into 
the fire, and drew up new instructions to 
the commissioner in whatsoever terms he 
thought best, and he would sign them. 
Carstares immediately wrote to his grace, 
signifying that it was his majesty's plea- 
sure to dispense with putting the oaths to 
the ministers. This was signed by the 
king, and sent off by the messenger, 
who was commanded to I se the utmost 
expedition in his power, that he might 
reach Edinburgh before any collision 
should take place. 

The short delay caused by these trans- 
actions had retarded the messenger so 



312 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. [CHAP. VIII. 



much that he did not reach the Scottish 
capital till the morning of the day on 
which the Assembly was to meet. The 
most intense anxiety prevailed universal- 
ly respecting the possible events of that 
day. The commissioner was bound by 
his instructions to dissolve the Assembly, 
or rather to prevent its being held, unless 
the oaths were previously taken ; and 
the ministers were resolved to assert and 
maintain the intrinsic rights and liberties 
of the Church, as independent of the 
civil magistrate ; but both looked for- 
ward to the struggle with dark anticipa- 
tions of disaster to the Church, and ruin 
to the peace and welfare of the commu- 
nity. The messenger arrived, — the in- 
structions were read, — and it was felt, 
that He in whose hands are the hearts 
of kings had interposed and given deli- 
verance to his own free spiritual king- 
dom in the hour of extremest danger.* 
This timely concession, made by the king 
to the just claims and sacred inherent 
rights of the Church of Scotland, may 
be regarded as one of the most impor- 
tant and instructive events recorded in 
her history ; proving that the path of 
duty is the path of safety, — that when ad- 
herence to sacred principle, like a divine 
command, says, " Go forward!" a divine 
power will point out and guide along the 
opening way, — and that the cloud which 
seemed surcharged with danger will de- 
scend pregnant with blessings. It was 
deeply felt by all parties, that the Pres- 
byterian Church was now indeed the Es- 
tablished Church of Scotland. 

The General Assembly met, in the 
full enjoyment of its spiritual indepen- 
dence, on the 29th of March. Grateful, 
but not unduly elated with the victory 
which God had granted to their firm ad- 
herence to their principles, they proceed- 
ed to the discharge of their important du- 
ties ; and instead of exhibiting pride and 
severity in the hour of triumph, they 
passed an act respecting the instructions 
to be given to the Commission for receiv- 
ing the ministers who had conformed 
to Prelacy into ministerial communion, 
granting very nearly all that the king 
had required for giving facility to the ad- 
mission of these ministers.! This cer- 
tainly approached more nearly to what 

* Life of Carstnres, pp. 57-61. * Assembly of 

1694, act xi. 



may be termed undue concession than to 
persecution ; and indeed heavy com- 
plaints were made by many, and severe 
reproaches uttered by some, against the 
conduct of the Assembly, as indicating 
great laxity of principle, and tending to 
unfaithfulness in the important duty of 
preserving the purity and efficiency of 
the Church, — a charge which it would 
not be easy to meet with a complete and 
satisfactory vindication. 

Other acts of that Assembly deserve 
attention, as indicating the state both of 
the Church and of the country, such as 
an " Act appointing some ministers for 
the supply of the north," — " Act for 
the better regulating transportations of 
ministers/' — a Act anent intrusion upon 
kirks," — and " Act against fixing in the 
Lowlands of preachers who have the 
Irish (Gaelic) language." It will be re- 
membered that throughout the whole his- 
tory of the Church of Scotland, the 
northern districts had been the least tho- 
roughly Presbyterian, and the readiest to 
comply with whatever Erastian and Pre- 
latic measures were proposed by the king 
and the government. The Highland 
counties had not indeed been ever fully 
reformed from Popery, and therefore 
were the more disposed to rest in, or re- 
turn to, the intermediate state of Prelacy ; 
nearly all the Highland ministers accord- 
ingly conformed cheerfully and at once 
to Prelacy at the restoration of Charles 
II. At the Revolution a large propor- 
tion of them refused to conform again to 
the Presbyterian Church, and did their 
utmost to keep the people in the same 
state of hostility against the Revolution 
Settlement, both in Church and State. 
Some of them were ejected by the privy 
council ; but by far the greater number 
were allowed to remain in the possession 
of their ecclesiastical position and tem- 
poral emoluments. It was evidently a 
matter of great importance for the Gene- 
ral Assembly to provide such a remedy 
for this injurious state of affairs as it was 
competent for them to do. They did not 
seek to have these ministers silenced and 
ejected by the civil power, as the Prela- 
tists had done to them ; but they sent sup- 
plies of able and zealous ministers to 
those districts where either there were 
vacant churches, or where prelatic dark- 
ness prevailed. This thev accomplished 



A. D. 1694 ] HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 



313 



by appointing* the southern synods to send 
such proportions of their members as 
should furnish sixteen among them, who 
were to remain in the north three months, 
to be replaced by a similar number for 
an equal time, throughout the course of 
the year.* This process was continued 
from year to year for a considerable 
time, the number sent gradually dimin- 
ishing as the churches became supplied 
with Presbyterian ministers permanently 
settled. 

This mode of sending merely tempo- 
rary supplies was rendered inevitable by 
the paucity of ministers in the whole 
kingdom. For during the time of the 
persecution there were few that could ob- 
tain means and opportunities of being 
educated for the ministry, and it was held 
treason for the ejected Presbyterian min- 
isters to ordain young men even when 
properly qualified. It was consequently 
impossible at once to supply all the par- 
ishes in the kingdom with regular minis- 
ters, though there had been no obstruction. 
And, besides, many of the Highland 
congregations understood no language 
but Gaelic, on which account it was that 
preachers who could speak that tongue 
were not permitted to settle in the Low- 
lands. Great encouragement was at the 
same time offered to the Highland youth, 
by giving them bursaries, to induce them 
to prepare themselves for the office of the 
ministry among their countrymen ; and 
by some acts of subsequent Assemblies, 
no minister was allowed to refuse a call 
from a parish in the north, however re- 
luctant he might be to leave his present 
situation. Such was the attention shown 
by the General Assembly to the spiritual 
instruction of the Highlanders in their 
own language, — a degree of practical 
Christian wisdom which it required the 
lapse of centuries for the Episcopalian 
Establishment in Ireland even to begin to 
learn to imitate. It is indeed, a melan- 
choly fact, that no Prelatic Church has 
ever attempted, as a church, to teach the 
body of the people, though individual 
clergymen have laboured zealously in the 
discharge of that all-important and im- 
perative duty. 

The necessity of an " Act for regulating 
transportations [translations] of ministers," 
arose out of some of the causes already 

* Acts of Assembly. 

40 



specified. Not only was there a great 
deficiency of duly qualified ministers for 
the immediate supply of all the parishes 
upon the re-establishment of the Presby 
terian Church, and an equal deficiency of 
preachers to meet the natural demands 
arising from the death of incumbents, but 
there was also a great difference in the 
characters of the existing ministers. 
Those who had conformed to -Prelacy 
during its usurped domination, had both 
sustained a real and personal injury from 
the deadening effect on their own minds 
of their weak and sinful compliance, and 
had also sunk in the estimation of all 
men of sound principle and firm integri- 
ty. On the other hand, the faithful min- 
isters, who had braved all dangers and 
sufferings in defence of religious liberty 
and truth, were regarded with great love 
and veneration by the people generally ; 
and happy was that parish which could 
secure the ministrations of one of these 
honoured and revered servants of the 
Lord. When, therefore, any parish in 
which a curate, a conformed or an in- 
dulged minister, had been the incumbent, 
became vacant, the most strenuous endea- 
vours were made by the parishioners 
to procure the translation of one of the 
faithful few from his own, perhaps smaller 
and less important sphere of labour, and 
his settlement among themselves. It of- 
ten happened that two or more vacant 
parishes gave a call to the same minister, 
and then arose a contest who should ob- 
tain him. His own parish strove to pre- 
vent his removal, — the others were as ea- 
ger to have him removed ; a sharp con- 
tention not unfrequently occurred, termi- 
nated only by the decision of the supe- 
rior church courts, being appealed from 
one to another, till it reached the General 
Assembly. Yet these were essentially 
contests of love. They were not caused 
by the opposition of the people to the set- 
tlement of an unacceptable minister, but 
by the eager anxiety of the people to ob- 
tain a good and beloved minister. The 
contests arising from the resistance of 
a religious people to the settlement among 
them of an irreligious and unfaithful 
minister, it was reserved as the disgrace- 
ful characteristic of patronage and mode- 
ratism to produce; while the contests 
which took place during the time when 
patronage did not exist, and moderatism 



314 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. [CHAP. VIII. 



was in its infancy, were the kindly and 
generous rivalries arising from a deep 
regard to gospel truth, and a warm affec- 
tion to the zealous and devoted ambassa- 
dors of Christ. Even then, the Assem- 
bly, anxious to prevent the disagreement 
which might possibly arise, passed the 
act regulating transportations of minis- 
ters, and securing that, when such events 
took place, they should be guided by re- 
gard to what would most contribute to 
the general good of the Church. 

To give a fall explanation of the 
circumstances which caused the Assem- 
bly to pass an " Act anent Intrusion upon 
Kirks," might lead to too long a digres- 
sion from the course of the narrative; 
but a few remarks are necessary. It has 
been already stated that a considerable 
number of the Prelatic clergy were ex- 
pelled from their churches by the privy 
council in the summer of 1689. In a 
great majority of instances they returned, 
and resumed possession of both the cleri- 
cal office and the temporal benefice. 
And in the northern counties, where they 
were supported by the Jacobite nobility 
and gentry, they did so even after Pres- 
byterian ministers had been sealed in the 
churches out of which they had been le- 
gally ejected. This was often done in 
the most violent and disorderly manner, 
the ejected Prelatists coming to the church 
accompanied by a band of Jacobite gentle- 
men and their serfs, rudely intruding 
themselves upon the assembled worship- 
pers, expelling the Presbyterian minister, 
and taking forcible possession of both 
church and manse, in direct defiance of 
the law. Against this conduct the Gen- 
eral Assembly complained, in the above- 
mentioned act, and applied to the lords of 
the privy council for redress and protec- 
tion. So undeniable and so flagrantly 
illegal were the facts adduced by the As- 
sembly, that in the following session of 
parliament an act was passed on the sub- 
ject, ordering the removal of those who 
had so intruded, and enjoining the coun- 
cil to take some effectual course for pre- 
venting the recurrence of similar illegal 
and forcible intrusions.* 

* It is somewhat instructive to trace what may be 
termed the personal history of intrusion. To the union 
of Jacobitism (that is, despotism) with Prelacy, it owes 
its parentage. In its rash youth it showed its character 
.n the attempt to force itself into Presbyterian churches, 
contrary both to the will of congregations and minis- 
ters, and to the law itself. Forming afterwards a 



[1695-96.] The Genera 1 Assembly 
met on the 17th of December 1695, and 
continued to sit till the 4th of January 
1696, no other meeting taking place dur- 
ing the remainder of the latter year. 
None of its acts are of peculiar impor- 
tance, being generally of the same tenor 
with those which have been already men- 
tioned and explained. The chief sub- 
ject which occupied the attentron of the 
Church was what ought always chiefly 
to occupy its attention — anxious care to 
promote, in the most efficient manner, 
the moral and religious welfare of the 
community. In this important task the 
Church was not less successful than zeal- 
ous ; and the happiest results began to 
appear throughout the kingdom. Some 
more direct countenance began to be giv- 
en to the exertions of the Church by the 
king ; the most valuable proof of which 
was the act of parliament respecting 
schools, realizing what had been long 
and earnesily sought by the Presbyterian 
Church of Scotland, and by no other 
Church in Christendom — a school in 
every parish throughout the whole king- 
dom, so far supported by the public funds 
as to render education accessible to even 
the poorest in the community. 

[1697.] The year 1697 presents noth- 
ing demanding attention so far as the 
Church is concerned ; for it is unnecessa- 
ry to repeat statements respecting the 
steady and persevering care for the pro- 
motion of religion displayed by the As- 
sembly in the passing of acts against pro- 
faneness and immorality — enjoining fami- 
ly worship — directing ministers in the 
discharge of their sacred duties — and 
urging the utmost diligence in supplying 
the deficiences still existing in the north- 
ern counties. 

[1698.] Almost the only thing which 
requires mention in the year 1698, is the 
act of parliament commonly termed the 
Rabbling Act. The object of this act 
has been often misunderstood and misre- 

clandestine connection with the Church, under cover 
of an unconstitutional enactment; and assuming a 
new name in its riper years, it obtained free scope for 
acting according to its nature, to the paralyzed aston- 
ishment of the Church whose powers it had contrived 
furtively to seize, and to the terror and indignation of 
the aggrieved community. In what appears to be its 
period of decrepitude, clinging to civil magistracy, 
and sophistically misinterpreting statute law, it still 
strives to perpetrate its old enormities, the moroseness 
of its aspect and the savage ferocity of its growl prov- 
ing that its native malignity is unabated, however 
nearly it has reached the close of its baleful existence 



A. D. 1695.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHLRCH OF SCOTLAND. 



315 



presented ; and reference has been made 1 either he very ignorant of the history of 
to it as a proof that riotous proceedings the period, or must presunve largely on 
often took place at the settlement of min- the supposed ignorance of others.* 
isters during the period when there was no ! It has been stated that the rabbles al- 
patronage, to prevent which tumults was luded to were caused by irreligious and 
one of the reasons assigned for its resto- immoral vagrants. This expression may 
ration. What the real reasons for the < seem to require explanation. In a pamph- 
re-imposition of patronage were, we shall let written by the celebrated Fletcher of 
have future occasion to show : mean while [ Salton, in the year 1 698, entitled, Second 
a very short statement will explain the I Discourse concerning the Aflairs of Scot- 
cause of the passing of the Rabbling Act | land," it is stated that the beggars and 
It has been already shown that the perti- \ vagrants who infested the country, sub- 
nacious obstinacy of the northern Ja- sisting solely by charity, or by riot and 
cobites and Prelatists, both in refusing to ; pillage, amounted to at least two hundred 
take the oaths to government, and in re- j thousand people. It was no difficult m at- 
taining their churches, and intruding in- j ter to collect together sufficient numbers 
to those where Presbyterian ministers to create a rabble, or riotous mob, ready 
had been placed, rendered an act of par- \ tc engage in mischief and depredation of 
liament necessary to prevent such con- ! any kind on the shortest notice, out of 
duct. But their hostility remaining un- ' such, a formidable host of lawless and de- 
changed, they adopted another method of ; graded vagrants ; and to them recourse 
givinsf it scope without bringing them- • was most unscrupulously had cy those 
selves within the direct terms of the law. ! who wished to harass the Church of 
They privately instigated the lowest, ru- 1 Scotland, and disturb the peace of the 
dest, and most immoral of the populace to ; country. But the question forces itself 



assemoie 



ble in a tumultuous manner at tht 



upon 



the mind, What led to the exist- 



churches to which Presbyterian ministers ence of such a dreadful amount of pover- 
had been sent by the Assembly, or had ! ty and crime in Scotland at that period V 1 
been called by the more respectable and , This, too, can be easily and satisfactorily 



pious part of the congregation, and to 
offer every obstruction in their power ; 
not unfrequently inflicting severe person- 
al injury upon the ministers. These 
riotous mobs were often collected from 
other parishes, and in all cases they were 
persons who had no sense of religion 
themselves, so that their opposition was in 
no respect that of a conscientious resis- 



explained. Twenty-eight years of ty- 
ranny and persecution had wasted the 
land, reducing many of its most fertile 
districts to the condition of a wilderness, 
and throwing a vast proportion of the 
middle and industrious classes into a state 
of deep poverty. The inevitable conse- 
quence was, that nearly all the lowest 
classes of the population were both 



tance to the settlement among them of \ thrown completely out of employment 



minister whose doctrinal opinions they 
regarded as unsound, whose character 
failed ( to command their respect, or by 
whose ministrations they felt that they 
could not be edified. The persons, in 
short, who formed these riotous assem- 
blages were not the real congregations of 
the parishes where they occurred, but a 
mere rabble of irreligious and immoral 
vagrants, collected together by the Jaco- 
bite politicians and the Prelatic clergy, 
for the purpose of creating disturbances, 
and preventing the peaceful settlement of 
Presbyterian ministers. Those who re- 



by the ruin of the class immediately 
above them, and habituated to idleness, 
vagrancy, and pillage, by the encourage- 
ment and example of the devastating sol- 
diery, and the use made of them to assist 
in destroying the property of the respec- 
table Presbyterians. Thus the existence 
of two hundred thousand vagrants, by 
whom the country was so grievously in- 
fested, was one of the direct results of the 
attempt to establish Prelacy in Scotland; 
and it was no wonder that such people 
were ready, at the instigation of those 
around whose paths of carnage they had 



fer to such scenes, and to the act of par- ■ so long prowled and battened, to rush 
liament passed for preventing them, as anew to their wonted task of perpetrating 
proving that the want of patronage leads \' vm . _ , . , . , , r . 

r 2 . , t 9 * See the act itself— the tracts and pamphlets of th« 

tO Contusion and popular tumult, mUSt period —and the Patronsse Report. 



S16 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. [CHAP. VIII. 



insult and violence against the persons of 
Presbyterian ministers, and of interrupt- 
ing the most sacred ordinances of re- 
ligion. 

It deserves also to be stated, as a point 
of principle, in answer to those who wish 
to represent the Revolution Settlement of 
the Church of Scotland as decidedly 
Erastian, and the Church itself as aban- 
doning its own fundamental principles, 
and not having courage to assert its own 
intrinsic powers, that in 1698 the Com- 
mission of Assembly published a paper, 
termed, " A Seasonable Admonition," in 
which the following passage occurs: — 
a We do believe and own, that Jesus 
Christ is the only Head and King of his 
Church ; and that he hath instituted in 
his Church officers and ordinances, order 
and government, and not left it to the will 
of man, magistrate, or church, to alter at 
their pleasure. And we believe that this 
government is neither Prelatical nor 
Congregational, but Presbyterian, which 
now, through the mercy of God, is esta- 
blished among us ; and we believe we 
have a better foundation for this our 
church government than the inclination 
of the people or the laws of men."* The 
occasion of publishing this paper was to 
vindicate the conduct of the Church from 
the accusations brought against it by the 
Cameronians, and to prove that there was 
was no just reason for these people to con- 
tinue in a state of separation from the Es- 
tablished Church. 

[1699 ] It is unnecessary to repeat that 
the Assembly of 1699 continued to pursue 
the laudable example set by its predecessors 
in the most strenuous exertions to promote 
vital religion throughout the community. 
But it may be observed that this Assembly 
expressed its approbation of the " Season- 
able Admonition," and thereby gave to that 
faithful assertion of Presbyterian principles 
the sanction of the Assembled Church. 

[1700.] The year 1700 presents little 
demanding peculiar attention. In an act 
appointing a national fast, one of the 
causes mentioned by the Assembly is, 
" Our continued unfaithfulness to God, 
notwithstanding of our solemn covenants 
and engagements." This may fairly be 
regarded as proving that the Church of 
Scotland had not abandoned the ground 
occupied by the fathers of the Second Re- 

* Seasonable Admonition, p. 5. 



formation, but continued to acknowledge 
the binding and descending obligation of 
her National Covenants. In the parlia- 
ment of the same year an act was passed 
for securing the Protestant religion and 
the Presbyterian church government and 
for preventing the growth of Popery. 
This was caused by the jealousy which 
was entertained respecting the probable 
effect of the alliances which the conti- 
nental politics of William led him to form 
with Popish powers, together with the 
activity displayed by Popish and Jacobite 
emissary m endeavouring to propagate 
their political and religious tenets, which 
were justly regarded as alike hostile to 
civil liberty and religious truth. 

[1701.] The General Assembly held in 
the year 1701 was called to discharge a 
duty of a different kind from any that had 
for a considerable time occupied the at- 
tention of the Church. This was the con- 
demnation of heresy, and the deposition of 
one of its ministers for holding and de- 
fending heretical opinions. Dr. George 
Garden, one of the ministers of Aberdeen, 
had espoused the wild enthusiastic notions 
of Antonio Bourignon, and written a book 
in defence of them. Refusing to retract 
his opinions, the Assembly first con- 
demned the opinions themselves as heret- 
ical, and then deposed him from the 
office of the ministry. It would be inex- 
pedient to state here what these heretical 
opinions were ; but it may be mentioned 
in passing, that some of them are much 
akin to several of those with which reli- 
gion has been disturbed in our own times. 

[1702.] The year 1702 began its round 
in the midst of gloomy anticipations, 
which were too soon and too completely 
realized. When the Assembly met on 
the 6th of March, the commissioner, the 
Earl of Marchmont, communicated to 
them the melancholy intelligence of his 
majesty's dangerous illness, and warned 
them to expedite the despatch of all 
imperatively necessary business, and to 
prepare a Commission empowered to 
watch over and maintain discipline and 
order in the Church, whatever might 
take place. The Assembly manifested 
equal propriety and judgment in the ap- 
pointment of this Commission. All the 
old and experienced ministers ofthe period 
antecedent to the persecution, who were 
still alive, were first nominated, and to 



A. D. 1703.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



317 



them were added a sufficient number 
of such others as were most distinguished 
by experience and ability, ready to meet 
the possible exigencies of a crisis so dan- 
gerous. For it was well understood that 
(he Jacobites anticipated an immediate 
change of measures upon the demise 
of William and the accession of Anne ; 
and the Prelatists confidently expected a 
degree of direct favour more answerable 
to their wishes than the toleration or the 
comprehension schemes of the reigning 
monarch. 

King William died on the 8th day of 
March, 1702, in the fifty -second year of 
nis age, having reigned thirteen years and 
one month. By the Church of Scotland 
nis memory will ever be much and justly 
feverecf, as having been, under Provi- 
dence, the instrument by whom she was 
delivered from Prelatic tyranny and per- 
secution. But it cannot be concealed, and 
ought not to be forgotten, that his sys- 
tematic treatment of the Presbyterian 
Church was both unwise, ungrateful, and 
injurious. If he did not succeed in bring- 
ing her under an Erastian yoke, it was 
not for want of inclination to have done 
so. But by the gracious support of God 
she was enabled to be faithful to her 
Divine Head and King, and He did 
not forsake her in her hour of trial and 
danger. And though the Church did not 
in all points take the high ground to 
which her principles ought to have led 
her, and yielded compliance in matters 
where she ought to have maintained 
an attitude of uncompromising firmness, 
yet, remembering her wasted and weak 
condition, the many perilous and distract- 
ing circumstances surrounding her, and 
even the biassing influence of gratitude to 
her earthly deliverer, it seems but just to 
say, that instead of harsh upbraiding cen- 
sure, the conduct of the Church deserves, 
upon the whole, the tribute of grateful 
approbation. 

In the parliament which met in June, 
after the accession of Queen Anne, an act 
was passed, similar to those passed on 
former occasions, securing the Protestant 
religion and the Presbyterian church 
government. This was thought ne- 
cessary, on account of the danger appre- 
hended from the intrigues of the Jacobites, 
who entertained sanguine anticipations of 
favour from James's daughter which they 



could not expect from Willia/n. The 
proposals for a union between England 
and Scotland which had latteriy engrossed 
much of William's thoughts, were again 
renewed and considerably forwarded, 
though in the midst of much hostility and 
opposition. 

[1703.] The prospect of peace and se- 
curity to the Church began again to dar- 
ken in the year 1703. The language of 
the queen's letter appeared less favourable 
than previous communications of the same 
kind for several years past. Her majesty 
renewed her assurances of ~ rotection to 
the Presbyterian church government, 
"as that which she found acceptable 
to the inclinations of the people, and esta- 
blished by the laws of the kingdom." It 
was feared that this might be regarded as 
equivalent to a denial of its claim to any 
higher and more sacred authority. But 
the Assembly, in their answer, and es- 
pecially in an address to her majesty, did 
not hesitate to assert their true position. 
In the latter document their language is 
peculiarly strong and explicit ; reminding 
her majesty that the Reformation from 
Popery in Scotland was by presbyters, — 
that the Claim of Right had declared 
against Prelacy as a great and insupport- 
able grievance, — and that by the acts of 
parliament founded thereon, " Presby- 
terian church government was settled, as 
agreeable to the Word of God, and most 
conducive to the advancement of true 
piety and godliness, and the establishment 
of peace and tranquillity, and therefore to 
be the only government of Christ's Church 
within this kingdom."* On a subse- 
quent session, on the thirteenth day of the 
Assembly's meeting, the records of several 
synods were under consideration, in which 
the intrinsic power of the church courts 
to meet and deliberate in all spiritual 
matters on their own sole authority was 
very strongly stated ; but while the As- 
sembly was preparing to express full and 
entire concurrence in these sentiments, 
the commissioner, Lord Seafield, rose and 
proceeded to dissolve the meeting in her 
majesty's name. This was met by an 
immediate though brief remonstrance, 
and by protests from great numbers of 
the members ; and though the Assembly 
did not continue to sit, there being no pe- 
culiarly urgent business before it, and hav- 

* Acts of Assembly, year 1703, p. 16. 



318 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VIII. 



ing already continued thirteen days, the 
dissolution did not take place till the next 
day of the meeting was named,and the meet- 
ing concluded with the usual solemnities.* 

Regarding their cause as rapidly rising 
towards the re-assumption of superiority, 
the Prelatic party attempted to procure 
from parliament an exemption from the 
necessity of taking the oaths to govern- 
ment ; and anticipating success, they pro- 
ceeded to renew their intrusion into 
parishes, and in several instances took 
forcible possession of the churches. But 
their precipitation and violence tended to 
defeat their object. The Duke of Argyle 
and the Earl of Marchmont procured the 
passing of an act for the protection of 
Presbyterian church government, ex- 
pressed in the very terms of the Assembly's 
address to the queen, quoted above, t To 
narrate the further proceedings of this 
parliament, and in particular the passing 
of that remarkable act for protecting the 
interests and liberties of Scotland from 
suffering through foreign influence, is the 
appropriate task of the civil historian. It 
is merely alluded to here for the purpose 
of showing that the Scottish character was 
resuming its native bold and independent 
spirit, in proportion to the growing in- 
fluence and energy of the Presbyterian 
Church, and enabling the nation to as- 
sume such an attitude as to convince En- 
glish statesmen that it could not be 
trampled upon with impunity. Had it 
been otherwise, Scotland might very soon 
have become an English province, but an 
incorporating union would never have 
taken place. 

[1704.] When the Assembly met in 
1704, no time was lost in asserting the in- 
herent rights and intrinsic powers of the 
Church. In the answer to the queen's 
letter the following significant passage 
occurs : u We are now again, with your 
majesty's countenance and favour, met in 
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, in a 
national assembly."! The synod records, 
to avoid the ratification of which had been 
one great cause of the precipitate dis- 
solving of the preceding Assembly, were 
deliberately produced, approved, and rati- 
fied, so that nothing was gained by the 
civil power, and nothing lost by the 
Church ; or rather, the civil power was 

* Willison'fi Testimony, p. 31. t Acts or Parliament ; 
Loclihart's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 65. I Acts of Assembly. 



weakened by the failure of the attempted 
aggression, and the Church gained ir 
character and moral strength. Some very 
important steps were taken by this As- 
sembly, with regard to providing schools 
and other modes of religious instruction 
for the Highlands, which subsequently 
ripened into that noble institution of 
Christian benevolence, the Society for 
Propagating Religious Knowledge. 
Thus, in the midst of all her perils and all 
her contests, did the Church of Scotland 
persevere in discharging her duty to her 
Head and King, by promoting the growth 
and welfare of His spiritual kingdom. 

[1705.] The year 1705 presents little 
of importance to demand attention. The 
records of the Church prove that great 
care continued to be taken to promote the 
interests of religion in every part of the 
kingdom, particularly the Highlands. 
But the public mind was deeply occu- 
pied with those two great political sub- 
jects, — trie settlement of the order of suc- 
cession to the throne, and the proposals for 
union between Scotland and England. 
The latter was the more important of the 
two, and caused the most intense anxiety 
in both kingdoms. It was felt by all 
parties, that unless a union upon satisfac- 
tory terms could be accomplished, a fierce 
devastating war was not unlikely to arise, 
in which Scotland would certainly re- 
ceive aid from France, and both countries 
I might sustain irreparable injury. Mutual 
' apprehensions of danger served to coun- 
, terbalance the mutual jealousies of the 
J two kingdoms; and commissioners were 
appointed by the two parliaments to meet 
and arrange the preliminaries of a Treaty 
of Union. In passing this act, the Scot- 
tish parliament expressly restricted the 
commissioners from treating at all about 
! the government, worship, and discipline 
| of the Church.* The nomination of the 
Scottish commissioners was left to the 
| queen, which prevented the intrigues of 
' the parties who wished to prevent the 
Treaty of Union from being concluded. 

[1706] Several valuable acts were 
passed by the Assembly of 1706, respect- 
ing the internal purity and efficiency of 
the Church. One of these was of consi- 
derable importance, enjoining presbyteries 
to be more frequent and conscientious in 
visiting the several parishes within their 

• Carfares' State Papers, p. 750. 



A. D. 1706.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



319 



bounds, for the purpose not more of sti- 
mulating than of encouraging ministers 
in the discharge of their important duties. 
An act was also passed appointing a 
national fast, for the purpose of suppli- 
cating the Divine direction respecting the 
Treaty of Union, on the consideration of 
which the nation was about to enter 
w that all might be done to the glory 
of God and the good of the Church ;" 
and the commission was directed to pay 
particular attention to the deliberations 
of parliament, and to be ready to assist 
with advice, or to warn by remonstrance, 
as might be necessary. 

The Scottish parliament met on the 
13th of October, to commence those delib- 
erations which should end in the termi- 
nation of its separate existence. The 
Duke of Q,ueensberry was commissioner, 
and the Earl of Seafield chancellor. 
When parliament met, the whole nation 
was roused to the most intense and feverish 
anxiety and excitement as to what might 
be the possible result of their delibera- 
tions. The Jacobites beheld in a union 
the ruin of all their hopes ; the Prelatists 
anticipated support from the Church of 
England if the union could be effected 
without the express confirmation of the 
Presbyterian establishment, but if that 
were ratified, they dreaded that their own 
restoration to power would be forever pre- 
cluded : the Presbyterians generally were 
painfully apprehensive that the liberty, 
and even the permanent existence, of the 
Church would be greatly endangered by 
the union, from the ascendency of the Pre- 
latic Church of England in a united par- 
liament, and the presence of the prelates 
themselves in the House of Peers ; and 
the Cameronians regarded the measure 
as the consummation of national guilt, 
being a direct violation of the great cove- 
nants by which both kingdoms were sol- 
emnly bound. The court party alone 
had any real wish for a union with Eng- 
land ; yet such was the effect of so many 
and such conflicting grounds of hostility, 
that the antagonists merely neutralized 
each other, and rendered any well organ- 
ized and vigorously combined opposition 
impossible. In this we cannot but see 
the hand of a superintending Providence, 
bringing order out of chaos, and over- 
ruling the elements of danger to the pro- 
duction of peace and safety. 



Again retiring from the province of the 
civil historian, which the discussion of 
such subjects would lead us to invade, we 
shall but state that, after a long and highly 
animated debate, it was carried, that an 
entire incorporating union should take 
place, and not merely one of a federal 
character. Before proceeding to consider 
the articles of the union, the parliament 
then directed its attention to the security 
of the Presbyterian Church. The im- 
portance of this was fully understood by 
all parties, and gave rise not only to a 
new trial of strength, but to a series of 
intrigues by those who sought to prevent 
the union, and of earnest and anxious 
prudential management by those who fa- 
voured that measure and were friendly to 
the Church. The Jacobites now pre- 
tended great zeal for the Church of Scot- 
land, and declaimed on the danger to 
which it would be exposed by a union — 
a danger which they themselves were the 
first to realize at a subsequent period. 
The Commission, which had been direct- 
ed by the Assembly to meet and watch 
over the welfare of the Church, was 
greatly agitated by the dubious and 
gloofriy aspect of affairs. But they were 
not allowed to fall into the pit dug for 
them by their enemies. The Divine 
Head of the Church continued to protect 
the interests of his spiritual kingdom, and 
to defeat the councils of the most cunning 
adversary. They joined no political 
party, — they yielded not to the deceitful 
persuasions of their foes, — they did not 
give way to distempered fears, — they 
uttered no violent and unwary declara- 
tions, — they even exerted themselves to 
calm the excitement which pervaded the 
nation, and which they might have easily 
roused to a fierce and universal convul- 
sion.* At length an Act of Security was 
passed, in which the acts confirming the 
Confession of Faith and the Presbyterian 
form of church government were ratified 
and established, " to continue without any 
alteration to the people of this land in all 
succeeding generations ;" and it was fur- 
ther declared, that this act of security, 

" With the ESTABLISHMENT THEREIN CON- 
TAINED, shall be held and observed in all 
time coming, as a fundamental, and 

ESSENTIAL CONDITION OF ANY TREATY OF 

union to be concluded betwixt the two 

• Carstares' State Paper, pp. 754-758. 



320 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. VII 



kingdoms, without any alteration 

THEREOF, OR DEROGATION THERETO, IN 
ANY SORT, FOR EVER." * 

It would be very difficult, if not im- 
possible, for language to convey more 
clearly and strongly the idea, that the 
Church of Scotland was thus intention- 
ally placed beyond the power of the 
united parliament to interfere in the 
slightest degree with her constitutional 
rights and privileges ; since the main- 
tenance of her integrity unimpaired, in- 
tact, inviolable, was itself the very basis 
of the union, without which it would not 
have taken place, to interfere with which 
was declared to be beyond the power of 
the British parliament, and any infringe- 
ment of which was necessarily equivalent 
to a virtual dissolution of that great inter- 
national treaty. 

The remaining Articles of Union were 
proposed and carried with comparative 
ease. And at length, after they had been 
accepted and ratified by the English par- 
liament,! and returned to Scotland, they 
were registered by the Scottish parlia- 
ment on the 25th of March, 1707, 
and on the 22d of April the parlia- 
ment of Scotland adjourned to meet no 
more. 

[1707.] The General Assembly met 
at Edinburgh on the 8th April 1707. 
Before their meeting the Articles of Union 
had been ratified by the Scottish parlia- 
ment, and sent to London for the ratifica- 
tion of that of England. In the queen's 
letter to the Assembly the following sen- 
tence occurs : " We take this opportunity 
of renewing to you our assurance, that 
you shall have our protection in the free 
enjoyment of all the rights and privi- 
leges that by law you are possessed of ;" 
and it is rather remarkable that her ma- 
jesty makes no allusion to the topic of 
receiving into the Church those of the 
Episcopalian dissenters who should be 
willing to subscribe the Confession of 
Faith, and conform to Presbyterian go- 
vernment. The most important act pas- 
sed by this Assembly was one respecting 
the Form of Process. This subject had 
occupied the attention of the Church for 
several years, and had, according to the 

* Act of Security, Appendix, 
t Carstares' State Paper?, p. 760, "The Archbishop 
of Canterbury said, that he believed the Church of 
Scotland to be as true a Protestant Church as that of 
England, though he could not say it was so perfect." 



Barrier Act, been transmitted to the pres- 
byteries by the preceding Assembly. It 
was now ratified, and has ever since 
continued to form the chief rule of the 
Church of Scotland for the direction of 
the various ecclesiastical judicatories in 
the matters which come before them. It 
is not undeserving of notice, that this im- 
portant act, completing the judicial ar- 
rangements of the Church of Scotland, 
took place at the very juncture of the 
Union, and was accordingly placed, of 
necessity, within the protection of the Act 
of Security, before the Scottish parlia- 
ment, by which it was ratified, had ceased 
to exist. Thus the Confession of Faith, — 
the form of church government by Ses- 
sions, Presbyieries, Synods, and General 
Assemblies, — the mode of worship, — the 
rules of discipline, — and the process of 
judicial proceedings, — were all rendered 
as secure as the most solemn and conclu- 
sive national enactments, — the Revolution 
Settlement, the Act of Security, and the 
Articles of Union, — could make them. 
If they had since been thwarted, violated, 
or impeded, the blame must rest upon 
those who presumed to tamper with na- 
tional faith, or who, in their endeavours 
to put a forced construction upon the let- 
ter of subordinate laws and statutes, griev- 
ously misconceived or utterly forgot the 
principles and the spirit of the constitution. 

One very pernicious act was passed at 
this time, which has ever since continued 
to operate most injuriously to the best in- 
terests of the Church and people of Scot- 
land. The lords of the Court of Session 
were appointed to be commissioners of 
teinds, and power was given to them to 
determine " the transporting of kirks," 
that is, the removal of a church from one 
part of the parish to another, according 
to the fluctuation of the population which 
may have rendered such a measure ex- 
pedient, — and, by implication, the build- 
ing of an additional church for the accom 
modation of an increased population. 
The consent of three-fourths of the heri- 
tors, in point of valuation, is declared by 
the act to be necessary to warrant this 
removal.* The effect has been, that the 
narrow and selfish policy of the heritors 
has generally been strong enough to pre- 
vent the concurrence of a sufficient num- 
ber to procure the removal, however glar- 

■ Dunlop's Parochial Law, p. 32. 



A. D. 1707.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



321 



ingly necessary for the accommodation 
of the people ; crystallizing, as it were, 
the Church of Scotland into a state of 
Tigid immobility, and rendering her una- 
ble to adapt her arrangements to the 
changing necessities of the country. 
How strangely ignorant, to say the least, 
statesmen and legislators have always 
been of what is most conducive to the 
true welfare of a nation, and especially, 
how ready to employ every practical 
mode of hampering the movements and 
obstructing the exercise of the native en- 
ergies of the Christian Church, and, in 
particular, of the Church of Scotland. 
But this, and all such hostile or jealous 
measures, may be fairly viewed as the 
instinctive testimony given by worldly 
men to the spirituality of her character, 
with which they cannot sympathize^ and 
which they regard with the natural en- 
mity of the fallen mind. 

By the Treaty of Union the Church 
of Scotland was placed in a new position, 
fitted to try severely the vitality and the 
power of her constitutional principles. 
The Act of Security had indeed preclu- 
ded the British parliament from interfer- 
ing with her doctrine, government, and 
discipline, as they existed before the pas- 
sing of that act ; but the removal of the 
seat of civil government from Edinburgh 
to London was certain to have an injuri- 
ous effect upon the Scottish nobility and 
gentry, in alienating them from the 
Church of their native land, and accus- 
toming them to the forms, ceremonies, 
want of discipline, and Erastian subser- 
viency, of the Church of England. It 
was, therefore, to be expected, that early 
and persevering attempts would be made, 
both by the British Legislature and by 
our own Anglicized countrymen, if not 
to alter the government of the Church of 
Scotland, at least to reduce it to that con- 
dition of political thraldom in which the 
Church of England was held. That 
this should be desired by mere politicians, 
need excite no wonder ; for it is not polit- 
ical sagacity, but spiritual enlightenment, 
which enables men to perceive and un- 
derstand what are the true and essential 
principles of the Christian Church. They 
are naturally incapable of understanding 
on what terms alone a true Church can 
enter into an alliance with the State ; and 
they therefore always regard the Church 
41 



as a subordinate court, ejected by the 
State, receiving directions from it, and 
necessarily subservient to it in the dis- 
charge of all its functions. And the fatal 
facility which the Prelatic form of church 
government has always shown of adapt- 
ing itself to the capricious designs of 
statesmen, and submitting to their baneful 
control, has necessarily given it a recom- 
mendation in their eyes, which the Pres- 
byterian form cannot possibly obtain, 
without first becoming unfaithful to its 
own principles. 

The danger to which the Church of 
Scotland was exposed by the Union was 
very greatly increased by the admission 
of so many of the Prelatic curates, in 
weak compliance with the pernicious 
policy of William. It would have re- 
quired the united energy and determined 
front of the entire Presbyterian Church 
to have promptly met, and triumphantly 
resisted, every attempted encroachment of 
the British parliament upon her secured 
rights and privileges. But this, with 
such a numerous band of cold friends and 
treacherous mercenaries within her own 
camp, w r as impossible. From this time 
forward, accordingly, the Church of Scot- 
land presents the melancholy aspect of a 
declining and unfaithful Church, assailed 
by enemies without, and corrupted and 
betrayed by worse and more deadly foes 
within her own communion. To trace 
faithfully the sad steps of her defection 
must be now our painful and unwelcome 
task ; with the perfect certainty of being 
compelled to record deeds and give ex- 
pression to sentiments whieh will rouse 
the fierce rage of many, but with the de- 
liberate determination to state the truth, 
be offended who may, and whatever 
amount of hostility may be thereby pro- 
voked. Let the intelligent and. thought- 
ful man mark well the course of the 
Church of Scotland's procedure, as well 
as that of the British parliament, from 
the period of the Union till now, with as 
much fairness and candour as he can ; 
and especially let him trace accurately, 
and with unprejudiced mind, the conduct 
of the faithful minority, testing it as rigid- 
ly as he will by reference to the funda- 
mental principles and avowed standards 
of the Presbyterian Church ; and he will 
have little difficulty in deciding who have 
been the defenders, and who the betrayers 



322 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. [CHAP. IX, 



and the foes of civil and religious liberty, 
— by whom the cause of vital religion 
and national welfare has been promoted, 
and by whom retarded, — by whose ill-rer 
quited exertions the interests of the Re- 
deemer's spiritual kingdom within our 
land have been maintained, and by whom 
they have .been betrayed and violated, 
through the influence of secular motives, 
and in the spirit of a base subserviency to 
narrow-minded and worldly politicians. 



CHAPTER IX. 

FROM THE UNION TO THE RISE OF THE SECOND 
SECESSION IN 1752. 

Position of the Church of Scotland at the Union— Me- 
morials respecting the Poor, and beneficial Manage- 
ment of the Church — Political Movements in Eng- 
land, and Jacobite Intrigues in Scotland — Rise of 
erroneous Opinions in the Church of Scotland — 
Jacobite Intrigues ; Case of Greenshields— Hostility 
of the British Parliament under the Administration 
of Harley and Bolingbroke— Act of Toleration — Oath 
of Abjuration— Act reimposing Patronage— Ineffec- 
tual Attempt of the Church to prevent its Enactment 
—Examination of the Spirit, Tendency, and Intention 
of that Act — Argument to prove it essentially invalid 
— Assertions in its Preamble refuted — Conduct of the 
General Assembly — Remarks— Causes of the Weak- 
ness of the Church — The Cameronians — Effects of the 
Abjuration Oath — Case of Burntisland— Commence- 
ment of the Process against Professor Simson for 
Heresy— Second Rabbling Act — Death of Queen 
Anne— Memorial against Patronage — The Rebellion 
— Professor Simson — The Auchterarder Case — First 
" Riding Committee "—Progress of unsound Opin- 
ions, how caused — Act restricting Patronage — Origin 
of the Marrow Controversy — Conduct of the Assem- 
bly — The Representors — First Case of Intrusion — 
Professor Simson — Boston and others— First direct 
Acceptance of a Presentation^— Origin of the First 
Secession— Partial Change in the Conduct of the 
Assembly — Act against Intrusion — The Secession 
completed — Revivals at Cambuslang and Kilsyth — 
Violent Settlements— Opinions of the Court of Session 
— New Policy of the Moderate Party — Case of In- 
verkeithing— Deposition of Mr Gillespie — Origin of 
the Second Secession, the Relief, in 1752— Moderate 
Manifesto. 

By the Act of Security, which was the 
basis of the Union, the Church of Scot- 
land obtained the clearest recognition of 
her own principles, and the strongest rati- 
fication of her rights and privileges, which 
could be conveyed by legislative enact- 
ments and secured by the solemn pledge 
of national faith. Yet were those prin- 
ciples as much disliked by statesmen as 
they had ever been ; and at the very time 
when the ratification was given, a power- 
ful party was secretly plotting the viola- 
tion of those rights and privileges for the 
security of which the faith of the sove- 
reign and the united kingdom was 



pledged. The Jacobites, who wished the 
restoration of the exiled Stuart race, knew 
well that the establishment of the Pres- 
byterian Church was the main obstacle 
to their resumption of power in Scotland ; 
and the not unnatural sympathy which 
the English Episcopalians felt for their 
Scottish brethren of that persuasion, in 
duced them to take every measure in their 
power for the discouragement and depres- 
sion of the rival Church. Of this char- 
acter was the jealous and intolerant 
policy of the English High-Church party, 
requiring the sacramental, test, according 
to the forms of Episcopacy, before any 
man could be eligible to a place of public 
trust in civil affairs, while no such limita- 
tion was applied to them in Scotland. 
This was manifestly contrary to the spirit 
of the Union, and a grievance to every 
.true Presbyterian. But it had still more 
pernicious tendencies. It was calculated 
to cause disregard to that sacred ordinance, 
by degrading it to the character of a civil 
qualification ; and it tended to allure the 
Scottish nobility and gentry to conform to 
Prelacy, to which they were already 
sufficiently prone. This effect was, in all 
probability, what Prelatists expected and 
desired ; but it was evident that it could 
not be otherwise than offensive to Pres- 
byterians, especially when contrasted with 
the repeated and pressing applications 
made to the Church of Scotland to receive 
into its bosom the Prelatic curates, and to 
give them an equal share in the govern- 
ment of the Church which they had so 
long persecuted, and were still seeking to 
subvert. In the circumstances and ar- 
rangements of the Union itself, and not- 
withstanding the Act of Security, there 
was reason for the Church of Scotland to 
be jealous of her rights and privileges, so 
far as it was in the power of the Church 
of England to impair and obstruct them. 
The bitter hostility of the Scottish Jaco- 
bites and Prelatists was even increased 
by the Union, which opposed a mighty 
obstacle to their hopes, and which, they 
well knew, could not have been accom- 
plished if the Church of Scotland had 
offered a strong and determined resistance. 

Placed thus in a position surrounded 
with danger, the Presbyterian Church 
had a very difficult part to act. To act 
that part aright demanded the union of 
high-principled religious integrity, and 



A. D. 1708.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



323 



consummate prudence. From the rul- 
ing powers of the empire she had little 
favour to expect, beyond what they might 
deem it for their own interest to give. 
If she could succeed in retaining and 
wielding the compact energies of the 
Scottish community, politicians would 
not dare to tamper with her rights and 
privileges ; but if in that she failed, to be 
scorned and trampled upon by insulting 
adversaries was her certain doom. And 
unfortunately her prospect of obtaining 
that element of security was greatly 
diminished by recent events. The great 
mass of the Scottish people were hostile 
to the Union, for various causes ; and 
the conduct of the Church in not oppos- 
ing that great Treaty had alienated to a 
very considerable degree the minds of a 
large proportion of the most conscientious 
Presbyterians. Nothing but the most 
determined adherence to strict Presby- 
terian principles, and their exhibition in 
all her proceedings, could have regained 
the affection and the confidence of the 
people ; and such a line of conduct it was 
now scarcely possible for her to follow. 
The baneful policy of William, which 
had caused the reception of so many of 
the Prelatic curates, had vitiated the mi- 
nisterial body to such a degree, that in- 
stead of a faithful assertion and bold de- 
fence of Presbyterian principles, in 
government, doctrine, and discipline, the 
utmost that could be obtained from the 
General Assembly was a faint remon- 
strance, or a half apologetic statement of 
rights and privileges, or a feeble and 
tame petition for redress, even when 
much aggrieved. This increasing un- 
soundness of doctrine, tame and compro- 
mising spirit, and moderate policy, how- 
ever much lauded by' wily politicians, 
was not calculated to reinstate the Church 
in the affections of a people distinguished 
for national pride, intellectual strength, 
and inflexible adherence to religious 
principle. On the contrary, it was 
sure to alienate them more and more, 
and at the same time to encourage the 
foes of Presbytery to fresh aggressions. 
Such was the character and condition of 
the Church of Scotland, and such the 
nature of the hostile influences by which 
it was surrounded, and to a considerable 
extent interpenetrated, at the momentous 
period of the Union. To what extent 



these hostile influences prevailed, whe- 
ther by external force or by internal cor- 
ruption, and to what degree Presbyterian 
principles were repressed or allowed to 
fall into abeyance, remains now to be 
briefly but faithfully traced. 

[1708.1 The period immediately suc- 
ceeding the Union had been employed 
by the Jacobites in making the most 
strenuous exertions to produce a counter- 
revolution, by means of an attempted in- 
surrection at home, supported by an inva- 
sion from France. In this time of pub- 
lic danger the loyalty and zeal of the 
Scottish Presbyterians had been signally 
displayed, both ministers and people ex- 
erting themselves to the utmost in prepar- 
ing to defend the constitution and govern- 
ment of the country. When the As- 
sembly met in April 1708, her majesty, 
both by letter and through the commis- 
sioner, expressed her entire satisfaction 
with the conduct of the Scottish Church, 
and her renewed assurance of her unal- 
terable resolution to maintain to it unim- 
paired all its rights and privileges. The 
answer of the Assembly expressed the 
most unswerving loyalty, and at the same 
time not obscurely indicated to her ma- 
jesty in what manner that loyalty could 
be best recompensed, and the peace and 
welfare of the country maintained. 
They plainly declared, that a "pious, 
learned, and faithful ministry" was the 
greatest support, under God, of true reli- 
gion and national welfare ; trusting that 
her majesty would discourage the opposi- 
tion made to the planting of such a mi- 
nistry in several places, " by some that 
are not more disaffected to our church 
constitution than to your majesty's royal 
person and government."* Had her 
majesty and her government appreciated 
and acted upon the spirit of this sugges- 
tion, the Church and the nation must soon 
have entered upon a career of public tran- 
quillity and religious purity very different 
from that which the historian has to record. 

Two acts of this Assembly deserve at- 
attention. One was for the suppression 
of schism and disorders in the Church: 
the other, recommending ministerial visi- 
tation of families. f The first arose from 
the cause already specified, — the disagree- 
ment which could not but exist between 
the true Presbyterian ministers and the 

* Acts of Assembly, year 1703. t Ibid. 



324 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. IX. 



admitted Prelatic curates, and also be- 
tween the Established Church and the 
inflexible Cameronians. The second 
was expressly designed to promote the 
progress of vital and personal religion 
throughout the community, by giving to 
ministers well digested and authorative 
directions respecting the discharge of 
that very important part of their duty, so 
that it might not be in the power of any 
to neglect it, without being immediately 
called to account, and censured accord- 
ing to their demerits. Such a process 
was more certain to secure the stability 
of the Church, by resting it on the affec- 
lon and respect of the poeple, than could 
De done by mere acts of the legislature. 
But unhappily it was an act which the 
Prelatic conformists could not possibly 
discharge in a suitable manner. Too 
many of them had been known to their 
parishioners as spies and informers during 
the persecution, for their visits to be re- 
ceived with a ready and affectionate wel- 
come; so that, when the Assembly en- 
joined the discharge of a duty which the 
previous misconduct of a large section 
rendered it impracticable for them to at- 
tempt, this injunction, however excellent 
in itself, and fitted to produce the best re- 
sults when adequately performed, tended 
to increase the disagreement between the 
faithful ministers and their less zealous 
brethren, who disliked directions which 
they could not cordially and successfully 
obey. 

[1709.] Several important transactions 
took place in the Assembly which met in 
1709 ; one of which was the maturing of 
the Society for Propagating Christian 
Knowledge, which obtained the approba- 
tion of the queen in council, and has ever 
since continued in the discharge of its 
important duties, on which a large mea- 
sure of the Divine favour has manifestly 
rested. An act was passed also for erect- 
ing public libraries, one in each presby- 
tery throughout the kingdom ; a measure 
well adapted to promote the knowledge 
and the usefulness of the ministers, by 
placing within their reach the means of 
prosecuting their own studies, which their 
remote situations and scanty maintenance 
must have greatly impeded. 

Among the unprinted acts of this As- 
sembly is one of great national impor- 
tance. It is entitled, ' A memorial to be 



presented by the queen's commissioner to 
her majesty, concerning the interfering 
of justices of the peace with the offices of 
church deacons." The full purport of 
this memorial, and the object accom- 
plished by it, require to be explained, 
and merit attention. At the period of the 
Reformation, it will be remembered, the 
Church .of Scotland proposed "to take 
upon itself the care of the poor, and to 
support them out of its own patrimony. 
The avaricious nobility frustrated this 
benevolent design to the utmost of their 
power, by seizing forcibly upon the pa- 
trimony of the Church, regardless alike 
of justice and humanity. But the Church, 
nevertheless, following the example of 
the Apostolic Church, appointed collec- 
tions to be made for the support of the 
poor, and instituted the order of deacons 
for the proper management of the funds 
so raised. This method of supporting 
the poor was almost immediately crowned 
with the most remarkable success. Po- 
verty and its dire attendants, degradation 
and immorality, almost disappeared, and 
peace, intelligence, comfort, and purity, 
spread their blessings over the land. 
But when Charles II., in 1661, abolished 
the Presbyterian Church, and established 
Prelacy on its ruins, — as attention to the 
religious and intellectual instruction of 
the poor, and the alleviation of their per- 
sonal wants, formed no part of the insti- 
tutions, nor had ever been regarded in 
the practice of the Prelatic Church, — the 
whole matter was intrusted to the charge 
of the justices of the peace, who were em- 
powed to appoint overseers in every 
parish for the management of matters 
connected with the maintenance of the 
poor. The utter inefficiency of this sys- 
tem, attempted as it was in a time of per- 
secution which destroyed a large propor- 
tion of the middle class, which has 
always been the most charitable, was de- 
monstrated with dreadful precision, when 
at the Revolution it appeared that about 
the fifth part of the population were in a 
state of utter beggary and homelessness, 
and so fearfully degraded and demoral- 
ized as to startle and appal the most in- 
different. But the Presbyterian Church 
was again established, and immediately 
resumed its hallowed labours and its 
charitable cares. Again was its un- 
rivalled excellence, as a national institu 



A. D. 1710.] 



HISTORY GF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



325 



tion for promoting- the moral and religious 
welfare of the community, most signally 
displayed. The faithful and earnest 
preaching of the gospel arrested the 
attention of the people ; schools were pro- 
vided for the instruction of the young : 
the charitable donations of the congrega- 
tions relieved the truly necessitous, and 
the sacred and moral atmosphere of 
Christianity diffused itself over the king- 
dom, checking and repressing vice, re- 
buking open crime, and imparting a 
more pure, healthful, and lofty tone to 
the feelings and desires of the renovated 
community. So manifestly was this the 
case, that the commissioner, the Earl of 
Glasgow, readily undertook to present 
the memorial, and enforced it with such 
statements respecting the efficiency of the 
Scottish system, on his own knowledge, 
that the justices of the peace were in- 
structed to abstain from interfering with 
the management of the poor, leaving that 
matter to the care of the kirk-sessions, by 
whose judicious superintendence the 
country had been rescued from poverty 
and crime. Had it not been for this 
prompt and decisive conduct on the part 
of the Church, Scotland would have been 
speedily subjected to the pressure of an 
intolerable burden of poor-laws, similar 
to that under which England, notwith- 
standing its superior national wealth, and 
in spite of, not to say in consequence of, 
its hierarchical church, has so long 
groaned. 

This incident would of itself convince 
any unprejudiced and intelligent person 
how much Scotland owes to its National 
Church, proving, at the same time, how 
much superior that Church is to any 
other in Christendom, in the efficient 
accomplishment of one great object for 
which a National Church is established 
— the promotion of the moral and reli- 
gious welfare of the community. And 
yet, at the very time when the Church 
was thus generously taking upon herself 
the care of the poor, she had been recently 
deprived of the remains of her patrimony, 
the third part of the teinds, which had 
been given back to the patrons as a com- 
pensation for the loss of those patronages 
which they had obtained by conduct of 
the most flagrantly illegal, unjust, and 
wrongful character. Surely, to do good 
and to suffer injury,- -to promote peace 



and to sustain persecution, — to advance 
the welfare of all, and to be generally 
calumniated, — has been more the fate of 
the Church of Scotland than of any 
Christian Church since the days of the 
apostles. But this is no equivocal proof 
that she is indeed a true Church of Christ, 
reviled and persecuted by the world, be- 
cause she is not of the world. The suc- 
cess with which the exertions of the 
Church of Scotland had been blessed in 
repressing vice and irrelrgion, and pro- 
moting pure and personal Christianity, 
may be stated in the language of an acute 
and impartial observer, a native of Eng- 
land, who came to Scotland to aid in 
promoting the Union : — " You may pass 
through twenty towns in Scotland with- 
out seeing any broil, or hearing an oath 
sworn in the streets : whereas, if a blind 
man was to come from thence into Eng- 
land, he shall know the first town he sets 
his foot in within the English border, by 
hearing the name of God blasphemed and 
profanely used, even by the very little 
children in the streets."* 

[1710.] Before the General Assembly 
met in 1710, a movement had taken place 
in England which fell little short of a re- 
volution. This was occasioned by the 
notorious Sacheveral, who, by the plenti- 
ful use of a strange mixture of blind 
bigotry, fierce invective, and the hardy 
assertions of intolerant ignorance, roused 
the prejudices of the High-Church party 
and the rude populace to such a degree 
as to overthrow the Whig government of 
the Revolution and the Union, and to 
place a Tory administration in office, 
nominally headed by Harley, soon after- 
wards Earl of Oxford, and really by the 
philosophic, yet unprincipled infidel Bo- 
lingbroke. Strange as it might at first 
sight appear, this triumph of High- 
Church Episcopacy and Tory state poli- 
tics tended directly to the restoration of 
Popery, and of the exiled claimant of the 
crown, the Popish Pretender. Yet every 
thinking person will easily perceive the 
natural connection which subsists between 
the principles of High-Church bigotry, 
strenuously inculcating passive obedience 
and non-resistance to "the right divine 
of kings to govern wrong," and those on 
which Popery itself is founded. Nor 
were the Scottish Jacobites inattentive 

* De Foe's Memoirs, p. 428. 



326 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. IX. 



spectators of these changes in England, 
or unskilful to avail themselves of events 
which promised to advance the objects 
for which they longed. They saw well 
that the ascendency of High-Church po- 
litics in England presented a favourable 
opportunity of crushing the Presbyterian 
Church of Scotland, which was the most 
formidable obstacle they had to encounter 
in seeking to secure the return of the 
Popish Pretender. Instantly a course of 
deep intriguing policy was begun, con- 
ducted principally by Lockhart of Carn- 
wath, the ablest of the Scottish Jacobites. 
This designing man did not expect to 
prevail upon the Presbyterians to strive 
for the recall of the Pretender ; the 
wrongs which they had suffered were 
too recent for them to be induced to take 
such a step. But he thought that, by 
prevailing upon the High-Church party 
in the British parliament to infringe the 
Union, so far as to endanger the stability 
of the Church of Scotland, the Presby- 
terians might be brought to demand 
a repeal of the Union itself ; which, 
if granted, would leave Scotland open 
to Jacobite intrigues, and, if refused, 
might lead to some forcible attempt 
to overthrow Presbytery and re-estab- 
lish Prelacy, or at least throw the 
country into such a state of confusion as 
would give a greater probability of suc- 
cess to a French invasion and a civil 
war. To the artful prosecution of these 
deep schemes we shall have further occa- 
sion to advert. 

When the Assembly met, these mea- 
sures necessarily engaged their attention, 
though they did not deem it expedient to 
mention them in explicit terms. Yet 
there could be no doubt what was meant 
by such language as the following : — 
" We crave leave upon this occasion to 
assure your majesty, that we abhor all 
the principles that stain the glory of 
the reformed religion, and all the opin- 
ions that have a tendency to shake 
the excellent and solid foundations upon 
which your majesty's just title to the 
supreme government of your domin- 
ions, and the security of your throne in 
a Protestant succession against all Popish 
Pretenders, are happily established." It 
is not likely that her majesty received 
this, address with much satisfaction, the 
allusion it contained to the Claim of 



Right and the Revolution Settlement be- 
ing much less flattering to a monarch, 
than the glowing reference to hereditary 
and indefeasible right poured forth by the 
High-Church sycophants. A slight jar 
arose between the Church and the de- 
parting administration, on account of the 
Assembly having appointed a fast, to 
which the sanction of her majesty had to 
be procured. This was promptly grant- 
ed ; but the Earl of Sunderland, in a 
letter to Carstares, warned him against 
the danger which the Church might in- 
cur, if she were to repeat such a proce- 
dure on her own authority.* This was 
sufficiently indicative, both that the ad- 
ministration watched the conduct of the 
Church of Scotland with a jealous and 
unfriendly eye, and that English states- 
men were alike ignorant of the charac- 
ter and hostile to the proceedings of the 
Presbyterian Church. 

An act was passed by this Assembly, 
apparently of a very harmless, or rather 
of a laudable character, yet pregnant 
with meaning of ominous import. This 
was an " Act for Preserving the Purity 
of Doctrine," in which all persons are 
prohibited from uttering any opinions, 
or using any expressions, in relation to 
the articles of faith, " not agreeable to 
the form of sound words expressed in 
the Word of God and the Confession of 
Faith ;" and further enacting, " that no 
minister or member of this Church pre- 
sume to print, or disperse in writing, any 
catechism, without the allowance of the 
presbytery of the bounds, and of the 
Commission." The direct cause of fram- 
ing this act was the offence taken by 
Principal Stirling of Glasgow, and Prin- 
cipal Haddow of St. Andrews, with the 
language of a catechism on the cove- 
nants of works and grace, written by Mr. 
Hamilton, minister of Airth, which these 
two influential men contrived to get the 
Assembly thus to stigmatize, without due 
examination, and on the strength of their 
representation respecting the tenor of the 
production. But the more remote cause, 
which was indeed the real moving prin- 
ciple of that and many subsequent events 
in the history of that period, is to be 
found in a strong leaven of unsound doc- 
trines which was spreading rapidly in 
the Church, especially in that large divi- 

* Carstares' State Papers, p. 786. 



A. D. 1711.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



327 



sion of it which was formed by the con- 
junction of the indulged ministers, the 
admitted Prelatic curates, and a consider- 
ble number of young men, who had im- 
bibed the lax notions of a modified Armi- 
nianism, at that time becoming very pre- 
valent both in England and on the Con- 
tinent. The most sound and able divines 
of the Church of Scotland marked the 
progress of these opinions with deep re- 
gret, and set themselves to oppose them 
by every means in their power, [t was 
with this view that Mr. Hamilton had 
written the above mentioned catechism ; 
and it was to prevent the diffusion of it 
and similar productions that the leading 
men of the Assembly procured the pass- 
ing of the act for preserving the purity 
of doctrine.* It may seem strange that 
an act so designated should in reality 
have been an act to prevent the defence 
of truth, and to permit the unchecked 
diffusion of error. Yet so it was ; and 
nothing could more clearly prove the 
pernicious tendency of that moderate 
management so highly recommended by 
William, so perseveringly followed by 
Carstares, and so destructively successful 
in introducing into the Church of Scot- 
land such a body of men, not more than 
half Presbyterian in their principles, 
doctrines, and practice, by whom she was 
early and deeply vitiated, ere long griev- 
ously enthralled, and from the baneful 
influence of whose long and dreary do- 
mination she is yet but striving painfully 
to recover. 

[1711.] The machinations of the Ja- 
cobites for the destruction of the Church 
of Scotland were not only prosecuted 
with unremitting ardour, but began about 
this time to assume the aspect of near 
success. One event which hastened the 
struggle rather prematurely for the ene- 
mies of Presbstery, arose out of the at- 
tempt of one Greenshields, an Episcopa- 
lian minister, to open a meeting-house and 
use the English Liturgy in Edinburgh. 
The Prelatic party of the persecution 
had never used a Liturgy, with the sole 
exception of Burnet, afterwards bishop 
of Salisbury, while he was curate of 
Salton ; being deterred probably by the 
remembrance of the tumult which the 

For a full account of this matter, and of the contro- 
versy respecting the Marrow of Modern Divinity, see 
a series of papers by Dr M-Crie, in the Christian In- 
structor, in the years 1831, 1832. 



attempt to introduce the Liturgy in the 
year 1637 had caused But now, when 
the Scottish Prelatists began to hope for 
support from their brethren in England, 
they thought it expedient to conform to 
the whole ritual of that Church. When 
Greenshields first made the attempt, to- 
wards the end of the year 1709, he wa? 
called before the Presbytery of Edin- 
burgh, but declining their jurisdiction, he 
was interdicted by the magistrates of the 
city, and his meeting-house closed by 
their authority. The affair was brought 
before the Court of Session, and decided 
against Greenshields, his conduct being 
regarded as a direct infraction of the 
articles of the Treaty of Union. But 
the Jacobites and Prelatists, buoyed up 
by the High-Church frenzy in Eng- 
land, carried the matter by appeal to 
the House of Lords, auguring but too 
surely that the Church of Scotland would 
meet no favour and but little justice there. 
When the case first came to London, the 
whole country was in a ferment about 
Sacheverel's trial, so that the affair of 
Greenshields was laid aside till a more 
convenient opportunity. But after the 
formation of a new cabinet, and the com- 
plete ascendency of High-Church and 
Tory principles in the legislature, it was 
again brought forward, and given in fa- 
vour of Greenshields, the sentence of the 
Court of Session being reversed, and the 
magistrates of Edinburgh subjected to 
heavy damages for wrongful imprison- 
ment. Great was the exultation of the 
Prelatists and Jacobites when the deci- 
sion was made ; and great also was the 
indignation of the Presbyterians. There 
was a mixture of right and wrong in the 
decision, viewed abstractly, with regard 
to its essence, and to the state of the law 
at the time. It was right that no man 
should be liable to imprisonment for wor- 
shipping God according to the light of 
his own conscience ; but according to 
the unrepealed laws of the country, 
Greenshields was guilty of a high mis- 
demeanour, especially when it is remem- 
bered that he and all his party had re- 
fused to swear allegiance to the reigning 
sovereign, and were known to be en- 
gaged in plotting for the restoration of the 
Popish Pretender. In that view he merit- 
ed punishment as guilty of rebellious 
conduct, — not on account of his religious 



328 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. [CHAP IX 



opinions ; and his acquittal, and the fine 
exacted from the magistrates of Edin- 
burgh, was a direct violation of the prin- 
ciples of the Revolution, and tended to 
shake the throne of Glueen Anne, and to 
produce a counter-revolution. It is in- 
deed evident that this was the very effect 
which the Jacobites and Bolingbroke in- 
tended and anticipated, when they pressed 
this decision contrary to the inclinations 
of the Earl of Oxford.* But, as usual, 
they contrived to misrepresent the whole 
affair, and to declaim about it as a mere 
act of protection to an injured Episcopa- 
lian against Presbyterian intolerance. 

When the Assembly met, there was a 
general 'eeling pervading the house that 
a dangerous crisis was at hand. The 
pernicious effects of English prelatic in- 
fluence were beginning to be but too ap- 
parent, not only in such a case as that of 
Greenshields, but in a growing tendency 
is various quarters to imitate the English 
disregard of the sanctity of the Sabbath, 
which had always been peculiarly main- 
tained by the Church of Scotland. They 
were well aware also, that the main ob- 
ject of the Jacobites was to alter the suc- 
cession to the throne j and they knew 
that Scottish Prelacy would very readily 
endure a Popish monarch, though the 
Church of England might not be equal- 
ly willing to violate all Protestant princi- 
ples. The attachment of the Church of 
Scotland was therefore very distinctly 
stated to the succession of the Protestant 
House of Hanover, both in the Assem- 
bly's letter to the Queen, and in an act 
passed recommending prayers to be offer- 
ed up for her majesty, and for the Pro- 
testant line of succession. Several acts 
were also passed for the better regulation 
of internal matters in the worship go- 
vernment, and discipline of the Church — 
recommending family worship, — for the 
better observance of the Sabbath, — con- 
cerning the administration of the sacra- 
ments of baptism and the Lord's sup- 
per, — respecting students of divinity, — 
and appointing the questions to be put to 
probationers before being licenced to 
preach, and to ministers at their ordina- 
tion. It is remarkable, that almost im- 
mediately before the occurrence of any 
peculiarly important or dangerous junc- 

" Lockhart Papers, vol. i. pp. 346 347 ; Stuart Papers, 



ture in the history of the Church, there 
has been some arrangement made in her 
internal regulations, calculated to prepare 
her for the struggle, and to confirm her 
vitality when about to be severely tried. 
These questions to be put to probationers 
and ministers were calculated to deter 
the ungodly and worldly-minded from 
entering the Church, at the very time 
when the door of admission to such per- 
sons was about to be thrown open ; and 
though unprincipled men can, and do 
break through every sacred and moral 
barrier, yet it cannot be doubted that the 
existence of such barriers has a strong 
tendency to preserve the sanctity of the 
ground which they inclose from the tread 
of the unhallowed intruder. 

Aware of the coming dangers to be 
apprehended from the unprincipled states- 
men who swayed the councils of the na- 
tion, the General Assembly gave specific 
directions to the Commission to do what 
might be necessary for the preservation 
of the rights and privileges of the 
Church, and empowered them to send a 
commission to London, if they should 
see cause, to watch over the progress of 
events, and to seek the redress of griev- 
ances. 

[1712. The year 1712 must ever be 
regarded as a black year in the annals of 
the Church of Scotland. The triumph 
which the prelatic Jacobites had gained 
in the case of Greenshields, instead of 
satisfying, had merely encouraged them 
to further aggressions upon the Presby- 
terian Church, against which they cher- 
ished the most deadly hatred. When 
the British parliament met, in December 

1711, their first attention was occupied in 
securing the ascendency of despotic prin- 
ciples in both houses. This was accom- 
plished in the House of Lords by the 
creation of twelve new peers at once, 
whose votes enabled the cabinet to com- 
mand a majority for the time. Early in 

1712, the Jacobites, deeming their prepa- 
rations complete, unmasked those batte- 
ries with which they hoped to lay pros- 
trate the Church of Scotland. A bill 
was introduced into the House of Com- 
mons, purporting to be for the granting 
of a legal toleration to those of the Epis 
copalian dissenters in Scotland who wish 
ed to use the Liturgy of the Church of 
England; repealing, at the same time, 



A. D. 1712.] 

those acts of the Scottish parliament by 
which they were subjected to the juris- 
diction and discipline of the Presbyte- 
rian church courts, and forbidding the 
civil sanction to be added to ecclesiastical 
sentences for their enforcement. This 
.bill was introduced on the 21st of Janu- 
ary ; and so secretly had the Jacobites 
concerted their scheme, that the intention 
of proposing such a bill was not known 
till the motion was made in the House 
of Commons respecting it. The Com- 
mission of the General Assembly imme- 
diately sent the Rev. Messrs. Carstares, 
Blackwell, and Baillie, to London, with 
instructions to use every exertion in their 
power for preventing the passing of such 
a bill, and to watch over the threatened 
rights and privileges of the Church. 
Their earnest remonstrances were in 
vain. The House of Commons passed 
the bill, and transmitted it to the House 
of Lords. The Scottish Commission re- 
newed their remonstrances, and prevail- 
ed so far as to procure the addition of the 
oath of abjuration to the Bill of Tolera- 
tion, for the purpose of preventing Pa- 
pists and Jacobites from obtaining any 
advanta^ from this bill. But the wily 
Jacobites contrived to have a clause in- 
serted in the bill, requiring the ministers 
of the Established Presbyterian Church 
to come under the same obligation. There 
was one clause in the abjuration oath 
which rendered it impossible for a Pres- 
byterian to take it without explanation. 
In. the act of succession, settling the 
crown on the Hanoverian Protestant line, 
one of the conditions specified was, that 
the successor should be of the commu- 
nion of the Church of England ; and in 
he oath of abjuration, the person was 
required to swear allegiance to the suc- 
cessor as limited by that act. This the 
Presbyterians regarded as requiring them 
to swear that the sovereign ought to be 
an Episcopalian, thereby declaring a 
Presbyterian incapable of wearing the 
crown. To this they could not submit 
without stamping reprobation upon their 
own religion. But they procured from 
the House of Lords an alteration in that 
clause, changing the word as to which, 
thereby making the clause merely a nar- 
rative of the general limitation to a Pro- 
testant line, without any direct reference 
to specia conditions. The Scottish Ja- 
42 



329 

cobites were acute enough to perceive 
the import of this alteration, and had 
sufficient influence to procure in the 
House of Commons the restoration of 
the word as, well knowing the offence 
which it would give to the Presbyterians. 
They knew that the Prelatic Jacobites 
would not take the abjuration oath, be- 
cause they regarded the Popish Pretend- 
er, whom that oath abjured, as the right- 
ful heir to the British crown, and their 
great aim was to render it equally im- 
possible for Presbyterians to take it ; that 
both parties being placed in equal peril, 
so much of a mutual compromise might 
ensue as to leave the Prelatists undis- 
turbed in the prosecution of their rebel- 
lious designs for the subversion of the 
Revolution Settlement and the restoration 
of a Popish king.* Too well their 
crafty policy succeeded. No more than 
one of the Prelatic clergy ever took the 
oath of abjuration, while every one avail- 
ed himself of the toleration, and imme^ 
diately began to celebrate public worship 
with all the pomp and ceremony in 
which the Church of England delights, 
to a degree not previously seen in Scot- 
land since the Reformation. At the same 
time, so great was the dissatisfaction felt 
by the ministers and people of the Pres- 
byterian Church on account of this oath, 
that it nearly caused a schism in the 
Church, the refusal to take it being re- 
garded by many as a criterion of minis- 
terial faithfulness, and almost a term of 
communion; while the people equally 
hated and despised those ministers who 
consented to take the ensnaring and dan- 
gerous bond.f 

Some have endeavoured to represent 
this Act of Toleration as a wise and 
laudable scheme for securing religious 
liberty to all denominations of Protestant 
Christians. How much soever it may 
have ultimately contributed to that result 
such was not the intention, in even the 
slightest degree, of those by whom it was 
framed. They wished for toleration, 
that they might obtain ascendency. 
They were anxious to open Episcopalian 
chapels, only that they might soon have 
it in their power to shut Presbyterian 
churches. And they were eager to over- 

" Lockhart Papers, vol. i. pp. 379-384 ; Burnet's Own 
Times, vol. ii. p. 549. 

1 Boston's Memoirs, p. 221, et seq. ; Hog of Carnock's 
Memoirs ; Wodrow, Analecta and Letters. 



HISTORY Ot THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



330 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND 



[CHAP. IX 



throw the Presbyterian Church, because 
they knew that the principles of religious 
and civil liberty had there obtained a safe 
retreat, till they issued forth triumphant- 
ly in the Revolution, which the Jacobites 
wished to d w driving from the throne 
the Popish tyrant, whose lawless despot- 
ism they were conspiring to restore. 

The next measure brought forward by 
the Scottish Jacobites was of a still more 
pernicious character, and involved a still 
more direct violation of the national faith, 
so solemnly pledged in the Act of Secu- 
rity and the Treaty of Union. On the 
13th of March Mr. Murray, second son 
of Lord Stormont, one of the Scottish 
members, rose and obtained leave to bring 
in a bill for restoring church patronage 
in Scotland. By this time the Scottish 
commissioners from the Church had re- 
turned ;o their own country, not antici- 
pating any further infringement of their 
legal rights and privileges at that period. 
Availing themselves of the absence of 
her defenders, the enemies of the Church 
passed the bill with unusual rapidity 
through all its successive stages. On the 
7th of April it passed the House of Com- 
mons, one hundred and seventy-three 
members voting for it, and seventy-six 
against it. The very next day it was 
carried up to the House of Lords for their 
consideration. By this time tidings had 
reached Scotland of the deadly blow aim- 
ed against the Church ; and Carstares, 
Black well, and Baillie, were again sent 
to London, with instructions to offer the 
most strenuous opposition to the fatal 
measure. Before they arrived the bill 
had reached the House of Lords ; and 
although their Lordships consented to hear 
them by counsel on the subject, yet this 
was little more than empty courtesy, for 
the fate of the bill had been pre-deter- 
mined. So manifestly was this the case, 
that their lordships did not even allow 
time for decent deliberation on a subject 
of such vast international and religious 
importance. They heard the council for 
the Scottish commissioners, read the bill 
a second time, committed it, reported it, 
and read it a third time, all in one day, 
the fatal 12th of April. On the 14th, it 
was returned to the House of Commons 
with some slight amendments, which 
were agreed to without opposition ; and 
on the 22d of April that unconstitutional 



and most disastrous bill received the roy 
al assent. Whether the hand of the mis- 
guided sovereign shook when affixing the 
sign manual has not been recorded ; but 
certainly at that moment she put her 
hand to a deed by which her right to 
reign was virtually rescinded, the Revo- 
lution Settlement overturned, and the 
Treaty of Union repealed ; unless, in- 
deed, the bill itself were to be regarded 
as an absolute nullity, — an idle arrange- 
ment of mere words, " full of sound and 
fury, signifying nothing." For it will 
not be disputed by any person possessing 
competent knowledge, that the British 
sovereign reigns over the united empire, 
solely in virtue of the Act of Security, 
which is the basis of Union. Any in- 
fringement of that great, and, as it may 
almost be termed, creative act, must there- 
fore be either, with regard to the British 
parliament, a suicidal deed, and with re- 
gard to the sovereign a virtual abdica- 
tion ; or must be altogether and for ever 
null and void, incapable of acquiring any 
possible degree of validity, or of impos- 
ing upon any British subject the slightest 
shadow of obligation. It may be safely 
affirmed, that no jurist will ever prove 
that the British parliament ever did or 
can, pass an act greater than, and subver- 
sive of, that to which it owes its own ex- 
istence. It might have dethroned the 
sovereign, — it might have repealed the 
Union ; but it did not, it could not, and it 
never can, impair the Act of Security, 
unless the thing created can annihilate 
its creator ! But the law of patronage is 
contrary to the Act of Security, which it 
was, and is avowedly beyond the power 
of the British legislature to violate ; there- 
fore that unconstitutional attempt to reim- 
pose patronage was, is, and must for 
ever be, absolutely null and void, accord- 
ing to every dictate of justice, sound rea- 
son, and constitutional law. 

Both the contending parties, the 
Church of Scotland and her enemies, re- 
gard the patronage act as a violation of 
the Act of Security, as appears from their 
respective statements. Lockhart of Carn- 
wath says concerning it, " I pressed the 
Toleration and Patronage Acts more 
earnestly, that I thought the Presbyterian 
clergy would be from thence convinced 
that the establishment of their Kirk 
would in time be overturned, as it was 



A. D. 1712.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



33* 



obvious that the security thereof was not 
so thoroughly established by the Union as 
they imagined."* The commissioners of 
the Church had, in their address and re- 
presentation to the queen, when they 
were in London for the purpose of op- 
posing the passing of the Patronage Act, 
declared it to be " contrary to our 
Church constitution, so well secured by 
the Treaty of Union." This address the 
General Assembly approved and em- 
bodied in an act, thereby giving it the 
ratification of the whole Church. And 
in a meeting of the Commission of As- 
sembly, as Wodrow states, " it was own- 
ed by all, that patronages were a very 
great grievance, and sinful in the impo- 
sers, and a breach of the security of 
the Presbyterian constitution by the 
Union."f 

* Lockhart Papers, vol. i. p. 418. 

t Wodrow MS. In addition to the direct statements 
in the text from two such opposite yet concurrent 
authorities as Lockhart and Wodrow, with regard to 
the views entertained by both parties respecting the 
effects intended by, or to be expected from, the Patron- 
age Act, as calculated to impair the Scottish Church, 
shake the Union, and prepare for the return of the 
exiled Popish Pretender, the following extracts deserve 
attention — "After that, an act was brought in for the 
restoring of patronages : these had been taken away 
by an act in King William's reign. It was set up by 
the Presbyterians from their first beginning, as a prin- 
ciple, that parishes had, from warrants in Scripture, a 
right to choose their ministers ; so that they had 
always looked on the right of patronage as an invasion 
made on that. It was therefore urged, that since, by 
the Act of Union, Presbytery with all its rights and 
privileges, was unalterably secured, and since their 
kirk-session was a branch of their constitution, the 
taking from them the right of choosing their ministers 
was contrary to that act. Yet the bilf passed through 
both houses, a small opposition being only made in 
either. By these steps the Presbyterians were alarm- 
ed when they saw the success of every motion that 
was made on design to weaken and undermine their 
establishment." (Burnet's Own Times, vol. ii. p. 595.) 

" Although Mr Carstares did not succeed in his ap- 
plication to parliament against the bill for restoring 
patronages, yet his presence to London was of consid- 
erable advantage to the Church of Scotland, by giving 
him an opportunity of thwarting some other projects, 
which he considered as more dangerous in their ten- 
dency, because they affected her constitution in a more 
sensible manner. Some of her enemies, who were 
then in administration, had proposed that her annual 
Assemblies should be discontinued, as the source of all 
the opposition to the measures then pursued by the 
court ; others were of opinion that they ought to be 
permitted to meet, but should be prorogued by her 
majesty's authority, so soon as they were constituted. 
And, to take away the only pretext for holding Assem- 
blies for the future, or their sitting for any time, a bill 
was proposed, obliging presbyteries, under certain 
penalties, to settle, upon a presentation, every man to 
whom the Church had given license to preach, with- 
out any further trial or form." (Life of Carstares, pp. 
82,83.) 

"There is no doubt that the restoration of the right 
of lay patrons in Queen Anne's time was designed to 
separate the ministers of the Kirk from the "people, 
who could not be supposed to be equally attached to, 
or influenced by, a minister who held his living by the 
gift of a great man, as by one who was chosen by 
their own free voice, — and to render them more de- 
pendent on the nobility and amongst gentry, whom, 
much more than the common people, the sentiments 
of Jacobitism predominated." (Sir Walter Scott's 
Tales of a Grandfather, vol. ii. p. 242.) 



Such was the state of affairs when the 
General Assembly met on the _st of May 
1712. Notwithstanding the recent viola- 
tions of the Act of Security, the Duke of 
Athol, the commissioner, was instructed 
to use the language of approbation, 
mingled with deceitfully soothing assur- 
ances of her majesty's " firm purpose to 
maintain the Church of Scotland as es- 
tablished by law." In answer to this, the 
Assembly referred her majesty to the re- 
presentations and petitions laid before her 
by the Commission, as containing the 
views and feelings of the Church respect- 
ing the recent proceedings of Parliament. 
The Assembly further embodied the re- 
presentations, petitions, and addresses 
of the Commission in specific acts, giving 
them thereby the fullest sanction of the 
whole Church ; and gave also particular 
instructions to the Commission to use all 
dutiful and proper means for obtaining 
redress of these grievances, — instructions 
which were repeated to every succeeding 
Commission till the year 1784. An at- 
tempt was also made by the Assembly to 
frame such an explanation of the abjura- 
tion oath as would enable ministers to 
take it without doing direct violence to 
their conscientious scruples ; and an ad- 
dress was prepared to be laid before the 
queen, testifying their inviolate loyalty to 
her person and government, and their firm 
adherence to the principles of religious 
and civil liberty, and to the Protestant 
succession, and supplicating her majesty 
to employ her utmost care to protect the 
Church of Scotland, and to interpose her 
royal authority for a just redress of these 
recent grievances.* 

The enemies of the Church of Scot- 
land were considerably disappointed by 
the conduct of the General Assembly. 
They had expected that the passing of 
these iniquitous and unconstitutional laws 
would at once excite such an uncontrol- 
lable storm of indignation as would dis- 
solve the Union, and throw all Scotland 
into the hands of the Jacobites, who 
would so direct the torrent of popular 
fury as to procure the restoration of the 
Pretender first to the Scottish throne, and 
then, by the aid of the vantage-ground so 
gained, and through the intrigues of Bo- 
lingbroke, to that of England. That 
they thoroughly misunderstood the prin- 

* Acts of Assembly, year 1712. 



332 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. IX, 



ciples and character of Presbyterians is 
manifest, since they presumed to think, 
that in a weak and sinful revenge of 
wrongs sustained, true Presbyterians 
would perpetrate the greater wrong of 
aiding in replacing an avowed Papist 
on the throne. Presbyterians could 
not indeed but regard the law of 
patronage as sinful, since it was so far an 
attempt to interfere with the great Pres- 
byterian principle of the sole Sovereignty 
and Headship of the Lord Jesus over his 
Church ; but they could not fail to see, 
that to place a Popish monarch on the 
throne of the kingdom would involve an 
immeasurably more flagrant violation of 
that sacred principle. And because they 
thus felt and thought, the outrage which 
they had sustained not only brought them 
not one hair's-breadth nearer to a junc- 
tion with the Jacobites, but as they knew 
by whom the nefarious deed had been 
instigated, they were the more confirmed 
in their detestation of that treacherous 
and tyrannical faction. This may be re- 
garded as another proof how utterly im- 
possible it is for mere worldly-minded 
men to comprehend the principles and 
anticipate the conduct of Christians. 
The Jacobites knew what they would 
have done, had they been so treated ; but 
they failed miserably in their conjectures 
of what the Church of Scotland would 
do. So has it always been, so. will it 
ever be, when the man of the world pre- 
sumes to foretell the conduct of the reli- 
gious man, by the consciousness of what, 
in similar circumstances, would be his 
own. 

But the friends of the ChuTch of Scot- 
land had reason also to be disappointed 
by the conduct of the General Assembly. 
Had her councils been at that time guid- 
ed by a Knox, a Melville, or a Hender- 
son, instead of a Carstares, there can be 
little doubt that the Assembly would not 
only have declared the Act of Patronage 
an infraction of the Treaty of Union, as 
indeed was done, but also they would 
have declared it to be, for that very rea- 
son, necessarily and essentially invalid ; 
and would have passed an act, strictly 
prohibiting all probationers, ministers, 
and church courts, from yielding to it the 
slightest degree of obedience, leaving to 
the civil powers to attempt enforcing it 
by persecution or otherwise, if they could 



and dared. This they.might have done, 
and at the same time have declared with 
the most perfect truth, that this was not 
only no infringement of their own alle- 
giance, or of the Treaty of Union, but 
that it was in reality the fulfilment and 
defence of both. Nor were the Jacobites 
so powerful, and the new ministry so 
firmly seated, as to have enabled them to 
attempt the violent enforcement of a law 
so glaringly unconstitutional, and involv- 
ing such a manifest and infamous breach 
of national faith. But that ground may 
yet be taken, for the Act of Security still 
remains ; and the time may come, at no 
distant date, w hen the Church and peo- 
ple of Scotland will call upon the British 
legislature, with a voice too distinct to be 
misunderstood, and too mighty to be dis- 
regarded, to rescind its own unlawful deed 
and to leave the Presbyterian Church in 
the full possession of its rights and privi- 
leges, founded in the Redeemer's Divine 
Sovereignty, won by the blood of her 
heroic martyrs, and secured zy acts de- 
clared to be inviolable. He would be a 
strange defender of the British constitu- 
tion who should insist, that to maintain it 
in its integrity it was necessary to per- 
petuate a vitiating act of national perfidy ; 
and not less strangely would any defend 
the Church of England, who should as- 
sert, that her safety depended upon the 
permanent continuation of an act of griev- 
ous injustice committed against the Pres- 
byterian Church of Scotland. 

Not only was the Patronage Act so 
directly unconstitutional as to be essen- 
tially invalid, and absolutely incapable of 
ever acquiring validity, — not only was it 
forced through both houses of the legis- 
lature with such unseemly haste as to re- 
semble the swift and- stealthy motion of 
one who is pillaging his neighbour's 
property, — the very grounds of this illegal 
and baneful act, as stated in the preamble, 
were guileful misrepresentations and 
direct falsehoods. It begins by assert- 
ing, in general terms, that a by the an- 
cient laws and constitution of Scotland, 
the presenting of ministers to vacant 
churches did of right belong to the pa- 
trons, till, by the act of 1 690, the presen- 
tation was taken from the patrons, and 
given to the heritors and elders of the re- 
spective parishes/' At the time of the 
Reformation there were nine hundred 



A. D. 1712.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



333 



and forty parishes in Scotland, and of 
these, only about two hundred were sub- 
ject to the presentation of lay patrons, 
" by the ancient laws and constitution of 
Scotland." Was it to regulate these that 
the act of Glueen Anne was passed ? It 
could not with truth and justice apply to 
more. It is not true that the presentation 
was given to the heritors and elders, for 
there was no presentation at all under the 
Revolution Settlement ; the very word to 
present, was rigidly excluded from the 
act, lest some such idea might be enter- 
tained. Under the act 1690, ministers 
were settled, not upon the foundation of 
their being proposed by heritors and 
elders, but upon that of the acceptance 
and call of the people. This mendacious 
preamble further states, that " that way 
of calling ministers has proved inconve- 
nient, and has not only occasioned great 
heats and inconveniences among those 
who by the foresaid act were entitled and 
authorised to call ministers, but likewise 
has been a great hardship upon the pa- 
trons, whose predecessors had founded 
and endowed those churches, and who 
had not received payment or satisfaction 
for their right of patronage." Instead of 
the " way of calling ministers" under the 
act 1690 having "proved inconvenient," 
by occasioning " great heats and incon- 
veniencies," the very opposite is the 
truth. When " heats and inconveniences" 
did prevail, they were caused, not by the 
opposition to the settlement of pious and 
faithful ministers by turbulent Presby- 
terian congregations, — not even by reli- 
gious congregations opposing the settle- 
ment of ungoldly ministers, — but by 
Jacobites, Prelatists, and mobs of vagrants 
who could not be termed Christians at 
all, hired and set on by the guileful ene- 
mies of the Church of Scotland, to ob- 
struct her reforming progress, to prevent 
the consolidation of national peace and 
welfare, and to keep the country in such 
a state of confusion as might lead to the 
return of a Popish tyrant. The framers 
of that preamble w r ere the very perpetra- 
tors of the scenes of tumult of which they 
complained ; and the proper remedy 
would have been a more stringent act 
against those enemies of their country, 
the Jacobites and Prelatists of Scotland. 
During the whole period from 1690 to 
1712, not one single instance occurred in 



which the great body of the people 
deserted a parish church, on account of 
the settlement of a minister under the au- 
thority of the General Assembly.* 

That there were scenes of confusion is 
readily admitted ; but these were invaria- 
bly caused by a Prelatic party unlawfully 
obstructing the settlement of a Presby- 
terian minister.! And every one must 
see that the Prelatists in any parish could 
have no more right to interfere in the set- 
tlement of a Presbyterian minister, to 
cause confusion, and then to complain of 
it, than Presbyterians in England would 
have in tht present day to impede the 
settlement of an Episcopalian clergyman 
in any parish in that country, and then 
to assert that the strife so caused was a 
proof of the evils of absolute patronage in 
England. The only other kind of " heats 
and inconveniences" which arose at times 
were those produced by competing calls, 
when two or more different parishes 
strove each to obtain the same individual 
to be their minister. The principle by 
which the Assembly was guided in de- 
termining cases of competing calls and 
transportations, was not at that time re- 
gard to the emoluments, but to the rela- 
tive importance of the different parishes, 
invariably deciding in behalf of that 
parish which appeared to offer the largest 
sphere of public usefulness, which occa- 
sionally, from the difficulty of arriving at 
a certain conclusion, caused considerable 
delay. Yet these generous and kindly 
contests, as they may be termed, were far 
from being so numerous as has been 
generally asserted. Some of them were 
determined by the presbyteries and sy- 
nods, in which case the vacancy in the 
parish would not extend beyond a few 
months. Others were carried by appeal 
to the Assembly ; and in a very few in- 
stances the same case appeared at succes- 
sive Assemblies before a final settle- 
ment took place. But the whole num- 
ber of such cases mentioned in the only 
authoritative records, those of the Gen- 
eral Assembly, amounted to no more 
than twelve or fourteen, % during a period 
of twenty-two years, in which there 
must have been at least six or seven hun- 
dred settlements of ministers. So utterly 

* Sir Henry MoncriefTs Life of Erskine, Appendix, 
P- 433 - 

t Carstares' State Papers, p. 146. 
X Acts of Assembly. 



334 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. IX. 



false is the assertion of the preamble to 
the Patronage Act, and so undeniably- 
true is the statement of Sir Henry Mon- 
crieff, that " there is no period in the his- 
tory of the Church, in which the settle- 
ment of ministers was conducted with so 
little bustle or heat, or with as much re- 
gularity, as during the interval from 1690 
to 1712."* According to Wodrow there 
were only five or six cases of disputed 
settlements which excited any degree of 
attention during all that period, arising 
out of disagreements among the parties 
who had the right to propose, and these 
were caused by improper conduct on the 
part of the heritors. In one of these 
cases, that of the parish of Cramond, in 
1709-10, the two leading heritors con- 
tended, each wishing to procure the ap- 
pointment of a favourite candidate ; and 
in order to obtain a majority, " each side 
created new heritors to increase their 
party." " We are like," continues Wod- 
row, " to be in very sad circumstances, 
from the power of heritors in calling ; 
and the same way of choosing of minis- 
ters is like to come in which was used in 
choosing members of parliament." t So 
naturally and inevitably does the secular 
element prove itself to be of a disruptive 
and disorganizing tendency, when al- 
lowed at all to intermingle among the 
elemental powers of spiritual matters. 

It is scarcely necessary to notice the 
falsehood in the preamble respecting "the 
hardship upon the patrons, whose pre- 
decessors had founded and endowed these 
churches," caused by the act abolishing 
patronage ; for every one knows that this 
frontless assertion is not only destitute of 
truth, but that in reality many of these 
patrons, instead of founding and endow- 
ing the Church, had been themselves 
founded and endowed out of its spolia- 
tion. Their predecessors had been either 
those rapacious and unprincipled men* 
who robbed, defrauded, and attempted to 
tyrannize over the Church at the time of 
the Reformation, thwarting all its benevo- 
lent schemes, and impairing its national 
usefulness, or those mean and sycophan- 
tic minions of James VI., on whom that 
heartless despot bestowed with lavish 
hands the wealth and honours which by 

* Life of Erskine, Appendix, p. 432. 
t Wodrow, Analecta, quoted by Dr M'Crie in the 
Tatronage Report, p. 363. 



force or treachery he had succeeded m 
pillaging from the Church. If ever 
truth, justice, and religious principle be 
consulted in framing a legislative enact- 
ment respecting the patrimony of the 
Church of Scotland, not merely will pa- 
trons be deprived of their unhallowed 
power to interfere with the rights and 
privileges of Christ's spiritual kingdom 
in the appointment of his office-bearers, 
but they will be called to account for that 
stewardship into which they have unlaw- 
fully intruded, and to refund the ill-got 
gains which they had so long perverted 
and abused. Nor ought it to be over- 
looked, that although the act 1690 gave 
to patrons a right to the teinds, as com- 
pensation for the loss of their patronages 
(a compensation to which it would be 
difficult for church-spoliators to show any 
plausible claim), yet when their patron- 
ages were restored, they were not re- 
quired to restore the teinds, as common 
justice would have dictated, but retained 
" both the purchase and the price." 

Scarcely, in short, can the annals of 
history furnish a parallel to the infamous 
act reimposing patronage on the Church 
of Scotland. Every statement in its pre- 
amble, on the strength of which it pro- 
ceeded, was either cunningly deceptive or 
directly false ; it was manifestly contrary 
to the Act of Security, and therefore was 
either essentially and necessarily invalid, 
then and for ever, or to whatsoever ex- 
tent its validity might be supposed to 
reach, to that extent it was a repeal of the 
Union, and a deadly stab to the British 
constitution ; and its consequences, as 
subsequent times have too amply testified, 
have been and are fatally pernicious to 
the spiritual integrity and the national 
usefulness of the Church of Scotland. 
That it must be swept away sooner or 
later, is absolutely certain ; for the reign 
of fraud and falsehood cannot be eternal, 
their very nature being self-destructive. 
And if the time has not yet come, it soon 
must, when the generous heart of Eng- 
land, roused by the remonstrances of 
the Scottish Church and people, and en- 
lightened and directed by Him who is 
" Head over all things to the Church," 
will call upon the British legislature to 
remove from its records so foul a stain, so 
black a violation of sacred national faith, 
perpetrated by the unworthy hands o f 



A. D. 1713.] 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



335 



"the most corrupt ministry that ever sat 
at the helm of government." 

Before passing forward from this sub- 
ject, there is one remark of an explana- 
tory nature pertaining to the history of 
the period, which must be made. The 
representations and petitions of the Com- 
mission, and the embodying of these in 
the Acts of Assembly, sufficiently prove 
the light in which the Patronage Act 
was regarded by the Church of Scotland, 
as a direct infringement upon her rights 
and privileges, and an unconstitutional 
violation of the Union. But it may be 
asked, why, entertaining such views, did 
not the Church adopt a bolder line of 
procedure, imitate the example of the 
high-souled men of other days, refuse 
submission, and prepare to endure perse 4 
cution for conscience's sake, if come it 
must % Because the Church had lost the 
martyr spirit. And this loss was caused 
by the deep infusion of Prelacy, or semi- 
Prelacy, arising out of William's disas- 
trous policy and the Church's sinful com- 
pliance, in the admission of the prelatic 
incumbents. By such men patronage 
could not be regarded as to any great ex- 
tent a grievance, although they could not 
deny that it was utterly repugnant to the 
principles and constitution of Presbyte- 
rian church government ; and therefore, 
w T hile they could not oppose the represen- 
tations and petitions of the Assembly, 
founded on principles which they them- 
selves had subscribed, they would not 
have joined their better and sincerer 
brethren in any such decided opposition 
to that act as might have involved them- 
selves in danger. Gravely to remon- 
strate, and then smilingly to yield, was 
all that these proto-moderates could do ; 
and the faithful defenders of true Presby- 
terian principles, — the evangelical party 
of the day, — were in a manner constrained 
to choose between stopping when they 
had reached the extreme point to which 
their temporizing brethren would go, and 
incurring the hazard of an extensive and 
probably fatal schism, should they attempt 
to proceed beyond that point. Even this 

Eeril a Luther or a Knox would at once 
ave braved, and, by braving, would 
have triumphed over it ; for as all history, 
especially church history, testifies, the 
path of principle and the path of duty 
are the same ; and, following their direc- 



tion, the boldest course of conduct is al- 
ways both the safest and the best. When 
the Act of Glasgow expelled nearly four 
hundred ministers at once, it still left a 
majority behind ; and, though the sword 
of persecution was deeply bathed in blood, 
and the fires of persecution raged fiercely 
over the land for twenty-eight terrific 
years, the cause of the homeless and per- 
secuted minority triumphed, because it 
was the cause of truth and godliness. 
And had a similar course been taken by 
the right-minded Presbyterians, though a 
minority, it is impossible to doubt that 
a similar result would have followed in a 
much shorter period of time. But, mis- 
led by Carstares, who was better ac- 
quainted with the wiles of state diplomacy 
than with the unbending firmness of 
Christian principle, and*vitiated by the 
admission of the prelatic incumbents and 
their progeny and coadjutors, the grow- 
ing Moderate party, the Church began 
to prefer expediency to principle, and was 
left to experience the bitter consequen- 
ces of her want of faith, in a century 
of death-like spiritual lethargy, in the 
loss of the nation's respect and love, and 
in the dangers by which she is surround- 
ed, and the agonies which she endures, 
in her present state of returning faithful- 
ness and re-awakening life. 

The Cameronian Covenanters, w T ho 
had never joined the Church of Scotland 
as established at the Revolution, and who 
had remained for a number of years with- 
out a minister, obtained at length a minis- 
ter, the Rev. John Macmillan, who was 
deposed in the year 1706, on account of 
having adopted and defended the opinions 
of that rigid but high-principled body. 
The records of the proceedings which 
led to his deposition reflect little cre- 
dit on the Church of Scotland, either 
with regard to principle or prudence. 
For it would not be easy to prove that 
the Cameronians held doctrines so far dif- 
ferent from those inculcated in the Stand- 
ards of the Church, and acted upon in 
its purest times, as to have exposed them 
justly to any high degree of church cen- 
sure ; and while the Church was admit- 
ting prelatic curates " on the easiest terms" 
it was neither prudent nor seemly to deal 
harshly with men who might be narrow 
and limited in their views, but who were 
at least zealous and faithful Presbyterians. 



336 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. [CHAP. IX 



When Mr. Macmillan joined these men, 
they gradually assumed a more regular 
aspect; and though they felt themselves 
deeply aggrieved by the cold treatment 
which they received, and were not slack 
in expressing their resentment, yet they 
continued to watch the course of public 
affairs with intense anxiety, and to stand 
prepared for any great and dangerous 
emergency. The Acts of Toleration 
and Patronage roused their indignation ; 
and as the Church of Scotland had not 
met these public infringements of the 
Union and of principle with such prompt 
condemnation as she ought, the Camero- 
nians resolved to declare their views in 
the most solemn and public manner in 
their power. Accordingly, on the 23d 
of July, the societies met in a body at 
Auchinsaugh, near Douglas, and after a 
general acknowledgment of sins, national 
and personal, they solemnly renewed the 
Covenants, making, at the same time, 
such specific statements in their engage- 
ment to duties as were necessary to ac- 
commodate the general obligations of the 
Covenants to their own case and circum- 
stances.* There could be no impropriety 
in this act, viewed in itself ; indeed it was 
one in which it would have been well if 
the whole body of Scottish Presbyterians 
had joined ; but it was not followed by 
any consequences of such practical good 
as might have been expected. Unpropi- 
tious strifes and jarrings prevailed among 
them, fomented by a few men of greater 
zeal than knowledge or judgment, and 
prevented them from assuming, for many 
years, that united and harmonious aspect 
which could alone give them strength 
and importance in the community, and 
which in later times they acquired and 
continue to display. 

[1713.] The subject of greatest impor- 
tance which occupied the attention of the 
Assembly which met in 1713, was that 
which arose out of the oath of abjuration. 
A very considerable number of the best 
ministers refused to take that oath ; and a 
schism was like to take place between 
those who felt at liberty to swear and 
those who did not, or the jurants and the 
non-jurants. And it deserves to be re- 
marked, that the j u rants were more severe 
against their non-jurant brethren, than the 
non-jurants were against them, — accusing 

* Struthers' History of Scotland, p. 164, et seq. 



them bitterly of being willing to disturb 
the peace and endanger the safety of the 
Church, rather than sacrifice their 6\va 
scruples of conscience. Yet it was clear 
that the non-jurants were exposed to the 
pains and penalties of the law, because 
they refused the oath, and were willing to 
meet the hazard rather than violate their 
own conscience; whereas the jurants 
were, exposed to no such dangers, and 
ought therefore rather to have striven to 
protect their brethren, than to have aggra- 
vated their grievances by harsh and intol- 
erant treatment. It is creditable to Car- 
stares, that he exerted himself strenuously 
to prevent the threatened schism ; and 
procured an act of Assembly, inculcating 
forbearance with regard to taking or not 
taking the oath, representing it as com- 
paratively a matter of indifference. Had 
it not been for his influence, which was 
very great in the Assembly, the contest 
would in all likelihood have proved a 
schism, which might have proved destruc- 
tive to the Church in that period of danger.* 
The non-jurants, indeed, acted with ex- 
treme forbearance, notwithstanding the 
perils to which they were exposed. Al- 
most the entire body of the people detested 
the abjuration oath ; and in many instances, 
no sooner did a minister take it, than the 
congregation deserted his ministry, and 
flocked to the church of one who had re- 
fused. It would have been easy for the non- 
jurants to have raised a storm of civil com- 
motion in the land, if they had been so dis- 
posed, but they generally did their utmos\ 
to discountenance these desertions, and con- 
tinued to hold ministerial intercourse with 
their jurant brethren, even at the hazard 
of so far losing the affection of their own 
congregations. Even Boston had to en- 
counter the strong displeasure of his pa- 
rishioners, because, though he would not 
take the oath, yet he would neither speak 
against those who did, nor refrain from 
holding intercourse with them. 

The Commission of the Assembly, at 
its meeting in August, drew up an ad- 
dress, which was read from all the pulpits, 
warning the nation against the designs of 
the Papists and Jacobites, pointing out 
the deceptive nature of their intrigues, 
and the evils in which their success would 
involve the country, f This address had 

* Boston's Memoirs, pp. 223-225. t Will ison's Tes- 
timony, pp. 42, 43. 



A. D. 1714.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



337 



a very beneficial influence in guarding 
the people against the machinations of the 
rebellious Jacobites, and frustrating their 
hopes of rousing Scotland to arm in be- 
half of the Popish Pretender ; and con- 
tributed greatly to break the force of the 
insurrection when it did actually burst out 
two years afterwards. It proved, at the 
same time, how completely the most wily 
politicians had misunderstood the princi- 
ples of the Church of Scotland, in ima- 
gining that the wrongs which she had 
sustained would irritate her to the com- 
mission of treason against her own Divine 
Head and King, by aiding in the restora- 
tion of a Popish claimant to the throne. 

In the index of the unprinted acts of 
Assembly 1713, there are several refer- 
ences to the case of a Mr. William 
Dugud, probationer. This person had 
received a presentation from the crown, 
as patron of the parish of Burntisland, 
under the act 1712, and had the temerity 
to accept it and lay it before the presbytery 
of Kirkaldy. It was repelled by the 
presbytery, and came by appeal before the 
Assembly. The Assembly entered warm- 
ly into the case, deprived Mr. Dugud of 
his license, and caused a memorial to be 
drawn up, to be presented to her majesty 
by the commissioner, the Duke of Athol, 
who readily undertook the charge.* This 
prompt and decisive conduct on <the part 
of the Assembly, together with the pro- 
tests and resolutions of several presby- 
teries and synods against receiving pre- 
sentations and proceeding upon them 
without a call from the congregation, 
which was then, as it previously was and 
still is, regarded as the primary and ruling 
element in forming the pastoral connec- 
tion, had the effect of deterring both irre- 
ligious patrons and ambitious and wordly- 
minded probationers from venturing to at- 
tempt the enforcement of the perfidious and 
unconstitutional act reimposing patron- 
ages, till that generation was passing away. 

[1714.] There is a melancholy interest 
attached to the year 1714, with regard to 
the Church of Scotland, as the first in 
which the General Assembly manifested 
a disinclination to proceed with due strict- 
ness against ministers who were accused 
of holding and teaching doctrines contrary 
to Scripture and to the Standards of the 

* Unprinted Acts of Assembly : Patronage Report, 
pp. 365, 366. 

43 



Church. There had for some time been 
current reports that Mr. John Simpson, 
professor of divinity at Glasgow, taught 
Arminian and Pelagian tenets ; but the 
members of his own presbytery appear 
to have been unwilling to institute a pro- 
cess against him. The report was, how- 
ever, taken up by the Rev. James Web- 
ster, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, 
as a matter of too serious importance to 
be permitted to continue without being 
investigated. When the case came before 
the Assembly, instead of remitting it to 
the presbytery of Glasgow, with instruc- 
tions to make due inquiry, the task of con- 
ducting the prosecution was cast upon 
Mr. Webster, as if it had been a private 
affair, and not one which deeply concern- 
ed the whole Church.* The leaven of 
Moderatism was now beginning to put 
forth its corrupting power, producing 
laxity of principle, and that pernicious 
tendency to screen delinquents and to dis- 
courage men of fidelity and zeal, by which 
it has always been characterised. 

An act was passed in this Assembly, 
appointing an address to . be presented to 
her majesty, complaining of " the griev- 
ances which this Church lies under, from 
the growth of Popery, the insolence of 
Papists, and the illegal encroachments 
and intrusions of the Episcopal ministers 
and their adherents." The necessity for 
this act and address arose out of the riot- 
ous and outrageous proceedings of the 
Prelatic Jacobites of Aberdeen, who had 
violently taken possession of the Old 
Church in that city, expelling the profes- 
sor of divinity, Mr. David Anderson, and 
his congregation, whose regular place of 
worship it was.f So extravagantly law- 
less were the proceedings of the Scottish 
Prelatists at this time, trusting in the fa- 
vour of the infidel Bolingbroke, who,, as 
is well known, was employing every 
artifice to procure the succession of the 
Popish Pretender, that it was found ne- 
cessary to pass in parliament another 
Rabbling Act, to prevent them from abso- 
lutely pulling down those Presbyterian 
churches into which they found it difficult 
to intrude so as to secure possession. Yet 
these lawless men were at the very same 
time continuing to utter loud complaints 
of the persecution which they had to sus- 

" Unprinted Acts of Assembly. t Act xil of 

Assembly 1714. 



338 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. IX. 



tain from Presbyterians ! And Scottish 
Prelatists can yet be found rash enough 
to repeat the mendacious tale ! They 
would more consult the credit of their 
ancestors, and their own reputation for 
knowledge and veracity, did they allow 
the records of those times to sink into 
oblivion, lest it become necessary for the 
Church of Scotland, in her own defence, 
to drag anew their deeds of darkness to 
the light. 

But while the Jacobite party were thus 
employing every violent and treacherous 
method in their power for the overthrow 
of the Church of Scotland, as a prelim- 
inary step to the subversion of the Revo- 
lution and the recall of the exiled Pre- 
tender to the crown, their hopes were 
suddenly blasted by the death of Queen 
Anne, on the 1st of August 1714, and 
the instantaneous dissolution of that cor- 
rupt administration, by whose evil deeds 
so dark a stain had been brought upon 
the latter years of her reign. The un- 
opposed succession of the Elector of 
Hanover, George I., drove that fierce and 
unprincipled faction into a frantic and 
premature attempt to place by force of 
arms the Popish exile on the throne. 
The detail of the events of the unsuccess- 
ful rebellion must be left to the civil his- 
torian ; but it must here be stated, that 
the injuries done to the Church of Scot- 
land by Jacobite intrigues had great in- 
fluence in preventing many Presbyterians, 
who disapproved of the Union, from join- 
ing the rebels, and thus the consequences 
of their evil deeds recoiled with fatal ef- 
fect upon their own guilty heads. 

[1715.] When the Assembly met in 
May 1715, its attention was chiefly occu- 
pied by two topics which have always 
manifested a peculiar affinity for each 
other by their simultaneous appearance, 
— unsoundness of doctrine and the griev- 
ance of patronage. An act was passed 
appointing a committee for preserving the 
purity of doctrine, and for considering the 
process of Mr. Webster against Professor 
Simson. The instructions to the com- 
mittee, contained in this act, exhibit but 
too plainly a predetermination to throw 
every possible obstruction in the way of 
Mr. Webster, so as to render the proof 
of the accusation almost impossible ; 
while every facility was given to Profes- 
sor Simson to frame such evasive explana- 



tions as might eventually secure his 
acquittal.* 

The next act of importance is " con- 
cerning the grievances of the Church 
from toleration, patronages," &c. This 
act embodies a memorial to his majesty, 
which the Duke of Montrose was re- 
quested to present and support. In the 
first part of this memorial, the Assembly 
pointed out the unequal character of the 
toleration, inasmuch as, while it gave the 
utmost possible freedom to Episcopalian 
dissenters in Scotland, notwithstanding 
their avowed Jacobitism, and their refusal 
to take the oaths of allegiance and abju- 
ration, it did not give the same liberty to 
Presbyterian dissenters in England. In 
truth, the Act of Toleration, against which 
the Church of Scotland complained as a 
grievance, was totally different from what 
is properly meant by the term toleration. 
Its nature and intention was, to give en- 
couragement to Prelacy and discourage- 
ment to Presbytery ; and it was because 
of its unjust partiality, not because of its 
toleration, that the Church of Scotland 
regarded it as a grievance. Yet, because 
they complained of an act of a persecut- 
ing character, disguised under a plausible 
name, they have been, and still are accus- 
ed of intolerance, and of cherishing a 
persecuting spirit. Surely neither State 
nor Church is bound to countenance and 
cherish error, though they may tolerate, 
pity, and attempt to instruct the erring ; 
and surely it is not intolerance to abstain 
from elevating to places of public trust 
and influence men who are known to en- 
tertain principles whose native tendency 
is destructive to the public welfare. 

That part of the memorial which refers 
to patronage deserves to be extracted, in 
order to show the opinions then entertain- 
ed respecting that grievance. " By the 
act restoring the power of presentation to 
patrons, the legally established constitu- 
tion of this Church was altered in a very 
important point; and while it appears 
equitable in itself, and agreeable to the 
liberty of Christians and a free people, to 
have interest in the choice of those to 
whom they entrust the care of their souls, 
it is a hardship to be imposed upon in so 
tender a point, and that frequently by pa- 
trons who have no property or residence 
in the parishes; and this, besides the 

* Act of Assembly 1715. 



A. D. 1717.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



339 



snares of simonaical factions, and the 
many troubles and contests arising from 
the power of patronages, and the abuses 
thereof by disaffected patrons putting their 
power into other hands, who as effectually 
serve their purposes, — by patrons com- 
peting for the right of presentation in the 
same parish, — and by frequently present- 
ing ministers, settled in eminent posts, to 
mean and small parishes, to elude the 
planting thereof, — by all which parishes 
are often kept long vacant, to the great 
hindrance of the progress of the gospel."* 
Such were the bitter fruits which patron- 
age was beginning to bear within three 
years after its unconstitutional reimposi- 
tion upon the Church of Scotland, — fruits 
which might gratify infidels and enemies 
of Christianity, such as Bolingbroke and 
the Jacobites, but which seems strange 
that any man professing to be a lover of 
religious purity and national welfare could 
contemplate, without immediately and 
strenuously exerting himself to procure 
the uprooting of that tree of death. 

A severe act was passed by the same As- 
sembly against some ministers, and two 
probationers, in the counties of Dumfries 
and Galloway, who manifested a strong 
inclination to countenance the Covenanters, 
and to join Mr. Macmillan, who was as 
yet their only regular minister, although 
these ministers, Messrs. Taylor, Hepburn, 
and Gilchrist, had held partial com- 
munion with them. It is painful to have 
to record, that the Church of Scotland had 
exhibited a more intolerant spirit in its 
treatment of its own better children, the 
remnant of the Covenanters, and those 
who were disposed to favour them, than it 
did towards the persecuting and rebellious 
Prelatists. It suggests too strongly the 
idea of severity against the weak, and a 
mean and timid compromise with the 
strong. 

[1716.] Before the next meeting of the 
General Assembly, the kingdom had 
been shaken by the storm of civil war, 
raised by the rebellion of the Jacobites. 
In this dangerous period the Church of 
Scotland manifested themost unshaken loy- 
alty, notwithstanding the injurious treat- 
ment which it had received since the Union. 
And although in many parts of the coun- 
try the people, resenting their grevious 
wrongs, could not be prevailed upon to 

* Assembly 1715, act ix. 



rise in support of the government, they 
were still less disposed to lend direct assis- 
tance to a Popish Pretender to the crown. 
They had been injured deeply in their 
dearest interests and most valued rights 
and privileges, by the acts of Queen 
Anne's latter years, and had obtained no 
redress from the new sovereign ; there- 
fore they stood comparatively aloof from 
the contest, merely acting upon the de- 
fensive against the rebels, under the in- 
fluence of an unwise though not an unna- 
tural resentment. But the very fact of 
this stern unmoving attitude, in such a 
time, ought to have taught a wise and pa- 
ternal government to grant such an im- 
mediate and complete redress as would 
have restored the alienated affections of a 
brave, high-minded, intelligent, and reli- 
gious people, whose allegiance to their 
king was based upon and regulated by 
their fear and love of God. 

Nothing of peculiar importance was 
done by the Assembly. The case of 
Professor Simson was again referred to a 
committee, who were directed to proceed 
with all due expedition in preparing the 
matter for a final decision by next As- 
sembly. One act was passed, of no great 
importance in itself, but throwing con- 
siderable light upon the subject of patron- 
age and intrusion. It referred to that 
person who had signalized himself by be- 
ing the first to accept a presentation after 
the passing of the Patronage Act, — - 
namely, William Dugud. Upon being 
deprived by the Assembly of his license, 
he joined the Scottish Prelatists ; and we 
find him busy raising a mob, and at its 
head endeavouring to effect a forcible in- 
trusion into the church of Burntisland.* 
So strong is the congenial affinity be- 
tween Prelacy, patronage, and intrusion, 
that the potential presence of any one of the 
three has always tended to the introduc- 
tion of the others ; and, when in full and 
united operation, the result has always 
been a fearful amount of worldly-minded- 
ness in the clerical body, spiritual despot- 
ism in church courts, and spiritual le- 
thargy throughout the community, dis- 
turbed by acts of tyranny on the part of 
the ecclesiastical rulers, and partially 
counteracted by dissent or secession. 

[1717.] The course of defection on 

* Acts xiv. and xv. of Assembly 1716 ; also Unprinted 
Acts. 



340 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. IX, 



which the Church of Scotland had en- 
tered became more and more apparent 
every year, and the Assembly of 1717 
was guilty of several acts more glaringly 
evil than those of its predecessors. The 
case of Professor Simson was finally de- 
cided by this Assembly ; and although it 
was clearly proved that he had taught 
Arminian and Pelagian tenets, the As- 
sembly merely found, that he had vented 
some opinions not necessary to be taught 
in divinity; had used some expressions 
which are capable of bearing a bad sense, 
and are employed in that sense by adver- 
saries ; and that in answering the objec- 
tions urged by the antagonists of the gos- 
pel, he had made use of hypotheses that 
tend to attribute too much to natural rea- 
son and the power of corrupt nature ; 
which expressions and hypotheses they 
prohibited him from using for the future. 
This culpable lenity appears to have 
arisen in a great measure from the de- 
plorable fact, that a large proportion 
of the Assembly were themselves tainted 
with opinions equally unsound, many of 
the members having been the pupils, or 
being the relations and personal friends 
of the heretical professor.* Great alarm 
was felt by the more sound and orthodox 
part of the Church, lest this unfaithful 
procedure should tend to encourage that 
proneness to innovations and to laxity of 
doctrine which were already but too pre- 
valent, especially among the young and 
recently admitted ministers. 

This alarm was instantaneously in- 
creased by another act passed by the As- 
sembly on the very same day on which 
such tenderness was shown to heresy. 
Aware of the tendency to false doctrine ra- 
pidly springing up among young men, the 
presbytery of Auchterarder, with a view to 
prevent the growth of the evil in their 
bounds, prepared a series of searching 
questions, which were proposed to stu- 
dents, and required to be answered before 
they should receive license to preach. A 
young man, named William Craig, had ap- 
peared before the presbytery of Auchterar- 
der ; and though his trials were sustained 
in the general form, yet, because he did not 
give satisfaction in his answers to their 
own series of questions, they refused to 
grant him an extract of his license. He 
appealed to the Assembly, and laid before 

• Acts of Assembly ; Willison'a Testimony, p. 45. 



that court the particular question to which 
his answer had been the most unsatisfac- 
tory. The question, or rather article, 
was this : — " That I believe that it is not 
sound and orthodox to teach, that we 
must forsake sin in order to our coming 
to Christ, and instating us in covenant 
with God." The Assembly not only 
prohibited the presbytery of Auchterar- 
der, and all other presbyteries, from re- 
quiring subscription to any formula but 
such as had been expressly approved of 
by the Assemblies of the Church ; but 
further declared their " abhorrence of the 
foresaid proposition, as unsound, and most 
detestable as it stands and was offered to 
Mr. Craig." And the presbytery of 
Auchterarder was commanded to answer 
to the Commission what they could de- 
sign by such a proposition.* Against 
this hasty sentence of the Assembly 
several of the best ministers of the Church 
remonstrated, but could not prevent its 
passing. 

In the unprinted acts of this Assembly, 
there are two acts relating to the case of 
Mr. John Hay, who had been appointed 
to the parish of Peebles ; but, although 
his call was signed by several heritors 
and elders, the opposition to his settlement 
by the people was so strong, that the 
presbytery refused to proceed with it. 
The first act required the presbytery 
to proceed with the settlement, and ap- 
pointed a committee to confer with the 
presbytery and with the people of the 
parish, in order to remove, if practicable, 
the opposition. Not finding the opposi- 
tion so easily removed, and the majority 
of the Presbytery being still reluctant to 
proceed contrary to the feelings of the 
people, another act was passed, " appoint- 
ing certain brethren to correspond with 
the presbytery of Peebles, and to act and 
vote in their meetings at their next en- 
suing diet, and thereafter until the settle- 
ment of Mr. John Hay in the parish of 
Peebles be completed, and to concur with 
them in his ordination."! By this device 
both the opposition of the people and the 
conscientious reluctance of the presbytery 
were surmounted, and an unscrupulous 
hireling intruded upon an unwilling con- 
gregation. And it is of importance to 
mark, that this was the first instance on 

* Acts of Assembly ; Boston's Memoirs, p. 266. 
t Unprinted Acts of Assembly, year 1717. 



A. D. 1718.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



341 



record in which the superior church 
courts appointed an ambulatory commis- 
sion, with powers to outvote and overrule 
the conscientious reluctance of a presby- 
tery to inflict a grievous wrong upon the 
people ; giving thereby a precedent to a 
course of procedure which was a few 
years afterwards matured into a system 
under the sway of Moderate policy during 
its first dynasty, when its decrees were 
regularly carried into effect by these 
"Riding Committees," as they were 
termed, from their dragoon-like array, 
and doughty achievements in the cause 
of spiritual despotism. 

A few sentences may be necessary for 
explaining the conduct of the Assembly 
in its rash condemnation of what some of 
its members scornfully termed " The 
Auchterarder Creed." Those who are 
conversant with modern church history 
are aware, that Arminian tenets were 
adopted by a large proportion of the Eng- 
lish clergymen, very soon after their con- 
demnation by the Synod of Dort. When 
Prelacy was forced into Scotland by the 
treachery of James I. and the violence of 
his sons, Arminianism came along with it 
in its most glaring aspect ; and even after 
the overthrow of Scottish Prelacy, the 
evil taint was found to have diffused itself 
beyond the direct Prelatists, and to have 
been imbibed by many of the. indulged 
ministers. By them, and by the Prelatic 
incumbents, whom William's pernicious 
policy induced the Church of Scotland to 
admit at and after the Revolution, these 
erroneous notions wer* still more exten- 
sively spread throughout the Scottish 
Church, especially among the young 
ministers. Two other circumstances com- 
bined partially to modify, and yet aid in 
the diffusion of erroneous doctrines. For 
some time previous to the Revolution, 
considerable numbers of young men went 
from Scotland to Holland to be educated 
for the ministry, the distracted and op- 
pressed state of their own country not per- 
mitting them to obtain the necessary in- 
struction at home. But Holland itself 
had imbibed many of the tenets of Armi- 
nius. notwithstanding the counteracting 
influence of such men as Witsius ; and 
several of the young Scottish students 
adopted these sentiments, and, returning 
to their native country, attempted to 
supersede the strong Calvinistic doctrines 



which had hitherto prevailed in Scotland, 
by the introduction of this refined Armi* 
nianism. A similar process was at the 
same time going on in England among 
the Dissenters. Baxter's writings had 
gained, as on many accounts they justly 
deserved, great celebrity ; and many fol- 
lowed his views respecting the doctrine of 
grace, which are deeply tinged with 
Arminian notions. A controversy arose 
which turned chiefly on the question, 
" W'hether the gospel is a new law, or 
constitution, promising salvation upon a 
certain condition ?" some making that 
condition to be faith, others making it 
faith and repentance, to which others 
added sincere though imperfect obedience 
Those who maintained the affirmative 
were termed Neonomians, or new-law 
men ; those who opposed this theory were 
by its adherents unjustly termed Antino- 
mians. It will easily be seen that the 
theory of the Neonomians was essentially 
Arminian, though it did not assume an 
aspect so manifestly unscriptural. In this 
less off nsive form it made great progress 
in Scotland, where, from the causes 
already mentioned, too many were predis- 
posed to receive it, in preference to the 
sterner tenets of the genuine Presbyterian 
Church, whose standards they had sub- 
scribed, but were exceedingly desirous to 
modify and soften. 

The older and sounder ministers strove 
to stem this tide of innovation, but with 
little success. The Neonomians were 
soon the most numerous, as they were 
readily joined by all the admitted Prelat- 
ists, and by the greater part of the in- 
dulged ; and, as it may be easily supposed, 
they found most favour from men of the 
world, who are always delighted to hear 
the gospel characterized as a " milder 
dispensation," by which expression they 
are prone to understand, one that may be 
violated with comparative impunity. Nor 
was it strange that the party which loved 
to regard the gospel as a new and miti- 
gated law, should be found the most com- 
pliant, when statesmen wished to mould 
into greater conformity with their own 
inclinations the constitution and govern- 
ment of the Church. And for this rea- 
son also, that parly received a degree of 
political countenance and support, which 
their opponents, the more orthodox and 
truly Presbyterian party, could not hope 



342 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. [CHAP. IX. 



to obtain. To counteract this growing 
spirit of innovation and defection, as far 
as might be in their power, the evangeli- 
cal party exerted themselves to the utmost 
both in composing new works, calculated 
to exhibit and diffuse sound doctrine, and 
by republishing old ones of a similar 
character. They endeavoured also to 
make their examinations of young men 
preparing for the ministry, such as should 
not only test their religious opinions, but 
should likewise tend to convey sound in- 
struction to those who might be willing 
to receive it. The catechism written by 
Mr. Hamilton of Airth, to which refer- 
ence was formerly made, was one of the 
productions to which this scheme of the 
evangelical party gave birth. Hog of 
Carnock distinguished himself greatly by 
his labours in behalf of sound doctrine ; 
and nearly all the popular works of Bos- 
ton were written for the same purpose, 
and were of incalculable service to the 
cause of truth. The " Auchterardei 
Creed," as it was scoffingly called, pre- 
sents one instance of the various attempts 
made by presbyteries to secure the ortho- 
doxy of those to whom they gave license 
to preach, that they might preach not 
" another gospel," but the truth as it is in 
Jesus. The strong terms in which the 
Assembly condemned the proposition al- 
ready quoted, will scarcely excite sur- 
prise, when the sentence is viewed as 
pronounced by polemical disputants. Yet 
the full amount of that polemical asperity 
which dictated a censure so severe against 
a proposition ceitainly true, though some- 
what loosely expressed, could not be en- 
tirely accounted for without a closer view 
of the course adopted by the Neonomians. 
Instead of meeting in fair argument the 
accusations urged against their new sys- 
tem, they endeavoured to recriminate upon 
their antagonists, and accused them vehe- 
mently of Antinomianism. In this spirit 
they evidently regarded the Auchterarder 
proposition as containing one of the 
darkest of the Antinomian tenets ; where- 
as a little more discrimination and can- 
dour, and a little less party prejudice, 
might have enabled them to perceive that 
it was intended merely to guard against 
the unsound doctrine, that a man must of 
himself first abandon sin, and cease to be 
a sinner, before he can be at liberty or 
entitled to come to Christ, and to enter 



into covenant with God. What they con- 
demned in such strong terms was their 
own prejudiced construction of a really 
sound proposition, and not that orthodox 
tenet which it was intended to express. 
It will be found that these remarks apply 
to much of the contest which arose at this 
time, and so deeply agitated the Church 
for several dangerous years. 

While sitting in the General Assembly 
during the discussions respecting Pro- 
fessor Simson and the Auchterarder pro- 
position, the Rev. Thomas Boston hap- 
pened to mention to Mr. Drummond of 
Crieff, that he had met with an old book 
called the Marrow of Modern Divinity, 
with which he had been much pleased. 
Mr. Drummond, with some difficulty, 
procured a copy of the work thus recom- 
mended. It was perused and approved 
of by Mr. Webster of Edinburgh, Mr. 
Hog of Carnock, and other eminent di- 
vines. Subsequently, Mr. Hog, by the 
advice of his friends, wrote a recommen- 
datory preface to it, and it was republished 
in the course of the year 1718.* The 
importance of this apparently slight inci- 
dent, in its ultimate bearing upon the 
Church of Scotland, cannot well be over- 
estimated, as shall shortly appear. 

The only other subject of importance 
which occurred this year, was the draw- 
ing up of a memorial by Wodrow the 
historian, which he sent to Colonel Er- 
skine of Cardross, to guide that gentle- 
man in his application to government for 
redress of those grievances under which 
the Church of Scotland groaned, especi- 
ally that of patronage. The whole of 
this important document deserves atten- 
tion, as a few sentences will prove. 
11 Nothing can more nearly affect the pre- 
sent and the after generation, this Na- 
tional Church, and even his majesty's 
government, than a right, regular, and 
scriptural establishment as to the settling 
of ministers. The foundation of almost 
all the wrong reasonings upon this head, 
is a notion got into the heads of too many 
persons of rank and figure, that gospel 
ministers are a set of men whom custom 
hath beat in to talk a while once a-week 
to them upon serious subjects, and there- 
fore are to have a maintenance and sub- 
sistence allowed them, as law accords; 
and such who are bound by law to give 

* Boston's Memoirs, pp. 266, 267. 



A. D. 1719.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



them their small stipends are to call and 
choose them ; meanwhile they have no 
notion of a pastoral charge, or the merit 
in all duties and relations betwixt a min- 
ister and those for whom he must account, 
as well as that his hearers must give ac- 
count of this great gift to them. Besides 
this gross notion of a gospel ministry and 
their maintenance, it is lamentably evi- 
dent that statesmen and persons of rank 
and quality have of a long time been 
essaying to involve this Church and the 
judicatory thereof in their parties and 
designs, and to make tools of ministers to 
carry on their secular purposes. As to 
ministry brought into a church by the 
power of patrons, they must be dependent 
and servile, and so corrupt and despised. 
We have this to encourage us in this ap- 
plication, that the king, when Elector of 
Hanover, did express his' dislike of the 
bill for bringing in patrons, as what 
would break his best friends in Scotland. 
I do not see that any smoothings in this 
affair will do. Restricting of patrons, if 
the people be forfeited of their just right, 
or obliging them to take the consent of 
presbyteries before they present a min- 
ister already fixed to a congregation, will 
but line the yoke, and make it sit closer 
to our necks, and perpetuate it upon us 
and posterity."* Such were the opin- 
ions of the sagacious and thoughtful 
Wo irow. Had he been filled with the 
spirit of prophecy, he could not more 
justly have characterised patrons and 
patronage, or more accurately have fore- 
told the evil consequences about to fol- 
low ; and it were well if men in the pre- 
sent times would ponder upon the danger 
of all attempts to devise such a restriction 
of that intolerable yoke as shall merely 
give it a firmer clasp, and render it a per- 
petual bondage. 

[1718.] The only act of the Assembly 
of 1718 to which it is necessary to advert 
was one concerning the presbytery of 
Auchterarder ; from which it appears, 
that the presbytery had given such an ex- 
planation of their meaning in the cen- 
sured proposition as satisfied the Commis- 
sion. They were therefore exonerated 
from further blame, and merely warned 
to abstain from using such questionable 
language for the future. 

* See the document quoted by Dr. M'Crie, Patronage 
Report, pp. 364, 365. 



[1719.] In the year 1719, an act of 
parliament was passed in consequence of 
the complaints and remonstrances of the 
Church, calculated to put an end to some 
of the abuses of patronage, and by 
many thought to be available for a great 
deal more. One of the glaring abuses 
of patronage consisted in patrons present- 
ing to vacant charges ministers who 
were already in more important situa- 
tions, or who were known to be so hos- 
tile to patronage that they would not ac- 
cept presentations at all. By such means 
the parishes were kept vacant for several 
years, during which time the patrons re- 
tained possession of the stipend, thereby 
defrauding the Church of its patrimony, 
and the people of a minister. By this 
act it was declared, that if any patron 
should present to a vacant charge the 
minister of any other parish, or any per- 
son who should not accept or declare his 
willingness to accept of the presentation 
within the usual time — six months — such 
presentation should not be accounted any 
interruption of the course of time allowed 
to the patron for presenting, but the jus 
devolutum should take place as if no pre- 
sentation had been offered. This was 
certainly calculated to put an end to that 
form of abuse ; but at the time it was 
generally thought to be equivalent to a 
repeal of the Patronage Act ; "and that 
no Presbyterian would ever expressly de- 
clare his accepting of a presentation to go 
so far to approve or comply with patron- 
age, which Presbyterians had always de- 
clared to be a heavy yoke and burden on 
the Church of God."* And according- 
ly, says Willison, "there was no man 
that presumed to take, accept, or make 
use of a presentation for several years 
after this act was passed." It was, in- 
deed, proposed by some, that the As- 
sembly should follow up this act of par- 
liament by another of their own, prohib- 
iting all probationers and ministers from 
accepting presentations, on pain of the 
highest church censures, being persuad 
ed that government intended to give to the 
Church this opportunity of getting quit 
of patronage without the formality of a 
legislative enactment. Others thought 
that all that was intended was only to put 
an end to the abuse of evasive presenta- 
tions. But amid this diversity of opinion 

* Willison's Testimony, p. 48; 



344 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. IX 



respecting the real intention of the act, 
and lulled into security by regarding the 
dangers arising out of the exercise of 
patronage as now removed, and with a 
growing Moderate party already pre- 
dominant in the church courts, who had 
little predilection for the original princi- 
ples of Presbytery, the Church did not 
avail itself of this opportunity of throw- 
ing off the yoke, or at least of testing the 
sincerity of the friendly professions of 
government. By this restriction the yoke 
was lined, to use the words of Wodrow, 
and more firmly fixed than before. 

In the meantime what has been term- 
ed the Marrow Controversy had begun. 
The republication of this work by Mr. 
James Hog of Carnock, with a recom- 
mendatory preface from his pen, had ex- 
cited great displeasure among the lead- 
ing men of the Church, who were near- 
ly all Neonomians. Mr. Hog found it 
necessary to publish, early in 1719, " An 
Explanation of the Passages excepted 
against in the Marrow of Modern Di- 
vinity." Soon after this, Principal Had- 
dow of St. Andrews, in a sermon preach- 
ed at the meeting of the synod of Fife 
in April, directly assailed the doctrinal 
views contained in Marshall's Treatise 
on sanctification, and especially in the 
Marrow of Modern Divinity. This ser- 
mon having been published at the re- 
quest of the synod, the discussion assumed 
the form of a regular controversy be- 
tween the two parties in the Church, — 
the Evangelical and constitutional party 
who adhered firmly to the original and 
fundamental principles held by the Pres- 
byterian Church in its purest times, and 
especially at the periods of the First and 
Second Reformations, — and the Neono- 
mian and innovating Moderate party, who 
displayed an ominous readiness to accom- 
modate the gospel to the inclinations of 
fallen man, and to modify the principles 
of Church government and discipline so 
as to meet the views of politicians and 
men of the world. No express mention 
was made of the Marrow in the assem- 
bly of 1719; but in the instructions 
given to the commission, they were 
directed to " inquire into the publishing 
and spreading of books and pamphlets 
tending to the diffusing of the condemned 
proposition of Auchterarder, and promo- 
ting a system of opinions relative thereto 



which are inconsistent with our Confes 
sions of Faith ; and that the reconv 
menders of such books and pamphlets, 
or the errors therein contained, be called 
before them, to answer for their conduct 
in such recommendations."* The Com- 
mission entered upon the discharge of 
this duty with keen alacrity. They 
chose what they termed a "committee 
for preserving the purity of doctrine," who 
nominated a sub-committee to sit at St. 
Andrews, to " ripen the affair," by fix- 
ing on the persons to be called before 
them, and drawing up a list of questions 
for their examination. In a short time 
the following ministers were summoned 
to attend the committee at Edinburgh, — 
the Rev. Messrs. Warden of Gargunnock, 
Brisbane of Stirling, Hamilton of Airth, 
a»d Hog of Carnock. The answers of 
these ministers were declared by the 
Edinburgh committee to be satisfactory ; 
and it was confidently anticipated that a 
favourable report would be returned to 
the Assembly, and that the threatened con- 
troversy would speedily terminate in 
peace. But this was by no means the 
intention of the St. Andrews sub-com- 
mittee. Led on by Principal Haddow,j 
that small conclave was busily engaged 
in picking out every objectionable expres- 
sion that could be found in the Mar- 
row and in the writings of its defenders ; 
separating these from the context, and so 
arranging them as to give them the ap- 
pearance of a connected series of hetero- 
dox propositions, and framing the whole 
into a report calculated to impose upon 
the Assembly, which could not be expect- 
ed to enter into such a minute examina- 
tion of the book as it was to be supposed 
had been done by a committee appointed 
expressly for that purpose. 

[1720] When the general Assembly 
met in May 1720, instead of the favour- 
able report of the Edinburgh committee, 
which had been expected, that of the St. 
Andrews sub-committee, drawn up by 
Principal Haddow, was laid before the 
house. This report had been framed 
with such art as to convey the impression 
to all who were not thoroughly acquaint- 
ed with the Marrow of Modern Divinity 

* Acts of Assembly, year 1719. 
t There is reason to believe that Principal Haddow 
acted in this manner under the influence of personal 
enmity against Mr Hog, arising out of some disagree- 
ment which had occurred between them when student* 
in Holland. (Gospel Truth, p. 483.) 



t D. 1721.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



345 



itself, that it was a book of the most per- 
nicious tendency, calculated to lead its 
readers into the most dangerous errors. 
In vain did its defenders attempt to pro- 
cure a fair and thorough investigation of 
the work, for the purpose of showing 
that some injudicious and unguarded ex- 
pressions were so modified by others, and 
by the general spirit of the book, that, 
taken collectively, the doctrine of the 
book was orthodox and scriptural. This 
which is the only fair and candid mode 
of ascertaining what are really an 
author's sentiments, was refused, and the 
attention of the Assembly was rigidly 
confined to the expressions selected by 
the accusers. It is perfectly evident, 
that by a careful selection of incautious 
phrases, employed incidentally by an 
author when his mind is mainly occupied 
by another topic, he may be made to 
seem the supporter of opinions which it 
is his very object to repudiate and con- 
lemn. By such a sophistical process 
Lnther may be made the defender of Po- 
pery, and Calvin of universal redemption ; 
by such a process Calvin, and Beza, and 
Knox, and the Standards of the Church 
of Scotland, have been made the defen- 
ders of patronage and intrusion ; and by 
such a process the Bible itself has been 
made to give support to heresy. Thus 
misled by the sophistical report of its com- 
mittee, the General Assembly was in- 
duced to pass an act condemning the 
Marrow of Modern Divinity, on account 
of the false doctrine which it was said to 
contain. 

In the act condemning the Marrow, 
the passages said to contain false doc- 
trine are arranged under five heads : — 
1st, Concerning the nature of faith, the 
charge being that assurance is made to 
be of the essence of faith ; 2d, Univer- 
sal atonement and pardon ; 3d, Holiness 
not necessary to salvation ; 4th, Fear of 
punishment and hope of reward not al- 
lowed to be motives of a believer's obe- 
dience ; 5th, That the believer is not un- 
der the law as a rule of life. To these 
are added, " Six Antinomian paradoxes," 
which are said to be " sensed," or ex- 
plained and " defended by applying to 
them that distinction of the law of works 
and the law of Christ." Assuming, on 
the authority of the subcommittee's re- 
port, that these heret cal tenets were 
44 



really contained in the Marrow of Mo- 
dern Divinity, the General Assembly 
passed an act, on the 20th of May 1720, 
by which they " strictly prohibit and dis- 
charge all the ministers of this Church, 
either by preaching, writing, or printing, 
to recommend the said book, or in dis- 
course to say any thing in favour of it ; 
but, on the contrary, they are hereby en- 
joined and required to warn and exhort 
their people in whose hands the said 
book is, or may come, not to read or use 
the same."* It would be improper here 
to enter into religious controversy ; but 
this much may be said, that tie five heads 
condemned by the Assembly are not 
taught by the Marrow of Modern Divi- 
nity, though incidental expressions, taken 
apart from the context, may seem to have 
some such tendency ; and that there are 
very few books to be found containing 
equally clear and satisfactory views of 
the gospel. , 

This act of Assembly, together with 
one respecting preaching catechetical 
doctrine, in which there are some very 
questionable expressions, excited great 
dissatisfaction and anxiety in the minds 
of all the sound and faithful ministers 
throughout the country ; and the subject 
was discussed at the meetings of presby- 
teries and synods, in various quarters, 
particularly in the presbytery of Selkirk 
and the synod of Merse and Teviotdale. 
A correspondence was begun between 
Messrs. Boston of Etterick, Gabriel Wil- 
son of Maxton, and Ebenezer Erskine 
of Portmoak, Wilson of Perth, and Hog 
of Carnock, and others, respecting the 
steps which ought to be taken for the vin- 
dication of the truth in this day of trou- 
ble and rebuke. It was at length agreed 
that a representation and petition should 
be given in to next Assembly, for the 
purpose of endeavouring to procure the 
repeal of the act condemning the Mar- 
row. After several interviews had taken 
place, the matter was matured, and the 
representation prepared and signed, pre- 
paratory to its being laid before the As- 
sembly.! 

[1721.] Considerable anxiety was felt 
throughout the Church respecting the 
possible issue of the controversy, in the 
aspect which it had now assumed. Many 

* Acts of Assembly, year 1720, act v. t Boston' 

Memoirs, pp. 295-301. 



346 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. IX, 



who disapproved of the sentence of con- 
demnation into which the Assembly had 
been betrayed by Principal Had do w, 
were yet afraid that the representation 
would not lead the Assembly to repeal 
an act once passed, and might end in the 
expulsion of the eminent divines by 
whom that document was signed. Great 
endeavours were accordingly made to 
induce them to withhold the representa- 
tion ; but having arrived at the convic- 
tion that it was an act of imperative duty, 
they could not be dissuaded. The re- 
presentation was at length formally laid 
before the committee of bills, and a day 
was appointed on which the subject was 
to be discussed in the Assembly.* What 
the result might have been, had the dis- 
cussion taken place while the minds of 
the members were in a state of irritation, 
it is impossible to say ; but as the com- 
missioner was labouring under serious 
indisposition, it was thought proper to 
shorten the sitting of the Assembly, in- 
trusting to'the Commission such business 
as it could not overtake. This was a 
propitious circumstance, as it gave both 
time and occasion to further investigation, 
besides preventing the hazard of a deci- 
sion by the Assembly in a state of rash 
and intemperate warmth. 

The most important matter intrusted 
to the Commission was that which rela- 
ted to the Representee, as the twelve 
ministers who had signed the represen- 
tation were called. Several conferences 
took place between the Representers and 
the Commission immediately after the 
rising of the Assembly ; but the subject 
was postponed to a subsequent meeting 
of Commission in August. At this meet- 
ing the Commission could not agree 
upon their own course of procedure, 
some being disposed to act with severity, 
others recommending a milder method. 
In November, the Representers were re- 
quired to furnish written answers to a 
series of twelve queries which had been 
prepared. They perceived clearly the 
intention of this proposal, which was to 
bring them as delinquents before the 

* The representation was signed by the following 
welve ministers :— the Rev. Messrs. James Hog of Car- 
nock, Thomas Boston of Ettei ick. John Bonar of Tor- 
phichen, John Williamson of Inveresk, James Kid of 
Queensferrv, Gabriel Wilson of Maxton, Ebenezer 
Erskine of Portmoak. Ralph Erskine of Dunfermline, 
James Wardlaw of Dunfermline, Henry Davidson of 
Galashiels. James Bathgate of Orwell, William Hunter 
of Lilliesleaf. 



Assembly, instead of being virtually the 
censurers of that court, as they were by 
their representation, which was equiva- 
lent to a complaint against its sentence 
condemning the Marrow. The Repre- 
senters regarded this as so unusual and 
unfair a course of procedure, that they 
were not bound to comply with it ; never- 
theless, for the sake of truth, and for the 
vindication of their own characters, they 
judged it expedient to take these queries 
into consideration, and to prepare an- 
swers to be laid before the Commission 
at their meeting in March. One effect, 
not contemplated by the assailants of the 
Marrow, resulted from this course of 
procedure : the answers returned by the 
Representers were very carefully pre- 
pared, and being written by men of de- 
cided talents, learning, and piety, they 
formed an admirable exposition of a dif- 
ficult point in theology, and contributed 
greatly to stem the tide of defection at 
that time so rapidly overflowing the 
country.* 

[1722.] The answers to the queries of 
the Commission were produced at the 
meeting of that court in March 1722; 
and the committee for purity of doctrine 
immediately engaged in writing a com- 
ment upon these queries, and framing an 
overture on the subject, preparatory to 
the meeting of Assembly. When the 
Assembly met, it soon appeared that the 
opponents of the Marrow had lost, and 
its defenders gained, by the delay which 
had taken place. The attention of the 
Church had been directed to that work in 
the interval ; and many ministers had 
come to the conclusion, that the Assem- 
bly's sentence was not warranted by any 
thing which it contained, if fairly and 
candidly interpreted as a whole. The 
severe censure which the leading men 
in the Church had intended to inflict 
upon the Representers was not likely to 
pass without strenuous opposition ; and 
there appeared a strong probability that 
many might join the twelve brethren in 
wishing the repeal of that act against 
which the representation was directed. 
After a period of protracted and anxious 
discussion, an act was framed, confirm- 
ing, but at the same time explaining, the 
former act; giving a cautious but not 

* Appendix to modern reprints of the Marrow, e ■ 
Gospel Truth, pp. 176-238. 



A. D. 1725.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



347 



very orthodox statement of the doctrines 
held by the Church on the points under 
discussion ; prohibiting the ministers of 
the Church from teaching the positions 
condemned, or any equivalent to them ; 
and appointing the moderator to rebuke 
and admonish the twelve brethren who 
signed the representation.* They were 
rebuked and admonished accordingly, 
" receiving it with all gravity, and as an 
ornament in the cause of truth ;" and im- 
mediately laying upon the table a protest 
against both the former act and the pre- 
sent sentence, asserting their liberty still 
to profess, teach, and bear testimony to 
the truths condemned.! This protest 
was allowed to lie on the table, but not 
read ; and as the Assembly did not at- 
tempt to found any proceedings against 
the brethren on account of it, while on 
their part they viewed it as sufficient to 
exonerate their conscience, the whole 
matter was allowed to rest, and the im- 
minent danger of a schism averted for 
the time. The sudden change in the 
conduct of the leading men in the As- 
sembly from overbearing severity to 
comparative leniency, was caused partly 
by the perception that a much larger 
proportion of the Church disapproved of 
their proceedings than they had expect- 
ed ; but chiefly because, both in his ma- 
jesty's public letter, and by the commis- 
sioner in a private conference, they were 
warned to abstain from every thing 
which might cause division in the 
Church.! 

Thus terminated so far as the discus- 
sion in church courts was concerned, the 
Marrow Controversy ; but its consequen- 
ces did not soon pass away. Irritated by 
their comparative failure in the General 
Assembly, the Neonomian party directed 
their attention to the subordinate judica- 
tories, and did their utmost to prevent or 
impede the settlement in parishes of 
young men who were suspected to have 
imbibed the Marrow doctrines. § They 
even framed new questions relating to 
these doctrines, to be put to probationers, 
in direct contravention of an act passed 
by themselves against the Auchterarder 

* Acts of Assembly, yeai 1722. T Boston's Me- 

moirs, p. 306. 

t Acts of Assembly ; Wodrow, MS. Letters. 

§ See the cases of Mr Hepburn's call to Edinbugh, 
snd Mr Francis Craig's to Kinross, related by Dr 
M'Crie,— Christian Instructor for Febuary 1832. 



proposition ; and did their utmost to har- 
rass and annoy the twelve Representee. 
They assailed Gabriel Wilson with great 
bitterness on account of a sermon preach- 
ed before the synod, prosecuting him 
from court to court, till he was rescued 
by the favourable decision of the Assem- 
bly itself; and they prevented Boston 
from being removed to a more salubrious 
situation, although aware that the air of 
Etterick, too keen for his delicate consti- 
tution, was hastening him to the grave* 
By such a course of conduct was the 
first period of rising Moderatism distin- 
guished ; screening teachers of direct 
error, as in the case of Simson ; conniv- 
ing at evasive perversions of the truth, 
in the introduction of Neonomian views j 
submitting to violations of the constitu- 
tional rights and privileges of the Na- 
tional Church, as in the Patronage Act ; 
and persecuting with relentless malignity 
their brethren the Representee, and 
other faithful and zealous defenders of 
the doctrines of grace. 

[1723-4.] The records of the Church 
during the year 1723 and 1724 present 
little of peculiar importance. In the for- 
mer of these the prosecution of Mr. Ga- 
briel Wilson of Maxton was terminated 
by an act of Assembly, acquitting him of 
the charges urged against him by the in- 
ferior courts. In the latter nothing me- 
morable occurred. 

[1725.] In the year 1725, a case arose 
which deserves specific mention. A 
vacancy having taken place in one of the 
churches of Aberdeen, the magistrates 
and town-council, who, as heritors, had a 
right along with the session to propose a 
person to the congregation for their ap- 
probation and call, thought proper to 
avail themselves of the Patronage Act, 
and claimed the power of appointing ab- 
solutely, without regard to the wish of 
the congregation. The synod disap- 
proved of this procedure, and the magis- 
trates appealed to the Assembly. The 
Assembly directed a new call to be mo- 
derated, and " appointed the inclinations 
of the heads of families that attended or- 
dinances to be consulted. "t When the 
new call took place, one hundred and 
thirty-nine heads of families voted for the 
person proposed by the town-council, a 

* Boston's Memoirs. t Unprinted Acts o 

Assembly. 



348 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. IX, 



Mr. Chalmers, minister of Dyke, and 
three hundred and seven against him. 
The Commission of Assembly, to whom 
the new call was reported, sustained it, 
several members expressing their dissent. 

[1726.] The conduct of the Commis- 
sion in thus sustaining the call of Mr. 
Chalmers, notwithstanding the dissent of 
a majority of the people, was brought be- 
fore the Assembly of 1726. The Assem- 
bly, by a vote, " disapproved of the Com- 
mission's proceedings in the settlement 
of Mr. Chalmers at Aberdeen, upon these 
grounds, that they acted disagreeably to 
the instructions of the last Assembly, par- 
ticularly in not making due inquiry, and 
not having due regard unto the inclina- 
tions of the people;" but, by another vote, 
they refused to rescind the Commission's 
sentence settling Mr. Chalmers, consider- 
ing it not desirable to tamper with the 
Commission's powers, by recalling their 
decision in matters which they had been 
empowered to determine.* This is the 
first instance on record of a minister 
settled against the dissent of the people, 
subsequent to the Revolution ; and even 
the proceeding was condemned by a vote 
of the General Assembly, and permitted 
to remain unrescinded only in conse- 
quence of a point of form in judicial pro- 
cedure. And it may be regarded as a 
somewhat curious coincidence, that Aber- 
deen should again, as in former times, be 
the spot whence wrong and outrage to 
the Church and people of Scotland should 
begin. 

In the same year a new edition of the 
Marrow of Modern Divinity was pub- 
lished, to which Boston contributed a 
number of copious and highly valuable 
explanatory notes. 

[1 727-28.] A new accusation was 
brought against Professor Simson, in the 
year 1727, charging him with holding 
and teaching Arian opinions. The cul- 
pable lenity of the former sentence of As- 
sembly seems to have encouraged the 
unhappy man to persevere in his course 
of error, sinking deeper and deeper as he 
advanced. The subject had been par- 
tially under the notice of the preceding 
Assembly ; but it was now formally taken 
up, a committee appointed to make due 
inquiries, and to ripen the affair for deci- 
sion. It was brought before the Assem- 

' Unprinted Acts of Assembly. 



bly of 1728, and sentence of suspension 
from teaching and preaching was passed, 
till the investigation should be completed, 
and a final decision given. In the same 
year, 1728, the Commission of Assembly 
sustained a call by the heritors, elders, 
parishioners of the parish of Alves, to 
Mr. Gordon, minister at Boharm, against 
a presentation by the patron, the Earl of 
Moray, to another person ;* indicating 
clearly the opinion of the church courts 
at that time, that a call by the people was 
of more importance than a presentation 
by a patron. 

[1729.] The Assembly of 1729 gave 
final decision in the case of Professor 
Simson. He had made, upon the whole, 
a skillful defence, though one which 
proved that his own mind was deeply 
tainted with sophistical insincerity ; partly 
attempting to explain away his erroneous 
tenets by the aid of metaphysical subtle- 
ties, partly by strenuous assertions that 
he really held the very doctrines of the 
Confession of Faith. Great reluctance 
was manifested by the Assembly to pass 
a sentence due to his demerits ; and the 
utmost that could be obtained was a con- 
firmation of the previous sentence of sus- 
pension, with an additional declaration, 
that it was not fit that he should be fur- 
ther employed in teaching divinity and 
instructing youth designed for the minis- 
try. Against this sentence, as totally 
inadequate to mark a due condemnation 
of such deadly heresy as he had taught, 
Boston rose and declared his dissent, in 
his own name and that of all who should 
adhere to him ; and no other person ex- 
pressing adherence, he continued, " and 
for myself alone, if nobody shall adhere."f 
A deep and solemn awe filled the Assem- 
bly, to see this great and good man 
placing himself sublimely in uncom- 
panioned opposition to the weak and 
guilty unfaithfulness of a declining 
Church, and not a voice was raised in 
condemnation of his majestic Christian 
fortitude. The heretical professor yielded 
to the letter of the sentence ; did not even 
attempt to defend his errors from the 
press, as had been apprehended ; and, so 
far as he was personally concerned, the 
matter gradually sunk into oblivion. 

But the secular leaven introduced into 

* Commission Record, p. 200. * Boston's Memoirh 
p. 354. 



/L D. 173-2.] HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 349 



the Church by patronage was now be- 
ginning to work more potently, and to 
show its true nature and tendency. Du- 
ring the course of this year Principal 
Chalmers of King's College, Aberdeen, 
received a presentation to the parish of 
Old Machar, from the college as patron. 
A partial call appears also to have been 
procured, subsequent to the presentation. 
In the meantime a call was given by the 
parishioners to a Mr. Howie, and the 
presbytery sustained the call in his favour. 
The synod, however, reversed their sen- 
tence, sustained the call to the principal, 
who had the presentation, and actually 
inducted him. The matter was brought 
by appeal to the Assembly, who rescinded 
and made void the settlement, declared 
the parish vacant, and appointed the 
moderation of a new call. But Aber- 
deen tactics prevailed ; and though the 
sentence of the Assembly was a clear af- 
firmation of the principle that the oppo- 
sition of the people was, in the estimation 
of the Church, more powerful to prevent 
than a presentation could be to secure a 
settlement, yet the wily principal con- 
trived to procure a majority on the mod- 
eration of the new call: and, obtaining 
easily from his college a new presenta- 
tion, was settled in the charge.* The 
second instance of a settlement by means 
of a " riding committee," took place this 
year in the case of New Machar, and 
soon afterwards became prevalent, in 
order to avoid the hazard of direct col- 
lision with the conscientious unwilling- 
ness of presbyteries to take part in tran- 
sactions of a character so unconstitutional, 
unscriptural, and violent. 

[1730.] A case of a somewhat similar 
kind was determined by the Assembly of 
1730. This was the case of the parish 
of Hutton, in the presbytery of Chirn- 
side. The matter came first before the 
Assembly of 1728, and was referred to 
the Commission, who were empowered to 
" determine in the affair as they should 
find just." The Commission appointed 
the presbytery to proceed to the settle- 
ment of Mr. Waugh, although he was 
opposed by a majority in the proportion 
of twelve to one of the congregation. 
The revising committee of next Assembly 
recommended that the directions given 
by the Commission should not be ap- 

* Acts of Assembly, years 1729, 1730. 



proved ; and this part of the transactions 
of the Commission was excepted in the 
Assembly's attestation of the record of 
that court. But in March 1730, the 
Commission again directed the presbytery 
to proceed to the settlement, several mem- 
bers dissenting from this resolution, be- 
cause the settlement of Mr. Waugh 
" being contrary to the mind of the con- 
gregation, was contrary to the laws of 
the Church." When the subject came 
before the Assembly of 1730 for final 
decision, they " refused to reverse the 
foresaid sentence [that of 1728], in respect 
the Commission had been empowered to 
determine finally in that affair ;" resting 
the decision not upon the propriety of the 
Commission's sentence, but upon the fact 
of their having been empowered to pass 
it, thus virtually condemning the deed 
even in its ratification.* But this was 
almost the last decision of this half-faithful 
kind, made by the Assembly, which, 
from this time forward, followed generally 
the example of artful tyranny set by the 
Commission, appointing deputations of 
unscrupulous members to visit and over- 
rule the objections of conscientious pres- 
byteries, and to execute the harsh sen- 
tences of superior courts, trampling 
scornfully under foot the feelings of the 
aggrieved and outraged people. 

It was now but too evident that the 
worldly spirit introduced into the Church 
by the admission of the prelatic incum- 
bents, and by the Patronage act, had 
done its deadly work. A considerable 
number of men of decided talents, but 
utterly destitute of true Presbyterian prin- 
ciples, and guided solely by regard to 
secular policy, had sprung up and been 
elevated to the most influential positions 
in the Church. And while the hostility 
of the people against the exercise of 
patronage, which had been comparatively 
slight as long as the church courts ab- 
stained from giving direct countenance to 
it, was now becoming daily more decided, 
these leading men were preparing 
schemes for giving to that unconstitu- 
tional mode of appointing ministers an 
absolute and uncontrollable power. An 
apparently insignificant act passed by this 
Assembly contained the germ of the 
policy by which the first dynasty of 
Moderatism was to be regulated. By 

•Acts of Assembly, 1730, 



350 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, [CHAP. IX. 



this act the General Assembly appointed, 
" that the reasons of dissent against the 
determinations of church judicatures, in 
causes brought before them, should not 
be entered in the register, but be kept 
in retentis, to be laid before the superior 
judicatures."* This act contains evi- 
dently the essence of ecclesiastical des- 
potism, and is contrary to the very spirit 
of a church court, which being essen- 
tially a court of conscience, and its power 
being ministerial, not lordly, it never can 
with propriety refuse to its members the 
right of exonerating their own conscience 
from the moral responsibility of any 
measure of which, regarding it as sinful, 
they cannot and dare not approve. And 
instead of tending to promote schism, this 
liberty of recording dissent actually and 
strongly tends to prevent it, by leaving 
the minds of such members at peace, 
satisfied with having expressed their dis- 
approbation, and the reasons on which it 
is grounded, which may serve, in some 
happier time, to bring back the Church 
to the path of rectitude, from which, in 
their opinion, she appears to be swerving. 

[1731.] The proceedings of the As- 
sembly of 1731 did not tend to allay the 
feelings of dissatisfaction excited by the 
last act of its predecessor. Actuated by 
the same spirit, the Assembly refused to 
permit a remonstrance against violent set- 
tlements to be read ; and prosecuting 
their headlong career, they passed an 
" act and overture concerning the method 
of planting vacant churches." The ob- 
ject of this overture was to secure a uni- 
form method of supplying vacant charges, 
without those delays and that irritation 
which too often occurred. The method 
proposed in this overture bore consider- 
able resemblance to that of the act 
1690, but was still less favourable to the 
privileges of the people. The chief dif- 
ference consisted in this, that by the act 
1690, the heritors and elders were "to 
name and propose the person to the whole 
congregation, to be either approven or 
disapproven by them ;" by the overture, 
the heritors and elders were "to elect 
and call one to be the minister" of the 
parish. It is evident that this suggested 
method amounted to a virtual annihila- 
tion of the call, so far as that had always 
previously been regarded as conveying 
• Acts of Assembly. 



the mind of the congregation ; and it is 
as evident that this was directly opposed 
to the principles and practice of the Pres- 
byterian Church, from the period of the 
Reformation.* 

The case of Kinross came also before 
this Assembly, and was referred to the 
Commission. This was one of the cases, 
formerly alluded to, which arose out of 
the Marrow Controversy, the settlement 
of Mr. Francis Craig being opposed on 
account of his refusing to condemn the 
doctrines contained in that work. But 
now that patronage was beginning to as- 
sume a more arbitrary power, and the 
want of a call or the opposition of the 
people might be disregarded, the patron 
found a youth of sentiments similar to his 
own, a Mr. Stark, and proceeded to force 
him upon the parish, in spite of the con- 
tinued resistance of the people and re- 
luctance of the presbytery. The Com- 
mission, nothing loath to undertake the 
ungracious task, ordered the presbytery 
to admit Mr. Stark without delay ; and 
when the presbytery refused, and ap- 
pealed to the next Assembly, the settle- 
ment was made through the ready in- 
strumentality of a " riding committee."! 

[1732.] The crisis came on apace. The 
tyrannical conduct of the leading men of 
the Church, who directed the proceedings 
of both Assembly and Commission, had ex- 
cited a wide-spread and strong feeling of 
discontent; and when the Assembly met, a 
representation and petition, signed by forty 
ministers, was laid on the table, imploring 
that venerable court to redress the griev- 
ances and check the innovations which 
were threatening the speedy ruin of the 
Church. This important paper was noi 
even allowed to be read ; and, as if to 
add insult to injury, the complaint against 
the settlement, of Kinross was dismissed, 
and the Presbytery of Dunfermline were 
ordered to receive, and enrol Mr. Stark 
as one of their members, and to do every 
thing towards giving him countenance in 
the ministry. Several of the members 
protested against such arbitrary proce- 
dure, but were not permitted to record 
their dissent. The overture transmitted 
to the presbyteries last year was enacted 

* See this subject ably discussed in Willison's Testi- 
mony, pp. 70-76. 

t Another case occurred this year of the simple ac- 
ceptance of a presentation without a call, and the 
presentee was suspended. (Patronage Report, p 364.) 



A. D. 1733.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



into a standing law of the Church, in 
direct violation of the Barrier Act, it not 
having received the sanction of a majority 
of the presbyteries. In reality it had 
been condemned ; eighteen presbyteries ap- 
proved of it, eighteen returned no opinion, 
twelve required material alterations, and 
thirty-one were absolutely against it.* 
Yet the leading men of the Assembly 
contrived to procure its enactment, though 
they could not but be aware of its uncon- 
stitutional character, — so eager were they 
to clutch the reins and wield the rod of 
power. 

It was now all but impossible to pre- 
vent an immediate schism. The domi- 
nant party might yet have abated in their 
reckless career of tyranny and oppres- 
sion, and the aggrieved ministers and 
people might have laid aside their resent- 
ment, and, while they defended purity, 
still have been ready to accept of peace. 
But pacific measures appear not to have 
been contemplated by either. Indignant 
at the treatment he had received, espe- 
cially in being prevented from recording 
his dissent from the injurious conduct of 
the Assembly, the Rev. Ebenezer Ers- 
kine, from his own pulpit in Stirling, de- 
nounced in strong terms the oppressive 
and sinful procedure of the church courts. 
This was but adding fuel to the flame, 
and his next step fanned it into a blaze. 
At the meeting of the synod of Fife in 
October, he preached a sermon, in which 
he boldly and keenly censured the grow- 
ing corruption and degeneracy of the 
Church. The synod were deeply of- 
fended, condemned his conduct, and or- 
dered him to submit to a sharp rebuke. 
This he refused to do, protested against 
their sentence, and appealed to the next 
General Assembly, f 

[1733.] There seemed to be yet time 
and opportunity to prevent the threatened 
deplorable division in the Church, had 
the Moderate leaders been willing to 
change their hand and check their 
iride." But they appear to have thought 
hat one act more of " firmness" would 
secure them a complete and lasting 
triumph. They passed an act of suffi- 
ciently ominous title, " concerning some 
of the ministers of the presbytery of Dun- 
fermline, and for preserving the subordi- 

* Gib's Display,vol. i. p. 26. f True State of the 

Process. 



nation of the judicatures of the Church, 
and good order therein." By this act 
the faithful ministers of that presbytery 
were sharply rebuked, and commanded 
to support and encourage Mr. Stark, and 
strictly forbidden to admit any of the 
parishioners of Kinross to sealing ordi- 
nances, without the consent of their in- 
truded minister, on pain of the highest 
censure. In the same haughty spirit 
they proceeded to consider the contest be- 
tween Erskine and the synod. They 
speedily approved the proceedings of the 
synod, and appointed Mr. E. Erskine to 
be rebuked and admonished by the mode- 
rator at the bar of the Assembly. — 
Against this sentence Mr. Erskine pro- 
tested ; and to this protest were added the 
names of William Wilson, minister a*. 
Perth, Alexander MoncriefF, minister at 
Abernethy, and James Fisher, minister 
at Kinclaven. This protest was re- 
corded, and the case of the four brethren 
remitted to the Commission, with full 
power first to suspend them, and then to 
proceed to higher censure, unless they 
should submit, express their sorrow for 
their conduct and misbehaviour, and re- 
tract their protest.* 

The dissevering deed mightbe regarded 
as already done, when intrusted to the 
Commission. When the Commission 
met in August, they received from many 
quarters strong remonstrances against the 
imperious course so keenly pursued by 
the leaders of the Church, and urgent 
entreaties to try the effect of milder mea- 
sures. In vain: the course of Moderate 
policy has ever been immitigable, when 
civil power was on its side. The four 
brethren gave in a written representation, 
defending their conduct ; but the sentence 
of suspension was pronounced, and they 
were summoned to appear again before 
the Commission in November. By this 
time the whole kingdom was in a state of 
the most intense excitement, and many 
members of Commission began to shrink, 
and hesitate, and recoil from the deed 
which they had been empowered to do. 
Not so the Moderate leaders : with them 
the thought seems to have been,—-" one 
bold stroke more, and the victory is our 
own." The sentence of suspension had 
not been obeyed, and the Commission was 
empowered to proceed to a higher cen- 

* Acts of Assembly. 



352 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



CHAP. IX. 



sure. This course was opposed ; the 
question was put, " delay" or " proceed ;" 
the votes were equal ; the moderator, 
Mr. John Gowdie, one of the ministers 
of Edinburgh, rose ; a death like still- 
ness reigned ; the cause of mercy and 
truth, and the peace of the Church and 
community, or the paltry triumph of a 
secularizing policy and its partizans, 
seemed wavering" on the balanced point 



abstaining for a time from any acts of ju- 
risdiction on their own authority.* 

It is unnecessary to trace minutely the 
subsequent steps of this deplorable seces- 
sion. That it was caused by the corrupt 
and tyrannical procedure of the church 
courts, we do not affect to deny ; that this 
corruption and tyranny flowed directly 
from the admission of the prelatic incum 
bents at and after the revolution, from th( 
of that passing moment: he gave his*lax and heterodox tenets which they and 



casting vote, " proceed" and the fatal deed 
was done, which Scotland to this hour 
deplores, and by which the welfare of 
the National Church, and the cause of 
Christianity itself in the land, sustained a 
grievous and almost irreparable injury, 
now too clearly manifest in our present 
sufferings and impending dangers. 

The sentence actually pronounced was 
a modified form of deposition, being 
merely that they should be loosed from 
their respective charges, and declared no 
longer ministers of this Church, all min- 
isters being prohibited from employing 
them in any ministerial function. Against 
this sentence several ministers protested ; 
and the four brethren gave in a protesta- 
tion of their own, which was subse- 
quently expanded into a full statement of 
the reasons of their " secession from the 
prevailing party in the Church."* The 
public sympathized in general with men 
whom they regarded as persecuted for 
the cause of truth, and in defence of the 
constitutional rights and privileges of the 
Church and people of Scotland. Even 
yet there might have been a healing mea- 
sure, and some attempts were made by 
the better part of the Commission to pre- 
vent any decisive steps from being taken 
by which all hope should be precluded. 
But the sense of wrong appears to have 
stimulated in the minds of the four 
Drethren a degree of jealousy and impa- 
tience, which caused them to regard with 
distrust every overture of a peaceful 
character, and to assume an attitude of 
more resolute antagonism. On the 6th 
day of 'December 1733, they constituted 
themselves into an Associated Presbytery, 
retaining possession of their charges, but 

* It was in their protest against this sentence of the 
Ccmmission that the four brethren used the memorable 
words, " We hereby appeal unto the first free, faithful, 
and reforming General Assembly of the Church of 
Scotland." See their "Testimony," page 28, first edi- 
ion, 1734 ; Gib's Display, vol. i. p. 35 ; Re-Exhibition, 
fcc, p. 29. 



others like to them introduced, and front? 
the pernicious influence of patronage 
we do not hesitate most strongly to assert . 
and we think it would require a very pe 
culiar combination of sophistry and har- 
dihood in any man who should venture 
to attempt a historical refutation of the 
assertion. Let it never be forgotten, that 
these pious and eminent ministers seceded, 
not from the Church of Scotland, but 
from that " prevailing party," the Mode- 
rates of the day, by whom heresy was 
screened, sound doctrine condemned, dis- 
cipline neglected, the rights of Christian 
congregations violated, and their feelings 
outraged, and the scriptural government 
of the Church changed into a system of 
cruel and oppressive secular tyranny. 

[1734. J The heartless and destructive 
wrong perpetrated by the Commission in 
their treatment of Ebenezer Erskine and 
his friends, had roused the feeling of the 
religious part of the community to the 
highest pitch of regretful solicitude ; 
and great exertions were made that the 
next Assembly might contain a sufficient 
number of right-minded men, to get, if 
still possible, the fatal breach repaired. 
Even the Moderates were willing partial- 
ly to retrace their steps, not having an- 
ticipated that their guilty deed would call 
forth so strong an expression of national 
indignation. No sooner did the Assem- 
bly meet than the work of attempted con- 
ciliation began. The act of 1730, pro- 
hibiting protests, and the act of 1732, for 
planting vacant churches, which had 
been the immediate causes of dispute, 
were both rescinded ; and an act was 
passed declaring that ministerial freedom 
was not to be held as in any degree im- 
paired by the late decisions. Another 
act was passed, empowering the synod of 
Perth to take into consideration the case 
of the seceding brethren, with a view to 

• Gib's Display, vol. i p. 36. 



A, D. 1736.] HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



353 



their restoration to their charges, without 
reference to former proceedings ; which 
was accordingly done by the synod in 
July.* There seemed now no real ob- 
stacle to the return of the seceding breth- 
ren into the communion of the Church. 
But they had taken their ground, and felt 
so far bound in honour to maintain it ; 
they had published a testimony to the 
doctrine, discipline, and government of 
the Church of Scotland, avowing their 
unaltered adherence to these, and stating 
the reasons of their secession, not from 
the constitution of the Church, but from 
the prevailing party in her judicatories. 
And scrutinizing narrowly the recent 
conciliatory acts, they conceived that they 
still saw reason to continue separate, till 
the Church should not merely rescind the 
unconstitutional acts of which they com- 
plained, but make an explicit acknowledg- 
ment of her sinful conduct in having 
ever passed them. 

As the seceding ministers had appealed 
to the first reforming Assembly, this As- 
sembly took one step more for proving its 
right to such an honorable designation. 
A deputation was sent to London from 
the Commission, to solicit a repeal of the 
act reimposing patronages ; but this depu- 
tation was unsuccessful. The uncomply- 
ing attitude maintained by the seceding 
ministers discouraged the Evangelical 
party, and cast an early blight over their 
fondly cherished hopes of a reunion with 
men whom they highly esteemed ; and 
this disappointment tended considerably 
to paralyze their own reforming exer- 
tions. 

[1635.] Still a reforming spirit seemed 
to prevail in the Church, the Moderates 
abating their high-handed rule, and the 
Evangelical party endeavouring to restore 
to the light the buried principles of ear- 
lier and better days. A deputation was 
again appointed to proceed to London, 
and renew the application of the church 
for the repeal of the Patronage Act.f 
This was so far attended to, that leave 
was given to bring in a bill for this pur- 
pose ; the bill was actually drawn up by 
the celebrated Duncan Forbes of Cullo- 
den, but meeting little support, it was 
abandoned. Several acute and able pam- 
phbts were written on the subject, by 

* Acts of Assembly, year 1734 ; Willison's Testimony, 
pp. 81-83. t Acts of Assembly. 

45 



men of high eminence, such as Professor 
Hutcheson, Currie of Kinglassie, and 
others, besides the address of the Assem- 
bly to his majesty, which was written by 
Lord President Dundas.* 

The Commission was prohibited from 
appointing " Riding Committees," for the 
purpose of executing such sentences as 
presbyteries and synods declined to exe- 
cute. And as great complaints had been 
made against the style of preaching which 
had become prevalent among young min- 
isters, who introduced into their sermons 
" little that might not have been found in 
Seneca and Plato," an overture was trans- 
mitted to presbyteries for their approba- 
tion, giving directions respecting a more 
full and faithful exhibition of the peculiar 
doctrines of the gospel. t 

[1936.] The seceding brethren contin- 
ued to stand aloof, watching jealously the 
! proceedings of the Church, and appa- 
| rently more disposed to censure omissions 
than to applaud the honest endeavours of 
| the struggling Evangelical party. That 
faithful body continued to strive for fur- 
| ther reformation, but with weakened en- 
ergy and diminished prospects of success. 
The address for the repeal of the Patron- 
age Act was engrossed in the records of 
the Assembly of 1736, at least to testify 
! the views and wishes of the Church. 
I The act concerning preaching was passed, 
having received the approbation of the 
; presbyteries. It is equally admirable in 
j spirit and in substance ; and deserves the 
I serious regard of all ministers in the 
j Church still, as a clear and pregnant di- 
rectory for sound and evangelical preach- 
| ing. The questionable doctrines of Pro- 
| fessor Campbell of St. Andrews were 
j brought under discussion ; but he suc- 
ceeded in giving to them such an evasive 
explanation as to save him from direct 
censure, though he was cautioned to avoid 
expressions which might lead the hearers 
into error. The last act of this Assembly 
deserves peculiar mention. It is entitled, 
" An Act against Intrusion of Ministers 
into Vacant Congregations," and contains 
these words : — " The General Assembly 
considering that it is, and has been since 
the Reformation, the principle of this 
Church, that no minister shall be intruded 
into any church contrary to the will of 

* Pamphlets of the period ; Randall's Tracts, 
t Acts of Assembly. 



354 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. IX. 



the congregation, do therefore seriously 
recommend to all judicatories of this 
Church, to have a due regard to this prin- 
ciple in planting vacant congregations, 
so as none be intruded into such parishes, 
as they regard the glory of God and edi- 
fication of the body of Christ."* There 
seems no reason to doubt that the majori- 
ty of the Assembly was perfectly sincere 
in passing this act, when it is viewed in 
connection with the proceedings of the 
two former Assemblies ; but there is as lit- 
tle reason to suppose that it had the ap- 
probation of the Moderate party, who, 
even in that reforming Assembly, were 
sufficiently strong to neutralize and per- 
vert the operation of principles which 
they could not openly oppose. Some 
proceedings of the Assembly, the Com- 
mission, and the subordinate judicatories, 
supporting intrusive settlements about this 
time, gave to the seceding ministers the 
opportunity of declaring their distrust of 
the sincerity of the Assembly, and their 
resolution still to continue in a state of 
separation. 

[1737.] The year 1 737 is not remarka- 
ble for any event of importance in church 
matters, the foolish irritation of the gov- 
ernment, on account of the Porteous mob, 
led them to emit an order, that a procla- 
mation against the leaders of that strange 
riot should be read from all the pulpits, 
" on pain of being declared incapable of 
sitting in any church judicatory." This 
was resisted by a large proportion of the 
Church ; and it deserves to be mentioned 
to their credit, that some of the Moderate 
ministers took a decided part in resisting 
this unconstitutional procedure of the civil 
power. The seceding brethren receiv- 
ed this year the accession of four others, 
the Rev. Messrs. Ralph Erskine, Dun- 
fermline ; Thomas Mair, Orwell ; Thom- 
as Nairn, Abbotshall ; and James Thom- 
son, Burntisland ; and, encouraged by 
this accession, they published their first 
Act and Testimony, by the appearance 
of which document the prospect of re- 
union was very considerably diminished.! 

[1738.] Deeply as the evangelical min- 
isters of the Church deplored the conduct 
of the seceding ministers in thus increas- 
ing the obstacles to their re-admission into 
their former communion, they continued 

* Acts of Assembly, year 1736. t Gib's Display 

Re-Exhibition, Ac. 



to offer peace. An act was passed by the 
Assembly, in which, after stating what 
was viewed as improper in the conduct 
of the seceding ministers, it was added, — 
" Yet this Assembly choosing rather still 
to treat them in the spirit of meekness, 
brotherly love, and forbearance, did, and 
hereby do, enjoin all the ministers of this 
Church, as they shall have access, and es- 
pecially the ministers of the synods and 
presbyteries within which these seceding 
brethren reside, to be at all pains, by 
conferences, and other gentle means of 
persuasion, to reclaim and reduce them 
to their duty and the communion of this 
Church."* But all was in vain ; to no 
proposals of ' : conferences and gentle 
means" would they listen ; but began to 
take steps for training young men for 
the ministry, granting license to proba- 
tioners, and completing their organization 
as a distinct and separate Church. 

[1739.] All endeavours to prevail upon 
the seceding ministers to abandon their 
antagonist position proving ineffectual, 
the Assembly of 1739 called them before 
the court, to answer to a libel which the 
Commission had been empowered to 
frame, should ail lenient measures fail. 
They came, but came in the temper of 
determined combatants. Aware of what 
was in progress respecting them, they 
had prepared a declinature of the Assem- 
bly's jurisdiction ; and, previous to their 
appearing in the Assembly, they consti- 
tuted themselves into a presbytery, and 
entering as a court, gave in this document 
by their moderator. Its very title was 
conclusive : "Act of the Associate Pres- 
bytery, finding and declaring that the 
present judicatories of this Church are 
not lawful nor right constitute courts of 
Christ ; and declining all authority, pow- 
er, and jurisdiction that the said judicato- 
ries may claim to themselves over the 
said presbytery."! Nothing now re- 
mained but for the Assembly to pass the 
sentence of deposition ; but even yet they 
lingered, reluctant to cut of all hopes of 
seeing men, who were by many of them 
very highly esteemed, restored to the bo- 
som of the Church. At the urgent so- 
licitations of Willison of Dundee, and 
others, the Assembly consented to delay 

' Acts of Assembly, year 1738. 
' Act and Testimony, &c. ; Willison's Testimony, pp. 



A. D. 1741.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



355 



passing- the sentence of deposition for 
another year, if even yet the Secession 
might be averted. 

1740. The seceding ministers made 
no attempt to avail themselves of this 
pause, expressed no regret for what had 
taken place, and, instead of giving the 
slightest indication of a wish for peaceful 
reunion, continued to pour forth sharp in- 
vectives against the faithlessness and cor- 
ruption of the Church. The Assembly 
passed the sentence of deposition on the 
15th day of May 1740, and the seceding 
brethren, now eight in number, ceased to 
be minis ers of the Church of Scotland.* 
It is impossible to trace the progress 
and mark the conclusion of this melan- 
choly event without feelings of the deep- 
est regret. A calm and dispassionate 
view may now be taken of the whole 
proceeding, which could not be done by 
those who were personally engaged in 
them ; and such a view may well lead 
us to deplore the errors and the follies of 
wise, good, and pious men. There can 
be no doubt that the pernicious and sinful 
course of procedure, so perseveringly fol- 
lowed by the church courts, was the di- 
rect occasion of the Secession ; yet it is 
as plain that it might have been averted, 
had not the pride of the contending par- 
ties impelled them to use toward each 
other language of sinful and irritating 
asperity. And without any wish to stain 
the memory of the Erskines, whom we 
deeply revere as eminently evangelical 
divines, it must be said that they indulged 
in applying terms of bitter reproach and 
angry vituperation against the Church, 
which no treatment could have justified, 
much less that forbearance which they 
experienced, both in the actions and in 
the writings of their opponents. It may 
also now be seen, that they committed a 
great error in not returning into commu- 
nion with the Church, when, by the 
strenuous exertions of their evangelical 
friends, the door of readmission was 
opened to them in 1734. Their return 
would have greatly strengthened and en- 
couraged that faithful band to continue 
their arduous task of reformation, and 
might have averted the long reign of 
secular principles, cold legal and moral 
preaching, and uncensured immorality, 
which, shaken and dethroned for a few 

" Acts of Assembly. 



brief years during that anxious struggle, 
too soon recovered their ascendency, and 
maintained their dreary and fatal sway 
for almost a century. And it cannot be 
doubted, that if the fathers of the Seces- 
sion could have foreseen what principles 
would be adopted by their successors in 
later times, — could have anticipated the 
deadly warfare that would be waged 
against the very existence of the Church 
of Scotland, which they revered and 
loved, — they would not have taken a 
single step on the path that has led to 
such a strange and disastrous issue. 

Both the Church and those who sece- 
ded from her communion sinned, when 
they permitted human pride and wrath 
to fill their hearts and overcloud their 
better judgment; and the third and fourth 
generations are suffering, and may yet 
more deeply suffer, from the baneful con- 
sequences of their guilty conduct. Surely 
a time will come, if it has not come al- 
ready, when those who hold the princi- 
ples for the assertion of which the Ers- 
kines and their friends unwisely seceded 
from the Church, and in defence'of which 
Boston and Willison, and such men, ear- 



unite m 



1 nestly contended within 
I the one great cause, the reassertion of the 
Redeemer's sole Sovereignty and Head- 
ship of his Church, which cannot but be 
' held inestimably precious equally by both, 
! — by all who know the import and have 
| felt the power of that sacred and glorious 
; truth. Yes, that time must come, whether 
soon or late, and it may be sooner than 
| many think ; for the hour of trial, like 
the fierce heat of the furnace, may melt 
and blend into closest union, materials 
which, in the frigid temperature of sel- 
fishness, had long remained in hard and 
sullen separation, contiguous yet un- 
; combining. 

[1741.] The transactions of the Assem- 
; bly which met in 1741 present nothing 
' memorable. The elevation of Mr. 
James Ramsay of Kelso to the mod era- 
; tor's chair, indicated very plainly that the 
' Moderate party had regained the power 
of which they had been deprived by the 
! vigorous exertions of the Evangelical 
■ party in 1734. Another event proved 
! but too clearly that their temporary loss 
of power had" not taught them to use it 
with greater gentleness. A complaint of 
the parishioners of Bowden against the 



356 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. IX, 



decision of the Commission, ordering- the 
presbytery to proceed to the settlement of 
an unacceptable presentee, was disre- 
garded, on the ground that the Com- 
mission had not exceeded their powers ; 
the presbytery were ordered to proceed 
without delay, on pain of being censured 
as contumacious ; and, in case of their re- 
fusal, the syno.d was empowered to take 
the necessary measures for having the 
sentence of the Commission executed.* 
This, it will be observed, was in reality 
equivalent to a resumption of the scheme 
of effective intrusion settlements by means 
of " riding committees," which had been 
prohibited by the Assembly of 1735 ; 
and though the language of the prohibi- 
tion was allowed to remain for a little 
longer in the instructions given to the 
Commission, yet in a very short time the 
tyrannical practice was again in full 
operation. 

The sudden and complete reacquisition 
of power by the Moderate party had arisen 
in a considerable degree from the com- 
parative paralysis to active exertion in 
church courts, which seized upon their 
opponents when the seceding ministers 
not only refused to accede to the overtures 
of peace which were offered to them, but 
even repelled the advances of their former 
friends with reproaches, invectives, and 
expressions of distrust. In their dejection 
they retired from the struggle, in which 
to have secured complete success, would 
have demanded their most strenuous and 
united exertions for many years, especially 
as the moderate party enjoyed more of i 
the countenance of politicians than can 
ever be expected by men who act solely 
on Christian principles. But though they 
in a great measure abandoned the contest 
in church courts, they did not sink into 
the lethargy of dejection in other matters. 
They saw well that the course of Moder- 
ate policy was both introducing into the 
Church ministers who cared little for the 
spiritual welfare of the people, provided 
they could secure the emoluments of the 
charge ;f and at the same time expelling 
men who were faithful and able ministers 
of the gospel, but could not submit to 

* Acts of Assembly. 
T " What must they think of a man that tells a re- 
claiming parish by word and deed, ' I'll be your minister 
in spite of your teeth ; I'll have the charge of your souls, 
whether ye will or -not ; and if ye refuse ordinances and 
means of salvation from me, ye shall have none V " 
(Willisou's Testimony, p. 54.) 



Moderate despotism. The only remedy 
which presented itself in such a deplora- 
ble state of matters, was for every faithful 
minister to be doubly zealous in the dis- 
charge of his own pastoral duties, by 
which vital religion might be preserved 
in at least some portions of the land, 
during this period of general defection. 
This was accordingly done, and the re- 
sults very soon began to appear. 

[1742 ] The year 1742 will be for 
ever memorable, not only in the annals of 
the Church of Scotland, but in the history 
of Christianity, on account of the remark- 
able revivals of genuine religion which 
took place at that time in various parts of 
the country, particularly at Cambuslang 
and Kilsyth. It was at Cambuslang that 
this remarkable manifestation of spiritual 
power first appeared. The minister of 
the parish, the Rev. Mr. Macculloch, had 
been peculiarly earnest in preaching the 
characteristic doctrines of the gospel, re- 
generation and justification by faith, dur- 
ing the greater part of the year 1741; 
and a greater degree of quickened atten- 
tion than usual began to appear in the 
congregation in the course of that winter, 
and early in the year of 1742. At length, 
on the 18th of February, the people who 
attended meetings for prayer, which had 
been previously established, manifested 
such a degree of intense anxiety for their 
spiritual interests, and such deep convic- 
tions and supplicating earnestness to hear 
of the Saviour, that Mr. Macculloch was 
constrained to preach to them almost 
daily, and to request the assistance of his 
friends in the ministry from other quar- 
ters. This naturally excited the attention 
of the kingdom ; and ministers of the most 
undoubted piety, and the highest character 
for theological attainments and soundness 
of judgment, hastened to the spot, to 
satisfy their minds by personal investiga- 
tion, and returned not only convinced 
of the reality of what they had seen, but 
filled with gratitude to God that they had 
enjoyed the privilege of beholding so 
glorious a proof of the convincing and 
converting power of the Holy Spirit. 
Among these may be mentioned Dr. 
Webster of Edinburgh, Dr. Hamilton 
and Messrs. M'Laurin and Gillies of 
Glasgow, Willison of Dundee, Bonar of 
Torphichen, and Dr. Erskine of Edin- 
burgh, at that time a young man pursuing 



A. D. 1742 ] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



357 



his theological studies. The celebrated 
Whitefield, hearing of this remarkable 
event, hastened to Cambuslang, and 
preached repeatedly with his usual elo- 
quence, and more than usual impressive- 
ness. 

In the beginning of May a similar 
scene of religious awakening took place 
at Kilsyth, under the ministry of the Rev. 
James Robe, a man of considerable abili- 
ties, who had been for some time an active 
defender of the constitutional principles of 
the Church against the corrupt and secular* 
innovations of the Moderate party. The 
anxiety manifested by the people of Kil sy th 
was not inferior to that of the people of 
Cambuslang; and several adjacent par- 
ishes experienced a portion of the sacred 
influence so graciously vouchsafed by the 
Divine Visitant. Mr. Robe appears to 
have acted with consummate prudence, 
exercising the most vigilant care over 
those who came to him in deep distress 
of mind under conviction of sin, giving to 
them the most judicious instruction in 
spiritual truth, and keeping a private re- 
cord of all cases of religious awakening, 
that he might deal with each according to 
its own peculiarities, mark the progress 
of the feelings and the knowledge of the 
people, and be able to discriminate be- 
tween what was mere excitement, and 
what by its fruits proved itself to be true 
conversion. The subsequent publication 
of his Narrative gave to the religious 
community the means of judging as to 
the nature and extent of the remarkable 
work of the Holy Spirit in Scotland at 
that period ; and it may be safely said, 
that the strength of prejudice must be 
very great in any man who knows what 
vital religion is, who can peruse that ju- 
dicious production, without being con- 
strained to glorify God, who had so gra- 
ciously visited his people.* 

Yet it is not easy to estimate the force 
of prejudice. It was to be expected that 
irreligious men would calumniate and 
deride the proceedings at Cambuslang 
and Kilsyth, and that the Moderate min- 
isters, the greater part of whom regarded 
Christianity as merely an improved sys- 
tem of morality, and whose sermons 
were generally little more than carefully 

* See Robe's Narrative ; and the testimonies of many 
eminent ministers of the period; also Sir Henry Mon- 
crieff's Life of Erskine, pp. 112-123: Gillies' Collec- 
tions ; and Life of Whitefield. 



composed and coldly plausible moral es- 
says, would look upon the whole as the 
delusion of heated enthusiasts and fana- 
tics ; but it could scarcely have been ex- 
pected that such truly pious men and ex- 
perienced ministers as were the fathers 
of the Secession should not merely have 
viewed these religious revivals with dis- 
trust, but should have assailed them with 
excessive bitterness.* They even proceed- 
ed to the extreme absurdity of appointing 
a solemn fast to be held on account " of 
the awful symptoms of the Lord's anger 
with this Church and land, in sending 
them strong delusion that they should 
believe a lie, particularly when a judicial 
testimony for the Reformation principles 
of this Church was emitted, after all 
other means had proved ineffectual." 
These good but narrow-minded and pre- 
judiced men seem to have come to the 
conclusion, that the Church of Scotland 
was so thoroughly corrupt that it would be 
derogatory to the character of the Holy 
God to suppose that he could deign to 
visit her in mercy, and to revive his own 
work in a Church so fearfully polluted. 
Their deplorable conduct at this time 
ought to be a warning to every Christian 
Church, and to every body of professing 
Christians, not to think of themselves 
more highly than they ought, lest they 
come to despise those whom God hath 
not despised. 

Many serious Christians, in that event- 
ful time, were led into speculations of a 
different character, — as to what might be 
the probable object to be effected by these 
remarkable manifestations of convincing 
and converting grace,f — whether they 
might not be preparatory for some great 
advancement of religion throughout the 
world, such as sacred prophecy so em- 
phatically foretells. It is at all times 
hazardous to attempt to explain the mean- 
ing of any peculiar dispensations of pro- 
vidence or grace, in a prospective point 
of view, and not surprising that men 
should err when they make the attempt. 
Nor is it easy to connect peculiar dispen- 
sations with subsequent events, so as to 
perceive what has been produced by 
them, even at the lapse of a century. Yet 
one or two remarks may be offered of a 

* To their writinss on this subject we do not choosa 
to refer more specifically, wishing them rather o sink 
into oblivion. 

t Dr. Erskine's Signs of the Times, &c. 



358 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. IX 



historical character, not perhaps unwor- 
thy of consideration. It will be remem- 
bered, that in different periods of the 
Church of Scotland's history, God was 
pleased to send her a time of refreshing 
from His presence ; and that these were 
invariably before a time of searching 
trial, as if to give her a principle of sa- 
cred life sufficiently strong to survive the 
period of suffering. Such was the gene- 
ral revival in 1596, ;'.mmediately before 
her protracted struggle with Prelacy un- 
der James. Such were the revivals of 
Stewarton, Shotts, and other places, a 
short while before her second great con- 
test with Prelacy in the time of Charles 
I., and the wasting persecution of the 
two following reigns. And though no 
direct persecution followed the revivals 
of Cambuslang and Kilsyth, yet the long 
and dreary domination of Moderatism 
which immediately followed was more 
calculated to destroy vital religion in the 
land than could have been the most re- 
lentless persecution ; and it seems no 
very strained conjecture, that these gra- 
cious influences were vouchsafed to the 
Church at that period, to sustain her 
during her lengthened sojourn in a mo- 
ral and religious wilderness. Certain it 
is that the deep and earnest spirit and 
feeling of vital and personal religion 
passed not away like a temporary excite- 
ment. Not only did many hundreds of 
the converts of that period continue to 
exhibit the beauty of holiness throughout 
the remainder of their lives, proving the 
reality of the great change which they 
had experienced, but also the very know- 
ledge that such events had taken place 
continued to operate, silent and unseen, 
but with mighty efficacy, in the hearts 
of thousands, constraining them to be- 
lieve that there was more in true spiritual 
Christianity than could be expressed in 
a cold moral harangue, and rendering 
them quick to mark and eager to re- 
ceive instruction of a more evangelical 
and living character. 

And here, also, it may be fittingly 
stated, that although the First Reforma- 
tion began, as it necessarily must have 
done, by the conversion of Romish 
priests, who thus became reformed minis- 
ters, and then taught the people, yet, as 
the Scottish Reformers gave to the peo- 
ple school? as well as churches, and 



communicated to than the highesi amount 
of instruction which circumstances would 
permit, it repeatedly happened in subse- 
quent times, that the people remained 
sound and faithful in the possession of 
true religious principles, long after a 
large proportion of the ministers had 
fallen into error. This was strikingly 
the case during the time of the persecu- 
tion, when so many of the ministers ac- 
cepted the indulgence, while the people 
maintained their integrity, although ex- 
posed to at least equal perils from the 
vengeance of prelatic informers and the 
licentious and cruel soldiery. This was 
the case after the Revolution, when the 
tortuous expediencies of worldly policy 
corrupted the church courts, and a false 
system of theology became prevalent 
among the ministers, long before the 
people were tainted by such low secular 
views, or imbibed such erroneous doctri- 
nal tenets. And it may be added that it 
was for this very purpose that the law of 
patronage was brought forward by the 
Jacobites, who saw clearly that its opera- 
tion would prevent the church courts and 
the people from acting together ; and out 
of the alienation which it so soon and 
so fatally caused, arose in a great mea- 
sure the baneful policy of the moderate 
party, who regarded with dislike the 
warm interest taken by the people in re- 
ligious matters, and the decided prefer- 
ence which they showed to evangelical 
doctrine. It was perfectly manifest, that 
if the popular mind were to be consulted 
in any other way than as a mere matter 
of form, few except evangelical ministers 
would ever obtain admission to the 
Church ; and, as has been already- 
proved, having little knowledge of, and 
no love for, evangelical doctrine, they 
had no other way of securing their own 
admission to the Church as a profession^ 
than by exerting themselves to the ut- 
most in weakening popular influence 
by the rigid enforcement of patronage. 
Could they have contrived at once to 
have reduced the people to such a state 
of comparative ignorance of sound doc- 
trine as to have felt little interest in one 
kind of preaching more than in another, 
there would have been no necessity for 
such strenuous exertions for the repres- 
sion of popular rights and popular feel- 
ing • but as this could not be accomplish- 



A. D. 1750.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



359 



ed with the intelligent and religious peo- 
ple of Scotland, there was no resource 
but to reduce the popular consent to a 
mere empty form, and to crush the popu- 
lar resistance by the strong arm of 
an unconstitutional law, surreptitiously 
thrust into the statute-book by infidels 
and traitors. Taking all these things 
into consideration, it will not be denied, 
that true Christianity as existing among 
the orthodox ministers and people of 
Scotland, was indeed entering into a long 
and dreary period of trial, and greatly 
needed an extraordinary infusion of 
spiritual life, that it might not become ut- 
terly extinct before the dawning of a 
brighter and a happier day. 

[1743-49.] It does not appear neces- 
sary to occupy space in detailing the pro- 
ceedings of the Assemblies year by year 
from this time forward, occupied, as they 
chiefly were, with discussions arising out 
of disputed settlements, and terminating 
generally in the same manner, the oppo- 
sition of the people being disregarded, 
and the presentee appointed with or with- 
out the assistance of a military force, ac- 
cording to the amount of the opposition 
which had to be overcome. Some of 
these cases, however, involved the ques- 
tion respecting the jurisdiction of the civil 
courts, with regard to the settlement of 
ministers. It: *he case of Dunse, for in- 
stance, in 1749, one of the applications 
made to the civil court was, that they 
would arrest the proceedings of the 
church court, by forbidding them to mo- 
derate a call at large, or settle any other 
man than the presentee. " This con- 
clusion the Lords would not meddle with, 
because that was interfering with the 
power of ordination, or internal policy 
of the Church, with which the Lords 
had nothing to do."* Several decisions 
of a precisely similar character were 
made by the Court of Session, indicating 
clearly the opinion of that court, that 
while it fell within their province to de- 
termine whether a settlement should carry 
with it the civil emoluments attached to 
the ministerial office, they were not en- 
titled to interfere with the spiritual pro- 
ceedings of the Church, either in confer- 
ring or withholding the ministerial char- 

* Brown's supplement, vol. v. p. 768; Annals of the 
Assembly, vol. i. p. 147. See also a remarkable paper 
by Lord Kames in his Law Tracts. 



acter. Nor is there a single instance on 
record, till those of recent occurrence, in 
which the civil courts presumed to inter- 
fere with the ecclesiastical jurisdiction 
of the Church, to the extent of offering 
an opinion whether ordination should be 
given or withheld, even when patrons 
attempted to induce them to overstep their 
legitimate boundaries. When the Church 
ordained a person who was found not to 
have a legal claim to the fruits of the 
benefice, according to the law of patron- 
age, the civil court decided that he could 
not receive it, but refused to order the 
Church to annul the pastoral tie of ordi- 
nation, or to ordain the person to whom 
the legal presentation had been given. 
Of this, the case of Lanark is a remark- 
able instance, in which Dr. Dick re- 
mained minister of the parish, discharg- 
ing all the pastoral duties for upwards 
of four years, while the patron was found 
to be entitled to retain the stipend.* 

[1750] In the year 1750, a subject 
came before the Assembly which seems 
to have exercised great influence upon its 
spirit and the whole course of its proceed- 
ings for many years. This was an over- 
ture respecting the small livings in the 
Church, many of which were not suffi- 
cient to yield a respectable maintenance. 
It was decided that a committee should 
be appointed to draw up a report to be 
laid before next Assembly. The Assem- 
bly of 1750 directed Dr. Cuming, the 
moderator, to proceed to London at the 
head of a deputation, to lay the report 
before government, and to apply for an 
augmentation. The nobility, gentry, and 
landed proprietors in general, took the 
alarm, and made preparations for the 
most strenuous opposition, although they 
were in possession of the teinds, which 
were always regarded as the patri- 
mony of the Church, and subject to such 
augmentations from time to time as might 
be required. One of the methods em- 
ployed by the heritors to defeat this right- 
ful claim of the Church, was a threat 
that the law of patronage should be more 
stringently applied than it had hitherto 
been, and that presbyteries should not be 
allowed to evade it, by showing any defer- 
ence to the people, as they had occasion 
ally done.f The result was, that the 

* Annals of the Assembly, vol. i. pp. 169-180. 
* Ibid. pp. 19095, 197. 



360 



HISTORY OF TxiE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. IX. 



scheme was defeated, and the Moderates 
were made to feel that the heritors were 
well contented to make use of them in 
taking away the rights of the people by 
the violation of the Revolution Settlement 
and the Treaty of Union, but were not 
disposed to refund any portion of their 
illegal pillage, which they., possessed in 
consequence of that violation. This dis- 
appointment seems to have paralyzed the 
energies of Dr. Cuming, who had been 
the chief leader of the Moderate party for 
many years, and to have been the cause 
of a new developement of Moderate policy, 
which soon afterwards appeared, under 
the management of an abler and a bolder 
man. 

[1751.] The first appearance of this 
new aspect of Moderate policy was in the 
case of Torpichen, which was decided in 
the year 1751. It had arisen three years 
before, when, after the death of Mr. Bonar, 
the last of the Marrow-men, a Mr. Wat- 
son was presented to the parish by the 
patron, to whose settlement the parish- 
ioners could not be persuaded to consent. 
Twice was the case brought before the 
Assembly, — in the years 1749 and 1750, 
— and the presbytery of Linlithgow were 
each time enjoined to admit Mr. Watson. 
But as the opposition continued, they de- 
clined to obey the ungracious injunction. 
They were rebuked by the Assembly of 
1751, and again ordered to proceed ; but 
in case they should still delay, a " riding 
committee" was empowered to effect the 
settlement, which was done on the 30th 
of May 1751, by the aid of a military 
force.* This was the last instance of a 
settlement effected by means of a " riding 
committee." That device, it will be re- 
membered, had been adopted in order to 
accomplish the settlement of an unaccept- 
able presentee, without doing violence to 
the feelings and conscientious scruples 
of presbyteries. But in this case a very 
strenuous attempt was made by William 
Robertson, minister of Gladsmuir, better 
known by his subsequent designation, 
Principal Robertson, to compel the pres- 
bytery to proceed to the settlement, on 
pain of suspension or deposition. In this 
he failed ; but a new opportunity soon 
occurred for renewing his attempt to 
establish a more pure despotism than 

•Ibid. pp. 156,181, 193-212; Patron ige Report, Ap- 
pendix. 



the Church of Scotland had previously 
known, and this time with complete success. 

[1752.] This opportunity arose out of 
the disputed settlement of Inverkeithing. 
Mr. Andrew Richardson, minister at 
Broughton, had been presented to the 
parish of Inverkeithing, but was not ac- 
ceptable to the parishioners. The pres- 
bytery of Dunfermline hesitated to pro- 
ceed with his settlement, but were ordered 
to admit him, with certification, that the 
Commission would proceed to very high 
censure in case of their disobedience. 
They still declined compliance ; and the 
Commission w r hich met in March 1752 
issued a new command to them to pro- 
ceed, the sentence of censure not being 
carried, though lost by a narrow majority. 
When the case came before the Assem- 
bly, it gave occasion to a full develope- 
ment of the principles of the new Moderate 
policy, which Robertson was determined 
to introduce. The form which the dis- 
cussion assumed turned upon the proposi- 
tion, " How far the members of inferior 
judicatories are bound to give effect to 
the sentences of superior courts, in oppo- 
sition to the dictates of their own private 
judgment and conscience." This had 
been evaded by the device of the "riding 
committees ;" but the pregnant hint re- 
cently given by the heritors, that the law 
of patronage would be more strictly en- 
forced, and presbyteries not permitted to 
evade it as formerly, seems to have led 
Principal Robertson to the idea, that it 
would be more expedient for the superior 
church courts to govern their own subor- 
dinate judicatories, and thereby to gratify 
the heritors and regain their favour, than 
to leave the matter to the civil courts, and 
lose all hope of propitiating the heritors, 
without the possibility of acquiring popu- 
lar support. The result may be briefly 
stated. Robertson's policy prevailed. 
The presbytery were commanded to pro- 
ceed to the ordination of Mr. Richardson ; 
and, as if to make the deed more glar- 
ingly despotic, it was commanded that 
not less than five members should be re- 
garded as a quorum, — the usual number 
being three. Six of the presbytery de- 
clined even then to comply ; and one of 
these, the Rev. Thomas Gillespie of Car- 
nock, was deposed from the office of the 
ministry for contumacy. The venerable 
man, when the sentence was pronounced, 



A. D. 1752.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



361 



meekly answered, " I rejoice that to me 
it is given, in behalf of Christ, not only 
to believe on Him, but also to suffer for 
His sake."* This tyrannical deed gave 
rise to the Secession which is known by 
the name of the Relief, and marks the 
commencement of the new Moderate dy- 
nasty. 

Before the ultimate decision of this case 
had been pronounced, the two contend- 
ing parties had publicly emitted what may 
be termed the manifesto of each,f the 
manifesto of the Moderate party being the 
production of Dr. Robertson. As this 
able paper contained the principles of 
ecclesiastical polity which guided Robert- 
son's administration, has been referred to 
with strong approbation by his successor 
in church power, Principal Hill, and 
has continued ever since to be regarded, 
as in a great degree, the standard of Mo- 
derate church policy, it deserves some 
attention. It begins .by a clear and 
forcible statement of what Robertson re- 
garded as the first principle of society, 
regulated subordination, in which private 
judgment is so far superseded by the 
authority of the ruling power, that no 
member of society can avoid executing 
the orders of the supreme authority in 
any other way than by withdrawing from 
it. This principle he immediately ap- 
plies to what he terms " ecclesiastical 
society," and proceeds to reason to the 
same conclusion, asserting boldly that the 
conscience of subordinate members is so 
far superseded by the orders of their su- 
periors, vhom they are bound to obey, 
that they are either not entitled to plead 
it, or are bound to withdraw ; declaring 
strenuously, that " if the decisions of the 
General Assembly may be disputed and 
disobeyed by inferior courts with im- 
punity, the Presbyterian constitution is 
entirely overturned." This forms the very 
essence of his argument ; and every intel- 
ligent person, especially every thought- 
ful Christian, will at once perceive, that 
the analogy on which his argument is 
founded commences with a false principle, 
and consequently that the argument is 
vicious throughout, and the conclusion 
false. This analogy assumes, that there 

* Annals of the Assembly, vol i. pp. 222-230, 262-271 ; 
Patronage Report, Appendix. 

* See these two Papers in Morten's Annals of the 
Assembly, vol. i. pp. 231-260. 

46 



is in the Christian Church no principle 
different from those natural principles 
which form and regulate society. It 
contains no recognition of the scriptural 
basis of ecclesiastical authority. It even 
leads inevitably to the conclusion, that 
superior ecclesiastical authority ought to 
supersede the conviction of conscience to 
such an extent as to warrant the com- 
mission of what an individual regarded 
as positively sinful. But every truly re- 
ligious man, who makes the Bible his 
rule, must see that this analogy is false, 
the argument founded on it vicious, and 
the conclusion inept and wrong. Can 
men, without any higher aid, make a 
church and frame laws for it as they 
can make a monarchy or a republic? 
Such a low secular view of the na- 
ture of a true Church was never enter- 
tained by the great men of the First and 
Second Scottish Reformations ; such con- 
clusions are utterly and irreconcilably at 
variance with the principles and the spi- 
rit of the Presbyterian Church. On the 
contrary, one of the fundamental prin- 
ciples of Presbyterian polity is, " That 
all church power is ministerial, and not 
magisterial or lordly." Whence it fol- 
lows, that the duty of the office-bearers 
in a Christian Church, met together in 
the name of their only and Divine Head 
and King, to deliberate and act for the 
edification of his body the Church, is to 
endeavour, by prayer and by searching 
the Scriptures with earnest faith and 
singleness of heart, to ascertain what is 
the mind and will of Christ in the mat- 
ter, and then to act according to the judg- 
ment of conscience thus enlightened by 
the Word of God, in all gentleness and 
brotherly love. This is the first prin- 
ciple of Presbyterian Church govern- 
ment, flowing from the great doctrine of 
the Headship of Christ ; and every per- 
son capable of understanding the Bible } 
and acquainted with the Presbyterian 
constitution, must see that the opposite 
view is equally unscriptural and unpres- 
byterian. And it may be very safely 
affirmed, that no church court, actuated 
by this principle, and proceeding in this 
manner, could ever have arrived at the 
conclusion, that their obedience to the 
laws of the gospel required of them to 
perpetrate that grievous violence to the 



362 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. X. 



conscience of the Christian people, the 
members of Christ's body, which is in- 
volved in forcing them to listen to the 
instructions of a false teacher, or of one 
who, instead of feeding and protecting the 
flock as a shepherd, acts towards them as 
a ravening wolf, regardless of their spi- 
ritual welfare, provided he can secure the 
fruits of the benefice. Yet such unpres- 
byterian, unscriptural, unchristian prin- 
ciples, were promulgated by Robertson 
as the manifesto of the Moderate party, 
formed the rule of his long and vigorous 
administration, were lauded and followed 
by Hill, and have ever been regarded, by 
subsequent Moderate leaders, as the very 
standards of their policy, till the present 
time, when, finding that their own prin- 
ciples would lead to the direct condem- 
nation of some of their own party, they 
have discovered that supreme ecclesiasti- 
cal authority resides in the Court of Ses- 
sion, and that they are bound in con- 
science to render implicit obedience to its 
dictates in matters of ordination. Even 
this is natural : men who hold a false 
principle are inevitably led from bad to 
worse, far, very far, beyond what they at 
first would have conceived possible. It 
may be added, as pointing out the ulti- 
mate bearing of these brief remarks, that 
while the Moderate party would readily 
depose a minister for mere contumacy, or 
disobedience to the commands of his su- 
periors, however sinful these commands 
might be in themselves, although they 
very generally screened immorality and 
heresy ; the Evangelical or truly con- 
stitutional party could not depose except 
for some deed in itself sinful, either as 
immoral or heretical. No man who 
can estimate aright the true nature of 
ecclesiastical, jurisdiction, will hesitate a 
moment to say which of these two modes 
of procedure is that which ought to be 
followed by a true Christian Church. 

It is not denied that the constitution of 
the Presbyterian Church requires the 
submission of the inferior to the superior 
courts ; for were that not the case, the 
Church of Scotland must sink into the 
Independent system; and in some of 
their arguments the minority of that 
period were not sufficiently guarded 
against that extreme. But while sound 
Presbyterian polity requires this due sub- 
ordination of courts, it leaves the con- 



science of individuals free both to protest 
against, and to abstain from, actively as- 
sisting to carry into effect what they think 
sinful, provided they offer no actual op- 
position, having always this resource, 
that it can appoint others to execute its 
orders when that is still held necessary. 



CHAPTER X. 

FROM THE PERIOD OF THE SECOND SECES- 
SION TILL THE ASSEMBLY OF 1841. 

Struggle against the new Moderate Policy— Defence of 
Hume and Kames — Assessment for the Poor — Cases 
of Nigg and Jedburgh— Overtures respecting the El- 
ders—Home and the Theatre— Schools in the High- 
lands—Simony — The Relief Secessian formed — Char- 
acter of the Moderate Party in Preaching, Discipline, 
Secularity, &c— The Schism Overtures— Intrusion 
Settlement at St Ninians — Increase of the Secession, 
and the Consequences viewed statiscally — Repeal of 
Popish Disabilities— Debate on Pluralities — Retire- 
ment of Principal Robertson from the General As- 
sembly - Causes of his Retirement— Proposal of the 
Moderates to abolish Subscription to the Confession 
of Faith— Dr. Hill— Proposal to abandon the Modera- 
tion of a Call — Dr. Cook's Theory of the Settlement 
of Ministers— Dr. Hardy's views concerning Patron- 
age — Discussion on the Subject of Patronage — Opin- 
ions of Dr. Hill and Dr. Cook — Declining State of Re- 
ligion in Scotland— A settlement without Subscribing 
the Confession of Faith — The New-Light Controversy 
in Ayrshire — Robert Burns the Poet— Socinianism— 
Excitement at the Period of the French Revolution — 
Revival of a Religious Spirit generally— Christian 
Missions— Opposed by the Moderate Party— Chapels 
of Ease — Rowland Hill — Refusal of Ministerial Com- 
munion with all other Churches, which completes the 
Moderate System — Rapid Growth of Evangelism — 
Contest between Dr. Hill and the Edinburgh Doctors 
— Dr. Andrew Thomson — Dr. M'Crie — Debates on 
Pluralities — Dr Chalmers — Decline ofModeratism — 
Mission to India — Apocrypha Controversy — The Vol- 
untary Controversy — Ascendancy of the Evangelical 
Party — Admission of Chapels of Ease— Subsequent 
Contentions and Struggles — Present Position — Con- 
cluding Remarks and Reflections. 

The decision of the Assembly of 1752, 
in the case of Inverkeithing and the pres- 
bytery of Dunfermline, followed by the 
severe and despotic measure of Mr. Gil- 
lespie's deposition, gave rise to feelings 
of strong indignation and alarm through- 
out the kingdom. A general apprehen- 
sion prevailed among the friends of reli- 
gious liberty, that the reign of absolute 
and spiritual despotism was now indeed 
begun in Scotland, since the General 
Assembly had committed a deed distinctly 
subversive of the first principles of tfiG 
Presbyterian constitution, which had al- 
ways hitherto been the very citadel of 
freedom, civil and religious. The sub- 
ject was discussed with great anxiety in 
many of the synods and presbyteries ; 
overtures were framed for the purpose of 



A. D. 1653.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



363 



obtaining a repeal of the Assembly's de- 
cision, and the restoration of Mr. Gilles- 
pie to his charge ; and numerous pam- 
phlets were written both against and in 
defence of the new developement of 
Moderate ecclesiastical polity. Great 
exertions were also made by the orthodox 
party to procure a return to next Assem- 
bly of a sufficient number of true Presby- 
terians to reverse the recent despotic and 
unconstitutional measure ; and not less 
strenuous were the Moderates on their 
part to retain their ascendancy and con- 
firm their new position. 

[1753.] When the Assembly met in 
1 753, it speedily appeared that the strug- 
gle was to be of a very arduous and 
doubtful character, A comparative trial 
of strength arose on the question respect- 
ing the election of a legal agent for the 
Church, and in this Dr. Cuming, the re- 
cognised Moderate leader, was defeated. 
But this defeat seems to have had the 
effect of leading to a greater degree of 
union in that party, and a more deter- 
mined effort to secure their predominance. 
The case of Mr. Gillespie came next 
under consideration ; and the question 
proposed for the vote was, whether he 
should be restored to the exercise of his 
office as a minister of this Church or not. 
It was decided in the negative by a ma- 
jority of three. Next day an attempt was 
made to procure the remission of the sub- 
ject to the Commission, with power to 
that court to restore Mr. Gillespie, if he 
should make application ; but this also 
was resisted, and again lost by the nar- 
row majority of three.* A considerable 
number of ministers and elders dissented 
from these decisions of the Assembly, and 
gave in their reasons of dissent, which 
the ruling party prudently abstained from 
attempting to answer. By these reasons 
it was made clearly to appear that the 
sentence of deposition had been pro- 
nounced on account of an alleged offence, 
against which there existed no law de- 
claring it to deserve deposition ; while 
the whole practice of the Church, in 
similar cases, had not gone beyond cen- 
sure, so that the sentence of itself was un- 
constitutional if tested by the laws of the 
Church, and unchristian by those of the 
Scriptures. f But the Moderate party 



Annals of the Assembly vol. i. p. 278. 
vol. ii. p. 21. 



t Ibid., 



had the possession of power, and they 
could therefore the more easily set aside 
right and disregard reason. Besides, 
since the laws of civil society demand 
complete subordination, therefore, accord- 
ing to the fundamental maxim of the new 
Moderate dynasty, "ecclesiastical society" 
must be governed in the same manner. 
Had the supporters of this principle fol- 
lowed it to its legitimate conclusions, they 
would have found themselves the advo- 
vates of the hideous doctrines of entire 
slavish obedience to tyranny in the State 
and Popery in the Church, — that is, to 
absolute despotism, civil and religious. 
For whatever takes away the right of 
private judgment, commanding implicit 
obedience, especially in matters of reli- 
gion, to use the language of the Confes- 
sion of Faith, " destroys liberty of con- 
science, and reason also," reducing men, 
as far as it is possible, to the condition of 
irresponsible and unreasoning slavery. 
" But you are not compelled to obey, if 
your conscience forbid you : it is in your 
power to withdraw." Such was the lan- 
guage of the manifesto, and still is the 
language of those who hold the same 
principles. To that the ready answer 
was given : " Who empowered you to 
frame laws contrary to the constitution 
of the Presbyterian Church, which you 
have sworn to obey and maintain, and 
contrary to the laws of the Christian 
Church, given by Him who alone is 
Lord of the conscience, and then to punish 
men because they adhere to the constitu- 
tion of the Church of their fathers, and, 
when charged with disobeying your 
laws, answered, with the apostles, * whe- 
ther it is right to obey God or man, 
judge ye V " Such were the opinions 
entertained, and arguments used, by the 
evangelical ministers of the Church of 
Scotland, in that time of struggle against 
a party who did not scruple to subject 
every spiritual consideration to the arbi- 
trary rules of secular policy. It was not, 
perhaps, to be expected that secular poli- 
ticians would perceive the fallacy which 
lay at the source of the Moderate system ; 
but it might surely be hoped that they 
would be able to mark the pernicious re- 
sults that have followed, and to arrive at 
the very simple and obvious conclusion, 
that the cause must be essentially bad 
which has produced such consequences. 



364 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. [CHAP. X. 



It will not be difficult to trace the main 
lines of the historical demonstration. 

Among the pamphlets which this con- 
test between the two parties drew forth, 
by far the most remarkable was "Wither- 
spoon's Ecclesiastical Characteristics." 
This was published in September 1753, 
and immediately acquired great celebrity, 
both in Scotland and England. The 
wrath of the Moderate party, whose 
maxims of ecclesiastical policy is so keen- 
ly satirized, was excessive ; but they wise- 
ly abstained from attempting to answer it. 
And it may be safely said, that if any 
impartial person would take Dr. Robert- 
son's Manifesto, and Witherson's Char- 
acteristics, and peruse them both candidly, 
looking also into the records of the 
Church courts under Robertson's admin- 
istration, he would find himself constrain- 
ed to admit that the Moderate policy had 
been fairly and justly characterised. 

[1754-55.] The transactions of the 
years 1754 and 1755 present little deserv- 
ing to be recorded. In'the former the 
case of Biggar was terminated by a com- 
promise. In the latter there arose a dis- 
cussion, respecting the infidel writings of 
David Hume, which the Assembly con- 
demned, without however, naming the 
author, which would not have been con- 
venient, as he was living in terms of 
friendly ircimacy with several of the 
Moderate leaders. A short time after the 
rising of the Assembly, Hume was de- 
fended by Dr. Blair, in a pamphlet pub- 
lished anonymously, »to avoid the un- 
seemliness of a teacher of religion being 
the avowed defender of one who made no 
secret of his infidelity. The speculations 
of Lord Karnes were at the same time 
brought under consideration, and were 
virtually included in the same censure ; 
although it seems to have been felt that 
they might be regarded as little more 
than the idle mental discussions of an ec- 
centric man of genius, and not likely to 
be productive of serious injury to the 
cause of truth.* One apparently slight 
circumstance incidentally stated by Sir 
Henry MoncreifT, deserves to be men- 
tioned as connected with this year ; it is, 
that the resources of the kirk-sessions 
continued to be sufficient for the mainte- 

* Annals of the Assembly, vol. ii. pp. 54-60. See also, 
Life of Kames, by Lord Woodhouselee. 



nance of the poor, without any regular 
assessment, till the year 1755, when the 
increase of the Secession, withdrawing 
numbers of people from the pale of the 
Established Church, and to the same ex- 
tent dimtnishing the collections, rendered 
it necessary to resort, in some instances, 
to regular assessments to supply the 
growing deficiency.* This was one of 
the fruits of patronage on which its ad- 
mirers had not probably calculated, when 
they planted that deadly upas tree in the 
vineyard of the Scottish Church. By 
enforcing patronage they first caused a 
Secession ; and by continuing their in- 
fatuated procedure they nourished its 
growth, till ihe effects began to appear in 
the form of diminished resources for the 
maintenance of the poor, which they were 
compelled themselves to supply. Still, as 
if smitten with judicial blindness, they 
continued, and till this day continue, to 
enforce a system which, if persevered in, 
can end in nothing but the overthrow of 
the Presbyterian Church, and the imposi- 
tion of a national poor-rate, vastly more 
expensive to the community, and, at the 
same time, a fertile nursery of immorality 
and crime. 

[1727.] The assembly of 1756 sig- 
nalized itself by its decision of the case 
of Nigg in Ross-shire. That parish had 
enjoyed the blessing of a faithful evange- 
lical minister, Mr. John Balfour ; and 
upon his death the next presentee was not 
only of a totally opposite character with 
regard to doctrine, but was also accused 
of drunkenness, which accusation was 
only not proved against him. Great op- 
position was made to the settlement by 
the pious parishioners, and equal reluc- 
tance was manifested by the majority of 
the presbytery to perpetuate the outrage 
commanded by the superior courts. But 
the fate of Gillespie was before their eyes ; 
and under a strong feeling of sorrow and 
regret, four of the presbytery repaired to 
the church of Nigg, to discharge the 
painful duty. The church was empty ; 
not a single member of the congregation 
was to be seen. While in a state of per- 
plexity what to do in such a strange con- 
dition, one man appeared, who had it in 
charge to tell them, " That the blood of 
the parish of Nigg would be required of 

* Life of Erskine, Appendix, p. 409 



A. D. 1757.] HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



them, if they should settle a man to the 
walls of the kirk* Having delivered 
solemnly this appalling message, he de- 
parted, leaving the presbytery astonished 
and paralyzed. They proceeded no fur- 
ther at the time, but reported the case to 
the Assembly of 1756. They were re- 
buked for having failed in that implicit 
obedience which was now the rule of 
duty under the Moderate government of 
the Church ; and the minister who was 
most opposed to the settlement was the 
very one appointed to carry it into effect. 
He yielded. Mr. Patrick Grant was 
<: settled to the walls of kirk ;" and the 
outraged people of Nigg built a meeting- 
house for themselves, leaving to the 
wretched intruder his benefice, on which 
to batten, without a flock to tend. 

The case of Jedburg came before this 
Assembly, though its final decision did 
not take place till two years afterwards. 
The parishioners of Jedburgh had almost 
unanimously petitioned that the Rev. Mr. 
Boston of Oxnam, son of the celebrated 
Boston of Etterick, might be their minis- 
ter. The presentation, however, was 
given to Bonar, grandson of Bonar of 
Torphichen ; but when he found the in- 
clinations of the people so decidedly fixed 
on Mr. Boston, he resigned the presenta- 
tion. The patron might now have con- 
sulted the wishes of the people ; but that 
would have been contrary to the princi- 
ples of the mild government of Modera- 
tism, and therefore a new presentation 
was given to another person, not likely to 
commit the fault of which Mr. Bonar had 
been guilty. 

[1757.] The first subject which en- 
gaged the attention of the Assembly in 
the year 1757, arose out of objections 
against the commissions of the elders 
from six or seven different Presbyteries. 
The defect urged against these commis- 
sions was, that they did not bear that the 
elders were qualified according to the act 
1722, in which specific mention is made 
that elders should be " strict in their ob- 
servation of the Lord's day, and in regu- 
larly keeping up the worship of God in 
their families." The orthodox and con- 
stitutional ministers argued that these 
commissions ought to be rejected as in- 
valid, on account of this serious defect, 

* Annals of the Assembly, vol. ii. pp. 77-80 ; Patronage 
Report, Appendix. 



justly regarding personal religion as the 
first qualification for an office-bearer in 
the Church, and concluding that no man 
could be personally religious who neg- 
lected public and family worship. But 
it would not have suited Moderate policy 
to have held the possession of personal 
religion as an indispensable qualification 
of an office-bearer in the Church. The 
only qualifications which they regarded 
as absolutely indispensable were, — for a 
minister, that he had received a presenta- 
tion from a patron, — and for an elder, that 
he possessed political influence, or was 
connected with those who did. And the 
practice was about that time introduced, 
which soon became the settled custom, of 
ordaining young lawyers to the eldership, 
that they might sit in Assemblies, exercise 
their oratorical powers, and swell the 
Moderate majorities. It was evident that 
they might discharge all these functions 
without any personal religion ; and there- 
fore the Moderate party strenuously re- 
sisted the attempt to have an attestation of 
their possessing that qualification declared 
to be indispensable. The Moderates were 
successful by a considerable majority; 
and thus another glaring violation of re- 
ligious principle and the constitution of 
the Presbyterian Church was perpetrated. 
The evil consequences of this irreligious 
decision were clearly pointed out by 
Witherspoon, in a dissent which he laid on 
the table of the Assembly ; and they have 
been completely realized, as the sufferings 
of the Church even yet too clearly prove.* 
The next matter which came before 
the Assembly, after having occupied the 
attention of a number of the subordinate 
church courts in different parts of the 
country, was one which had its origin in 
tho elegant studies and amusements of the 
Moderate clergymen. The Rev. John 
Home, minister of Athelstanefore, the 
eager supporter of Robertson in procur- 
ing the deposition of the pious and con- 
scientious Gillespie, had composed the 
tragedy of Douglas ; and when it was 
represented in the Edinburgh Theatre, 
both the author and many of his clerical 
friends were present at the representation. 
This gave great offence to a large pro- 
portion of the Church, both ministers 
and people, who very justly regarded 
such conduct as giving countenance to 

• Annals of the Assembly, vol. ii. pp. 102-108, 



366 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. X. 



the gross profanity and licentiousness of 
the stage itself, and the still grosser im- 
moralities which haunt its precincts. 
The result was, that Home resigned his 
charge ; and his play-going friends, the 
most distinguished of whom was Dr. 
Carlyle of Inveresk, submitted to be re- 
buked and admonished.* 

[1758 ] In the year 1758 Dr. Robert- 
son was translated from Gladsmuir to 
Edinburgh ; and from that time his as- 
cendancy in church courts, which had 
already nearly superseded that of Dr. 
Cuming, became altogether paramount, 
and remained unshaken till he voluntarily 
withdrew upwards of twenty years after- 
wards. In the same year Boston of Ox- 
nam, grieved with the proceedings of the 
church courts, both in their utter disre- 
gard of the feelings, wishes, and edifica- 
tion of the people, and in the culpable leni- 
ency shown to clerical delinquents, gave 
in to the presbytery of Jedburgh his de- 
mission of the charge of Oxnam, and 
ceased to be a minister of the Church of 
Scotland. The people of Jedburgh, find- 
ing all their endeavours to obtain him as 
minister of the parish ineffectual, built a 
church, and gave him a call to be their 
pastor. This call was signed by the town 
council, the session, and all the heads of 
families except five. On the day of his 
admission the magistrates attended in all 
their official dignity, and the new church 
was crowded by at least two thousand 
people.f He was ordained by a Mr. 
Mackenzie, who had once been minister 
of Lochbroom, but was then minister of 
a dissenting congregation in England, and 
afterwards was called to be their pastor 
by the injured people of Nigg. This 
loss to the Church of a faithful minister 
and a warm-hearted congregation, was 
a fitting celebration of Dr. Robertson's 
translation to Edinburgh, and accession 
to unlimited ecclesiastical power. 

A representation was laid before this 
Assembly, by the Society for Propagating 
Christian Knowledge, respecting the de- 
ficiency of parish schools in the High- 
lands. From this document it appeared, 
that there were in the Highlands no less 
than one hundred and seventy-five par- 
ishes where there were no parochial 
schools, and where the heritors neglected 

Annals of the Assembly, vol. ii. pp. 112-129. 
t Ibid., vol. ii. pp. 154-159. 



or refused to provide them, notwithstand 
ing the urgent entreaties and remon- 
strances of the society. In one point of 
view this was not strange. The greater 
part of the Highland heritors were both 
Papists and Jacobites, and consequently 
had no love for the propagation of reli- 
gious knowledge, and as little for the ex- 
tension of the Presbyterian system, which 
paralyzed their rebellious tendencies, as 
they themselves had formerly owned in 
their complaints against new churches 
and schools. But it might have been 
anticipated that under a Protestant go- 
vernment, the law which declared that 
there should be a school in every parish 
would have been put into execution, and 
that the supplementary exertions of this 
truly Christian society would not have 
been pleaded as an excuse by the heritors 
for their own neglect of duty. The dis- 
cussion of this subject was ultimately 
attended with the most beneficial results, 
in the erection of about forty new churches 
in the Highlands, with an ordained min- 
ister in each, though the admission of 
these ministers into church courts did not 
take place till a very recent period, when 
a more constitutional spirit had begun to 
prevail. 

[1759.] The only thing which merits 
attention in the year 1750 is the passing 
of the act against Simony, which had 
been rendered necessary to prevent the 
disgraceful pactions entered into between 
patrons and presentees in many instances, 
especially since the law of patronage had 
begun to be so steadily enforced. This 
kind of crime had been distinctly fore- 
seen, as certain to arise out of patronage ; 
and while this act condemns the sinful 
consequences, it by implication condems 
also the sinful cause. 

[1760-65.] No new principles, either 
of evil or of good, obtained developement 
during the years between 1760 and 1765, 
and, therefore, they may be passed rapidly 
over, merely glancing at some events 
which illustrate the topics already stated. 
A deputation was sent to the Highlands, 
to explore the state of religion in those 
remote districts ; and a full report having 
been laid before the Assembly, that vener- 
able court strongly recommended the 
erection of new churches and parochial 
districts, the ministers of which were to 
be supported out of the royal bounty. 



A. D. 1760.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



367 



The violent settlement of Kilconquhar, 
on the decision of the Assembly in 1 760,* 
caused the secession of a large body of 
the people of that parish, and gave occa- 
sion to the completed form which the 
second Secession assumed in the course 
of the following year. A new church 
was built by the aggrieved people, and 
on the 22d of October 1761, the Rev. 
Thomas Gillespie, formerly of Carnock, 
and the Rev. Thomas Boston, formerly 
of Oxnam, together with a Mr. Collier, 
met at Colinsburgh in Fife, and constituted 
themselves into the Presbytery of Relief, 
the reason of assuming that designation 
being, that they took this method of ob- 
taining relief from the intolerable despot- 
ism of patronage. The course of defec- 
tion, meanwhile, continued to proceed 
rapidly, deepening, expanding, and pour- 
ing on like an inundation. The doctrines 
of the gospel were superseded by cold 
and formal harangues respecting the 
" beauty of morality," and the " good of 
the whole" couched in as much elegance 
of style as these reverend essayists could 
achieve. The greater part of the pulpit 
productions of those times which have 
been preserved from oblivion are certainly 
not such as to do much honour to the ta- 
lents, judgment, or even taste of that class 
of men by whom they were elaborated. 
Even Blair's Sermons, which reached the 
highest pitch of excellence that Moderate 
pulpit oratory could aspire to, have long 
since lo^t their factitious popularity, and 
sunk* to that dead level of monotonous 
lethargy in which must for ever slumber 
all that is destitute of true spiritual life. 
But while the vital principles of the gos- 
pel were in general very carefully ex- 
cluded from the sermons of the Moderate 
clergy, an infusion of a different nature 
was readily admitted. Heresy of various 
kinds sprang up, chiefly derived from the 
strong taint of Arminianism which the 
Prelatic incumbents introduced into the 
Church. Pelagianism naturally followed ; 
and the downward progress continuing, 
many began to entertain views very 
closely bordering upon Socinianism. To 
this the writings of Taylor of Norwich 
very greatly contributed, which about 
this time had become extremely popular 
among a certain class of the Moderate 
ministers, especially in the west of Scot- 

* Annals of tie Assembly, vol. ii. p. 201. 



land in Galloway. But when charges of 
heresy against any minister were brought 
before the Assembly, they were invaria- 
bly discouraged, and the charge repelled ; 
and on one occasion, the faithful minister 
who had brought forward the charge was 
actually reproved for his conduct, and 
warned " not to be over ready to fish out 
heresies."* Several very glaring cases 
of violent intrusion occurred : such as 
that of Kilmarnock, in 1764; and that 
of Shotts, in 1765, where the presbytery 
had rejected Mr. Wells on his trials, as 
being, if not wholly deficient, yet so low 
and mean in the knowledge of divinity, 
that he did not come up to the character 
of a minister of the gospel. Yet the 
Assembly reversed this judgment, and 
ordered him to be ordained ; and when 
the opposition of the people was so great 
that it could not be accomplished in the 
parish, he was ordained in the session- 
house at Hamilton. Many cases occured, 
also, of such atrocious immorality, that 
it is not fitting to stain these pages with 
their recital ;f and yet all these cases 
were defended, and the delinquents 
screened, by the Moderates, till, in some 
of them, the strong indignation of in- 
sulted public decency compelled the sen- 
tence of deposition to be passed. Such 
were some of the glories of Principal 
Robertson's administration, so lauded in 
his own day, so closely followed by his 
immediate successors, and held in such 
high honour still by many who warmly 
applaud and eagerly emulate what they 
painfully feel and deeply deplore that they 
cannot rival. 

It may seem a very pertinent question to 
ask, how such criminal conduct could be 
permitted to pass unpunished, much more, 
how it could be sheltered by church 
courts under the management of Principal 
Robertson, a high-minded, honorable 
man, whose own moral character was al- 
together unimpeachable. Simply because 
his views of church government were 
directly anti-scriptural, founded upon a 
worldly principle, and pervaded through- 
out by worldly considerations. In his 
mind the idea of an Established Church 
was exceedingly simple, and exceedingly 

* Annals of the Assembly, vol. ii. p. 182. 
t See annals of Assembly— cases of Professor Brown, 
Dalrymple of Dallas, Carson of Anwoth, Park of Old 
Monkland, Lyell of Lady Parish, and Nisbet of Firth 
and Stennese. 



368 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP X. 



false. He regarded it as merely a subor- 
dinate court, created by the State, and 
possessed of no authority but what was 
derived from human laws. Wherever, 
therefore, he found a human law, there he 
formed an imperative rule ; and all argu- 
ments brought from the direct language 
of Scripture, the principles of the gospel, 
or the recoiling of a tender and enlight- 
ened conscience, were by him entirely 
disregarded. His administration certainly 
deserves the praise of consistency, but as 
certainly it was a terrible consistency of 
direct opposition to the fundamental prin- 
ciples of Christianity, and of the Presby- 
terian Church, to whose standards he had 
subscribed his name, with all the grave 
deliberateness required in him who in the 
sight of heaven takes a solemn oath. 
How he reconciled his own conscience to 
such awful principles and conduct cannot 
be known ; and it is not for man to judge 
his fellow-man. Yet the cold and scarce- 
approving account he gave of the Refor- 
mation, — his more than ambiguous views 
of the Mosaic record, — the scornful terms 
in which Hume dared to write to him re- 
specting John Knox and the Scottish 
reformers, — and his own published letters 
to Gibbon, not to mention other letters 
similar, but worse, which have never 
seen the light, — all concur in rendering it 
sadly dubious whether he did himseJf fully 
comprehend and believe the gospel.* 
Even in the judgment of charity such a 
doubt may find admission, rather than 
the unutterably more fearful surmise, 
that he and his party knew the gospel, 
and intentionally trampled on its holy and 
merciful laws, — felt the full meaning and 
power of the apostle's command, "Be not 
lords over God's heritage," yet chastised 
the Christian congregation with scor- 
pions, — knew what the true bread of life 
was, yet gave to the people stones and 
serpents. 

There would be no difficulty in giving 
a still more appalling exposure of the 
principles and the practice of that party, 
then and still known by the designation 
of the Moderate party, who, after a long 
struggle, had succeeded in usurping the 
government of the Church of Scotland, 
and under whose baleful domination 
truth was stifled, faithfulness punished, 

* See the opinion of Wilberforce in his Practical 
View, p. 304, fifth edition. 



piety expelled, conscience outraged, here- 
sy protected, immorality permitted to pre- 
vail almost uncensured, and the Christian 
community injured and despised.* But 
we turn from the ungracious task, and 
hasten forward, purposing to touch only 
the prominent points, that arrest the atten- 
tion, and demand remark and explanation. 

[1766.] The Assembly of 1766 was 
memorable on account of the overtures 
respecting schism which came before it, 
and occasioned a long and animated dis- 
cussion. The rapid increase of the Se- 
cession had excited alarm in the minds 
of many who saw the pernicious conse- 
quences likely to ensue from the aban- 
donment of the National Church by so 
large a proportion of the people. The 
overture states, that there were already no 
fewer than one hundred and twenty meet- 
ing-houses erected ; and, viewing this as 
a just cause of anxiety, and contrary to 
the very nature of a national establish- 
ment, which is of necessity intended for 
the religious instruction of the whole 
community, it was proposed to inquire 
into the truth of this fact; and assuming 
" that the abuse of the right of patronage 
had been one chief occasion of the pro- 
gress of the Secession, it was overtured 
that the General Assembly would be 
pleased to consider what methods may be 
employed to remedy so great an evil ; 
and it was submitted whether it might 
not be expedient to appoint a committee 
to correspond with Presbyteries, and with 
gentlemen of property and influence, and 
and to report."! After a very long de- 
bate, the Assembly agreed to abandon 
the proposed inquiry into the number of 
meeting-houses. The remaining part of 
the overture was then discussed and re- 
jected by a vote of ninety-nine to eighty- 
five.J Thus the supreme ascendancy 
of the Moderate party was again secured, 
after having encountered a more severe 
assault than had been made upon it since 
1752. The arguments on both sides 
turned chiefly upon the subject of patron- 
age, and were almost identical with those 
which are employed for and against it in 
the present day. Indeed, there can be 
little difference in the modes by which 
that violation of Christian principle and 

* Should this view be disputed , it shall, however re- 
luctantly, be amply proved. 

t Annals of Assembly, vol. ii. p. 311. J Ibid., p. 329. 



A. D. 1772.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



369 



of the constitution of the Presbyterian 
Church is assailed, and its defence at- 
tempted. " Is patronage the law of the 
gospel ?" " It is at least the law of the 
land." " Is it consistent with the funda- 
mental principles of the Reformed Pres- 
byterian Church of Scotland ?" " The 
civil magistrate has at least always at- 
tempted to introduce and enforce it, in 
spite of the opposition made by the 
Church." " Was it the law of the Revo- 
lution Settlement and the Union'?" "No 
matter; it was made by the law since, 
and it is the law now." " Has it not 
alienated the affections of the people, 
driven them to a large and increasing 
Secession, and thereby frustrated so far 
the very object of an Established national 
Church ?" " No matter how many leave 
it ; they are perfectly at liberty to do so ; 
and there will be the more ease and peace 
for those that remain." These were the 
main lines of argument employed by 
those who wished to remedy the evil, 
and those who refused to admit that it 
was an evil, and wished its permanent 
continuation ; and though it was perfectly 
clear that Scripture, reason, constitutional 
law, and Christian feeling, all alike con- 
demned it, yet the vote of a Moderate 
majority could set them all aside. 

The same year witnessed the demission 
of another minister, the Rev. Mr. Baine 
of Paisley, who joined the Relief Seces- 
sion, and became minister of one of their 
churches newly erected in Edinburgh. 
It may be mentioned, that the Seceders 
were by no means pleased with what 
was termed the schism overture, having 
no desire to be regarded as schismatics, 
and still retaining the principles of the 
fathers of the Secession, who earnestly 
declared that they did not withdraw from 
the Church of Scotland, but from a pre- 
vailing party, by whom its government 
was usurped, and all its principles vio- 
lated.* 

[1767-73.] The agitation caused by 
this keen contest did not soon pass away. 
Numerous pamphlets appeared on the 
subject from time to time, some written by 
ministers of the Church, some by Sece- 
ders, and some by laymen, who saw and 
lamented the injurious effects which the 
unmitigated exercise of patronage, under 
the management of the Moderate party ^ 

* Letter by Adam Gib. 

47 



I was producing. In the meantime the 
j Moderates continued their reckless career. 
One instance may be briefly mentioned. 
Mr. Thomson, minister of Gargunnock, 
was presented to the parish of St. Ni- 
nians ; but the whole parish was opposed 
to his settlement, some Episcopalians, 
who cared nothing about the matter, and 
a few non-resident heritors, being all that 
could be prevailed upon to concur in his 
call. The presbytery remonstrated with 
the patron, the presentee, and the Gen- 
eral Assembly, but all in vain. Seven 
years of useless and evasive litigation in 
church courts passed over j and at length, 
in 1773, the Assembly issued a peremp- 
tory order to the presbytery to proceed to 
the ordination, and every member to be 
present. The presbytery met at St. Ni- 
nians ; an immense crowd had assembled ; 
and Mr. Findlay of Dollar began the re- 
ligious duties which precede ordination 
and induction. He then paused, and 
called upon Mr. Thomson, who stood up 
to listen to the moderator's address. In- 
stead of proceeding to put the usual ques- 
tions, he made one of the most solemn 
and pointed appeals to the unhappy in- 
truder that ever was addressed to a hu- 
man being : — " We are met here this day 
to admit you minister of St. Ninians. 
There has been a formidable opposition 
made against you by six hundred heads 
of families, sixty heritors, and all the el- 
ders of the parish except one. This op- 
position has continued for seven years by 
your own obstinacy ; and if you should 
this day be admitted, you can have no 
pastoral relation to the souls of this parish; 
you will never be regarded as the shep- 
herd to go before the sheep ; they know 
you not, and they will never follow you, 
You will draw misery and contempt 
upon yourself — you will be despised — 
you will be hated — you will be insulted 
and maltreated. One of the most elo- 
quent and learned ministers of this 
Church told me lately that he would go 
twenty miles to see you deposed ; and I 
do assure you that I and twenty thousand 
more friends to our Church would do 
the same. What happiness can you pro- 
pose to yourself in this mad, this despe- 
rate attempt of yours, without the concur- 
rence of the people, and without the least 
prospect of usefulness in this parish % 
Your admission into it can only be re- 



370 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. X 



garded as a sinecure, and you yourself 
as stipend-lifter of St. Ninians, for you 
can have no further relation to this pa- 
rish. Now, Sir, I conjure you hy the 
mercies of God, give up this presentation ; 
I conjure you, for the sake of the great 
number of souls of St. Ninians, who are 
like sheep going astray without a shep- 
herd to lead them, and who will never 
hear you, will never submit to you, give 
it up ; I conjure you, by that peace of 
mind which you would wish in a dying 
hour, ansl that awful and impartial ac- 
count which in a little you must give 
to God, of your own soul, and of the 
souls of this parish, at the tribunal of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, give it up !" There 
was silence, breathless, profound, awe- 
struck silence, for a space. At length 
the heartless man made answer, " I for- 
give you, Sir, for what you have now 
said — may God forgive you ; proceed to 
obey your superiors." Again there was 
silence ; then in a low melancholy tone 
of voice, Mr. Findlay, omitting all usual 
forms, slowly said, — " I, as moderator of 
the presbytery of Stirling, admit you, Mr. 
David Thomson, to be minister of the 
parish of St. Ninians, in the true sense 
and spirit of the late sentence of the Gen- 
eral Assembly, and you are hereby ad- 
mitted accordingly."* And thus once 
more absolute patronage triumphed over 
the principles and laws of Christianity, 
and another victory increased the glories 
of Principal Robertson's Moderate ad- 
ministration. 

That this was a direct and legitimate 
consequence of the law of patronage, as 
administered by the Moderate party, 
headed by Principal Robertson, may be 
very easily demonstrated ; but he would 
be a rash and daring casuist who should 
attempt to prove, that it was a direct and 
.egitimate consequence of the laws of 
Christ, and reconcilable with the princi- 
ple of his sole Headship and Sovereignty 
over the Church. 

[1774-78.] In the year 1774 there 
appeared a republication of the celebrated 
Professor Hutcheson's " Considerations 
on Patronage, addressed to the Gentle- 
men of Scotland," which had been first 
published in 1736. To this was added 
a curious appendix, containing a view of 
the state of the Secession in Scotland in 

• Scots Magazine, vol. xxiv. pp. 614, 615. 



the year 1773, with a calculation founded 
on it, showing the expense which such an 
extensive Secession entailed on the king- 
dom, falling ultimately upon the posses 
sors of fixed property, the landholders, 
and mercantile and commercial capital- 
ists. The author of this paper first states, 
that there were in 1773 at least one hun- 
dred and ninety congregations of Sece- 
ders ; and by a calculation which shows 
him to have been well acquainted with 
the principles of political economy, he 
proves, that the sum of money expended 
in the maintenance of this large Secession 
could not amount to less than twelve hun- 
dred thousand pounds, ultimately falling 
upon the possessors of fixed property, and 
all caused by the destructive patronage 
law, and the tyrannical conduct of the 
Moderate party in the Church.* If the 
correctness of that calculation be admit- 
ted, and the numbers of seceding congre- 
gations to be taken now at five hundred, 
which appears to be near the reality, the 
amount thereby drained from the capital 
of the country cannot be less than three 
times the sum already stated. And this 
enormous public burden is borne that 
patronage may be maintained, and eccle- 
siastical power secured to a party whose 
whole history is one wild tissue of heresy, 
error, or suppression of the truth in doc- 
trine, violation of the Presbyterian con- 
stitution, ministerial unfaithfulness, sinful 
conniving at immorality, and the most 
wanton and cruel exercise of spiritual 
despotism, which seemed even to exult in 
the infliction of wrong and outrage upon 
a grave, intelligent, and religious people. 
Surely the nation will ere long awake, 
burst the yoke of patronage, and shake 
off the incubus of Moderatism, beneath 
which it has so long groaned. 

The stream of corruption rolled on, 
widening and deepening as it swept 
along, for several successive years. Dur- 
ing that time repeated instances occurred 
in which accusations of heresy were 
quashed or explained away, and charges 
of immorality mitigated, smoothed over, 
and dismissed. Some cases, however, 
occurred, too public and enormous to be 
thus passed by. To meet such painful 
cases the Moderate leaders resorted to a 
new device. They entered into a private 
arrangement with the delinquent, accord- 

* Considerations on Patronage ; reprinted 1774. 



A. D. 1780.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



371 



ing to which he agreed to accept a pen- 
sion out of the stipend, to withdraw from 
the parish, and to permit an assistant to 
he appointed to discharge those duties 
which public decency would no longer 
suffer him to desecrate. This was called 
£{ mercy to a weak and erring brother ;" 
what was it to the feelings of the dis- 
gusted community? — what to the pil- 
laged assistant? — what to the purity of 
the Church of Christ ? Many such cases 
might be mentioned, from the earliest re- 
corded instance during the domination 
of Principal Robertson, down till the loss 
of power by that party from whose cor- 
rupt policy they originated ; but we for- 
bear, under a strong feeling of shame 
and regret that such things could be 
done by men who were at least nominal- 
ly Christian ministers. 

[1779.} The year 1779 is chiefly re- 
markable for the formidable tumults, 
amounting almost to civil convulsions, 
which agitated the country in conse- 
quence of the passing of an act of parlia- 
ment, relaxing the civil disabilities and 
penalties resting upon the adherents of 
Popery in England, the provisions of 
which were proposed to be extended to 
Scotland. The subject came before the 
General Assembly in the form of an 
overture for petitioning parliament 
against the bill, and was discussed with 
great ability, the Moderate party advocat- 
ing the removal of these disabilities, and 
the Evangelical party opposing it. The 
discussion ended as was to be expected ; 
for when the arguments of such men as 
Dr. Erskine and Mr. Stevenson of St. 
Madoes could not be answered, they 
could be overwhelmed by a vote. But 
though the overture was rejected on its 
first appearance in 1778, the tumultuary 
excitement of 1779 induced Robertson to 
retrace his steps, and consent to its being 
then passed as an act. The views of 
the orthodox party, by whom the over- 
lure was supported, were utterly averse 
from any thing like giving sanction to 
persecution. The main argument was, 
that while Roman Catholics ought not to 
be prohibited from worshipping God in 
their own way, nor subjected to severe 
penalties because they did ; yet they 
ought not to be intrusted with political 
power, because their own corrupt and 
erroneous system of religion rendered 



them unfit conservators of public reli- 
gious truth and moral purity, and because 
their allegiance to a foreign and necessa- 
rily hostile power at Rome, the enemy 
of religious and civil liberty, and the im- 
placable foe of the British constitution, 
rendered it impossible for them to be 
safely intrusted with influence in a Pro- 
testant government, which they could not 
but regard it as a sacred duty to subvert.* 
These arguments were not answered 
then ; they have not since ; and our own 
times have furnished the most appalling 
demonstrations of their truth. 

[1780.] Several events occurred to 
mark the year 1780 as memorable in the 
history of the Church of Scotland. Of 
these, the first that demands attention is 
the discussion respecting the propriety of 
a minister holding a plurality of offices, 
such as a church and a professorship. 
There had been many instances of a 
minister being professor of Theology or 
Church History, and at the same time 
preaching regularly every Sabbath ; but 
in all these instances there was either no 
pastoral charge, or its duties were ful- 
filled by a colleague. The case out of 
which the discussion rose was that of Dr. 
Hill of St. Andrews, who,, while profes- 
sor of Greek in that university, had been 
appointed to a parochial charge in the 
city, and still continued to hold the pro- 
fessorship. A strong endeavour was 
made by the Evangelical party to pre- 
vent this plurality of offices from obtain- 
ing the sanction of the General Assem- 
bly, both as incompatible with the consti- 
tution of the Church, and as rendering it 
absolutely impossible that the important 
duties of a pastor could be adequately dis- 
charged in that parish. But Dr. Hill 
was already regarded as the second hope 
of the Moderate party, and they defended 
the appointment strenuously, and with 
complete success. There is, besides, 
reason to believe, that there was more in 
this than was allowed to meet the eye, — 
that it was the initiatory step in a scheme 
intended to introduce the system of plu- 
ralities and non-residence, resembling as 
closely as might be possible that system 
as it exists in its palmy state in England.! 
This, it will be admitted, was no unna- 

• Life of Erskine, pp. 284-294. 
t Narrative of the Proceedings of Assembly 1780, by 
the Rev. James Burn, minister at Forgan, pp. 29-31. 



372 HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. [CHAP. X. 



tural result of King William's " compre- 
hension scheme," which, after the struggle 
of three generations, seemed ripening into 
an assimilation scheme. 

But the most signal event hy which that 
year was distinguished was the retire- 
ment of the celebrated Principal Robert- 
son from the high functions which he 
had so long discharged, as leader of the 
dominant party in the General Assembly. 
The only direct account of the reasons 
which induced Robertson to withdraw 
from his position as leader of the Assem- 
bly while his constitution was still unbro- 
ken, and all his faculties unimpaired, is 
to be found in a communication from the 
Rev. Henry MoncreifF to Dugald Stewart, 
given in the appendix to his life of Robert- 
son c: I do not know," says Sir Henry, 
" whether the reasons which led Dr. Rob- 
ertson to retire from the Assembly after 
1780 have ever been thoroughly under- 
stood. He had been often reproached 
by the more violent men of his party, for 
not adopting stronger measures than he 
thought either right or wise. But there 
was one subject which had become par- 
ticularly uneasy to him, and on which 
he had been more urged and fretted than 
on all the other subjects of contention in 
the Church, — the scheme, into which 
many of his friends entered zealously, for 
abolishing subscription to the Confession 
of Faith and Formula. This he ex- 
pressly declared his resolution to resist in 
every form. But he was so much teased 
with remonstrances on that subject, that 
he mentioned them as having at least 
confirmed his resolution to retire. He 
claimed to himself the merit of having 
prevented this controversy from being 
agitated in the Assemblies ; but warned 
me, as a young man, that it would be- 
come the chief controversy of my time, 
and stated to me the reasons which had 
determined his opinions on the subject."* 
And this was the result of Principal 
Robertson's "wise and enlightened" 
policy during his despotic administration 
of ecclesiastical affairs, — the growth of 
a party directly opposed to the very ex- 
istence of the Presbyterian constitution, 
till it became too strong for even his firm 
hand to control, and too importunately 
urgent for even his calm temper to en- 
dure ! Could there be a more conclusive 

* Life of Roberts m, Appendix, - p. 297, 298. 



demonstration, that Moderatism is essen- 
tially anti-presbyterian and anti-scrip- 
tural, — contrary at once to the constitu- 
tional laws of both Church and State, 
and to the principles and regulations of 
the gospel ? And the mighty magician 
whose potent words had raised the demon, 
had not the courage to confront and queL 
it; — the magnanimous man, whose touch 
of power had drawn from the infidel 
heart of unregenerate humanity this wild 
response, recoiled in terror, " scared by 
the sound himself had made." It is 
deeply instructive to trace the progress 
of an evil principle, though it is startling 
to see it when it appears in all its native 
hideousness. 

We learn from other sources, that the 
men by whom the proposal of abolishing 
subscription to the Confession of Faith 
was most importunately urged, were 
Messrs. M'Gill and Dalrymple of Ayr, 
Wodrow of Stevenston, Oughterstan of 
West Kilbride, Fergusson of Kilwin- 
ning, Ross of Inch in Galloway, and a 
number of their neighbours and acquaint- 
ances, who held similar opinions, but 
were somewhat less open in asserting 
them. Several of these men not only em- 
braced, but publicly taught Socinian doc- 
trines with little or no disguise ; and the 
small remains of conscience which they 
possessed impelled them to desire to get 
altogether free from the bond of subscrip- 
tion to a Confession of Faith which they 
did not believe, and of which their whole 
life and public teaching was a continual 
denial Principal Robertson, it appears, 
opposed this reckless proposal on a 
ground which very naturally suggested 
itself to his habits of thought. He knew 
well that the Church established by law 
in Scotland, is a Church publicly avow- 
ing the doctrines stated in the Confession 
of Faith ; and he saw clearly that to per- 
mit subscription to this recognized standard 
to be abolished, would involve the hazard 
of severingthe connection between Church 
and State, since to cease subscription to 
that standard was virtually to cease from 
being the Church established by law. 
The danger, however, was not so immi- 
nent as he apprehended ; and the heady 
spirit of innovation in his mutinous fol- 
lowers was checked by the encounter of 
a comparatively slight obstacle. Some 
landed proprietors, of better spirit and 



A. D. 1782.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



373 



sounder judgment than those unconstitu- 
tional innovators, hearing of their design, 
declared that the moment the signing of 
Confession of Faith was abandoned, they 
would consider the connection between 
Church and State at an end, and would 
therefore pay no more stipend. This was 
a consequence which these men were not 
prepared to meet, and their anxiety to ob- 
tain a greater liberty of conscience sunk 
into nothing compared with their dread 
of incurring the loss of worldly wealth. 
How readily do worldly-minded men un- 
derstand, and how acutely feel a worldly 
argument, when dead toevery thing of a 
higher and more sacred nature. 

[1781-82] When Dr. Robertson 
withdrew from the active management 
of ecclesiastial affairs, Dr. Hill of St. 
Andrews was immediately regarded as 
his successor in the high office of Mode- 
rate leader in the Assembly. But though 
a man of great abilities and eloquence, he 
never reached the pitch of absolute su- 
premacy which had been possessed by 
Robertson. He cordially adopted the 
leading principles of his predecessor's 
reign, as is clearly proved by his state- 
ment and advocacy of them in the com- 
munications which he furnished to Du- 
gald Stewart, and which are partly em- 
bodied in the Life of Robertson, partly 
added in the appendix to that work. But 
he never acquired that unquestionable as- 
cendancy over the minds of the entire 
party which the great abilities and the 
high literary fame of Robertson had se- 
cured to him. His absence from Edin- 
burgh contributed also not a little to pre- 
vent him from possessing that degree of 
influence which he might otherwise have 
obtained. The Edinburgh ministers, 
several of them men of high talent, and 
thoroughly versant in ecclesiastical polity, 
schemed, deliberated, and arranged, while 
Dr. Hill was attending upon his own 
duties in St. Andrews ; and there often 
remained little more for him to do than to 
state and defend those measures which 
the Edinburgh Doctors had already pre- 
pared. Occasionally, too, it happened, 
that his opinion and theirs did not tho- 
roughly coincide, and that his eloquence 
in defence of his own view was over- 
borne by their superior management. 
Of this a memorable instance occurred in 
*he year 1782. 



From the time of the Reformation it 
had been the invariable principle of the 
Presbyterian Church, as stated in the 
Books of Discipline and in many of the 
acts of Assembly, that the call of the 
people, inviting a duly qualified person to 
be their minister, was an indispensable 
element in the formation of the pastoral 
tie. Even when Prelacy was forced 
upon the Church, the call continued to be 
used, and notwithstanding the imposition 
and reimposition of patronage, the call 
was never abandoned. This was a clear 
proof that the Presbyterian Church had 
at all times, and in all diversities of cir- 
cumstances, regarded the call of the 
people as an absolutely indispensable ele- 
ment in the formation of the pastoral tie, 
whereas patronage never was declared to 
be either a prerequisite for, or an element 
in, that sacred relation between ministers 
and people. It was clear, nevertheless, 
that there was an inherent incompatibility 
between a call of the people and patron- 
age ; and that to whatever extent the in- 
fluence of the one availed, to the same 
extent was the other impaired. For that 
reason all ministers truly Presbyterian in 
principle always contended earnestly 
against patronage, as essentially and ne- 
cessarily a violation of the constitution of 
the Church. But when there arose a 
worldly-minded and unpresbyterian fac- 
tion, formed out of the admitted curates 
and the surviving indulged ministers, that 
faction concurring with reimposed patron- 
age, and therefore supported by patrons 
and politicians, gradually gained the as- 
cendancy over the Church, and following 
their natural bent, depressed the call into 
a mere matter of form, and elevated the 
presentation of a patron into absolute 
supremacy. This was not fully accom- 
plished till the despotic reign of Principal 
Robertson ; for even Dr. Cuming pub- 
licly termed the law of patronage a " hard 
law," which it was necessary to obey 
only till it could be got mitigated or re- 
moved. But the first principle of Robert- 
son's administration, as stated by Dugald 
Stewart, and corroborated by Dr. Hill, 
"was a steady and uniform support of the 
law of patronage."* He could, however, 
both understand and imitate the wary- 
policy of an Augustus, and knew that it 
was more safe to destroy the spirit of 

* Life of Robertson, p. 173. 



374 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. X. 



libeity than to take away its form. He 
therefore continued to require the form 
of the call to be maintained, while he re- 
duced it to an empty form, an unreal 
mockery. After his resignation of the 
reins of ecclesiastical government, the 
constitutional Presbyterians seem to have 
cherished a hope that the ancient spirit of 
the Church might be at least partially re- 
vived, and that some degree of life might 
be infused into her paralyzed and pros- 
trate forms. 

The subject was discussed extensively 
throughout the Church during the year 
1781, and in 1782 overtures from the 
synods of Lothian, Glasgow, Fife, Perth, 
Angus, and Galloway, were laid before 
the Assembly, having for their object 
that the call might be revived, so as to be 
more than a mere matter of form, and to 
operate as a partial limitation to patron- 
age. These overtures were, of course, 
resisted by the Moderate party ; but Dr. 
Hill's motion against them was not suffi- 
ciently cautious to suit the wily policy of 
the Edinburgh conclave, and a different 
motion was proposed by Dr. Macknight, 
and carried. Dr. Macknight's motion 
was as follows: — " That the moderation 
of a call, in settling ministers, is agreeable 
to the immemorial and constitutional 
usage of this Church, and that it ought 
to be continued." Dr. Hill's motion ad- 
mitted also that it was agreeable to the 
immemorial practice of the Church ; but 
neither termed it " constitutional," nor 
said that it " ought to be continued," end- 
ing thus, — "dismiss these overtures, as at 
this time unnecessary." It was easily 
seen, that Dr. Hill's motion contained a 
virtual, and, had it been carried, it would 
soon have produced a real, abolition of 
the call itself; and the older and more 
wary Moderate leaders were not prepared 
to perpetrate so open an outrage upon the 
constitutional forms of the Church, though 
fully determined that nothing which 
tended to thwart patronage and Moderat- 
ism should ever be more than an empty 
form. 

It deserves to be noted, that Dr. Cook, 
giving, in his Life of Dr. Hill, an account 
of this debate on calls, enters into a long 
defence of Dr. Hill's motion, resting that 
defence on the ground, that " call is in- 
compatible with patronage, and therefore 
nugatory." The plan proposed by Dr. 



Cook, the call having, according to his 
hypothesis, been abolished, is the follow- 
ing : — " That the first introduction of a 
presentee to those whose spiritual state he 
is destined to superintend, should not take 
place till he was actually settled amongst 
them : That after all these matters had 
been arranged, a narration of the pro- 
ceedings should be communicated to the 
people ; and they should be invited to 
subscribe a paper, expressing their satis- 
faction with the presentee, and their reso- 
lution to contribute, by every method in 
their power, to his comfortable residence 
amongst them."* It is not necessary to 
waste words in proving that such a theory 
is equally unpresbyterian and absurd ; 
but it does seem passing strange that it 
could ever have been seriously pro- 
pounded by a native of Scotland, ac- 
quainted with the character of the strong- 
minded and warm-hearted Scottish people. 
When the people of Scotland have for- 
gotten that ever a Presbyterian Church 
existed in their country, conferring upon 
them the inestimable blessings of civil 
liberty, educated intelligence, moral 
worth, and high spiritual privileges, and 
when they have consented to become the 
abject slaves of civil and religious despot- 
ism, then may such a scheme be tried, 
but not till then. The futile theory is 
here stated, however, for this important 
reason, that it is an irresistible demon- 
stration of the perfect identity, in principle 
and nature, of Moderatism in former 
times with Moderatism now. It is con- 
stantly said by Moderates, in attempting 
to defend their system and themselves, 
that it is unfair to charge the Moderatism 
of the present day with all the enormities 
perpetrated by Moderatism in earlier and 
less civilized times. But till they dis- 
claim the principles, as well as repudiate 
the practices, of their predecessors, they 
are justly liable to the charge. These 
principles they cannot disclaim : for their 
present leader has avowed and defended 
them, even in their most aggravated 
character, — nay, to an extent far beyond 
what his predecessors in successive 
Moderate dynasties ever presumed to at- 
tempt. And we shall have occasion to 
show, that in practice, equally as in prin- 
ciple, Moderatism remains unchanged. 

* See the whole of this very curious argument and 
theory in Dr. Cook's Life of Hill, pp. 144-146 



A. D. 1785.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



375 



There is another incident connected 
with this year, to which we refer with 
great delight, both on account of its own 
pleasing character, and because it tends 
to explain some otherwise inexplicable 
peculiarities in the new Moderate dy- 
nasty. 

It has been already shown that the in- 
subordination of the heretical division of 
his forces was one of the chief motives 
that induced Robertson to retire from the 
management of ecclesiastical affairs. 
But there was another reason, which 
must also be stated. A tendency to re- 
vive and defend evangelical doctrines be- 
gan to appear among individuals of the 
Moderate party ; and this was felt to be 
a more dangerous matter than either 
heresy or immorality, and more likely to 
disturb the calm and steady progress of 
despotism, inasmuch as men who possess 
religious principles cannot be governed 
by mere worldly and selfish motives. 
The most conspicuous of the half-evan- 
gelical moderates was Dr. Thomas 
Hardy, recently appointed one of the 
ministers of Edinburgh, and professor of 
Church History. This distinguished 
man had evidently formed the plan of 
uniting the best men of the two parties in 
the Church into one body, able to con- 
trol the extreme sections of both. It is 
impossible to say how far he might have 
succeeded in this laudable design had his 
life been prolonged ; but what is of im- 
portance to notice is, that in 1782, during 
the agitation in the Church connected 
with the overtures on calls, he published 
a pamphlet, entitled " The Principles 
of Moderation, addressed to the Clergy of 
the Popular [nterest in the Church of 
Scotland." A very few extracts will 
suffice to show the spirit of this produc- 
tion. " You subjoin that this trans- 
ference of power in 1712 was wrong; 
that it was unfriendly in its intention, and 
has been hurtful in its effects ; and that 
the liberty of British subjects entitles you 
to say, that it is a grievance, in the sim- 
ple and grammatical sense of the word, 
and ought to be redressed. What reply 
do we make to this? None. We agree 
with you in the sentiments of the law it- 
self ; we allow that it is a hardship, or, if 
you will contend for a word, we say with 
you, it is a grievance, not such indeed as 
to justify resistance, but such as will war- 



rant application for redress." " That a 
new arrangement must take p,ace sooner 
or latter, I conclude from the state of the 
country. The desertion of great bodies 
of the people from the Establishment is 
the melancholy evidence of the necessity. 
Whatever secondary causes may be 
brought to account for it, there can be no 
manner of doubt that it is chiefly to be 
ascribed to the law of patronage." 
Then, after stating that the Secession may 
be estimated at two hundred congrega- 
tions, comprising at least one hundred 
thousand people, he continues, — " Me- 
thinks I hear some reckless youth, in de- 
livering his maiden speech, exclaim on 
this point, 'So much the better, — they 
are the factious, the turbulent, the enthu- 
siastic ; the Church is happily quit ; it is 
only her ill humours that are purged off.' 
Stay my young friend; you are very 
honest but you want experience ; a few 
more years will convince you, that the 
Church is not enriched by her losses, 
nor strengthened by the desertion of her 
sons." Further, speaking of the neces- 
sity of a change, he adds, — " The ex- 
terior arrangement, therefore, ought in 
sound policy to correspond with the es- 
sential nature of the Establishment, other- 
wise the Church will never be at peace ; 
and the experienced opposition of seventy 
years, joined to the revolt of one hundred 
thousand people, are the proofs that abso- 
lute patronage is irreconcilable tvith the 
genius of Presbytery."* 

The difference between this able 
pamphlet and Dr. Robertson's manifesto 
is very marked and very instructive. 
Dr. Hardy, though not decidedly evan- 
gelical in doctrine, was a man of great 
candour and integrity of mind, and his 
enlarged and liberal views, together with 
some theoretical knowledge of evangeli- 
cal truth, enabled him to apprehend what 
really is " the essential nature" of the 
Presbyterian Church, and to perceive 
that " absolute patronage is irreconcilable 
w r ith it." Dr. Robertson's peculiar theory 
and his want of that knowledge, left him 
to view it as a man of the world would 
do, and to regard it as in nothing 
essentially different from a mere secular 
institution having, indeed, some distinc- 

j * Those who cannot obtain this valuable pamphlet, 
I will find extracts from if in Dr. Welsh's evidence in the 
! Patronage Report, p. 260; and in the Dublin University 
1 Magazine, No. xcviii. pp. 255, 256. 



376 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. X, 



tive forms which it was proper to pre- 
set ve as decent and characteristic, but 
based upon secular maxims, governed 
by secular regulations, and pervaded 
throughout by a secular spirit. The 
early and lamented death of Dr. Hardy 
prevented the developement of his 
scheme; but the sacred element of evan- 
gelism which had begun to spread was 
destined to work with a disruptive might 
among the secular principles of Modera- 
tism, disturbing repeatedly the cold con- 
tinuity of their mortiferous operation, and 
betokening the approaching dissolution 
of the whole unconstitutional and un- 
scriptural system. Even Dr. Hill, 
thoroughly as he had imbibed Principal 
Robertson's views of ecclesiastical polity, 
began ere long to exhibit symptoms of a 
tendency to evangelical doctrine ; this in- 
creased with his increasing knowledge 
of sound theology, in the course of his 
studies as professor of divinity at St. An- 
drews : and before the close of his career 
his mind had acquired so full a percep- 
tion of the truth as it is in Jesus, that 
though he still co-operated with the Mo- 
derate party generally, he had in a great 
measure lost their confidence as may be 
learned even from the cautious language 
of Dr. Cook, in his life of that dis- 
tinguished man. 

[1783-84.] During the years 1783 and 
1784. the chief subject which engaged 
the attention of the General Assembly 
was that of patronage. Dr. Hardy's 
pamphlet seems to have excited afresh 
the hopes of all sound Presbyterians, that 
a redress of that great grievance might 
yet be obtained ; and a number of over- 
tures were laid before the Assembly on 
the subject. A regular discussion at 
length took place respecting these 
overtures in the Assembly of 1784. 
Dr. Hill moved that they be " rejected 
as inexpedient, ill founded, and danger- 
ous to the peace and welfare of the 
Church." It is not necessary to state 
even an outline of the arguments used on 
both sides, in the debate which followed, 
after the remarks which have been made 
in the preceding pages. Suffice it to 
say, that Dr. Hill's motion was carried, 
and that following up the victory, he pro- 
posed to omit the clause in the instruc- 
tions annually given to the Commission, 
which required them to apply for redress 



from the grievance of patronage, and in 
this too he was successful. The omis- 
sion of this clause in the instructions an- 
nually given to the Commission is the 
nearest approach the Church of Scotland 
has ever made towards even a recogni- 
tion of the patronage law, and it amounts 
to nothing more than ceasing openly to 
condemn what she has never avowedly 
approved. It will be remembered, that 
this clause was first inserted in the 
instructions given to the Commission 
by the Assembly of 1712, immediately 
after the passing of the perfidious and un- 
constitutional patronage act, and had been 
repeated annually ever since. Many 
years had elapsed since it had been at- 
tended to, the last decided public effort to 
procure redress having been that of 
1735—36 ; but the retaining of the 
clause formed a standing testimony by 
the Church against the law of patron- 
age, and so far served to exculpate her 
from participation in its guilt. Dr. 
Robertson, with his usual sagacious to- 
leration of dead forms, permitted it to re- 
main ; but the greater rashness, or the 
higher degree of conscientious honesty 
of mind, in Dr. Hill, which had formerly 
led him to attempt abolishing the call 
induced him now to strike out a clause to 
which he and his party never meant 
that any attention should be paid. This 
was a very natural step for the Moderate 
party to take, but, thoroughly irrational 
and unconstitutional. Before rescinding 
a clause which required application to be 
made for the redress of what was termed 
a grievance, Dr. Hill ought to have per- 
suaded the Church to declare that she 
had ceased to regard it as a grievance, 
and viewed it rather as a matter of which 
she now approved, and was desirous of 
its permanent continuation. This how- 
ever, would have been too perilous an 
attempt even for Dr. Robertson in all his 
plentitude of power, as it Avould have 
caused the Secession of nearly half of 
the ministers and at least three-fourths of 
the population in the kingdom, a junc- 
tion with the already existing Seceders, 
and the formation of a new Church, truly 
Presbyterian and national, whether estab- 
lished by law or not. Are men of that 
party prepared to brave a similar peril in 
the present day? — nay, a peril incalcu- 
lably more formidable to the empire at 



A. D. 1790.J 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



377 



large, and fraught with certain and irre- 
coverable ruin to themselves and their 
unscriptural cause, which would and 
must utterly perish in the hour of an in- 
jured nation's strong consuming ven- 
geance.* 

[1785-89.] The effects of this defeat 
were most disastrous. The true Presby- 
terian ministers, seeing all their hopes 
again blasted, and trampled under the 
feet of their triumphant antagonist, sunk 
into a state of comparatively torpid dis- 
couragement, and ceased to strive against 
what now seemed to bear the aspect of 
stern invincible necessity. On the other 
hand, the Moderate party assumed once 
more the haughty port of uncontrolled 
dominion, enforcing the law of patronage 
with steady and immitigable rigor. The 
oppressed and insulted people not only 
ceased to expect redress, they ceased even 
to ask it. They felt that opposition to 
patronage was of no avail. Be the pre- 
sentee what he might, — a heretic, a 
grossly immoral person, miserably defi- 
cient in learning, or destitute of the neces- 
sary mental abilities and moral qualifica- 
tions, — if he had obtained a presentation, 
all other objections were disregarded, and 
he was made the " stipend-lifter" in the 
parish. But he could not be made the 
pastor of the people. They looked on 
indignantly and mournfully, till the dese- 
crating deed was done ; then withdrew, 
built a meeting-house, and chose a pastor 
for themselves. In this manner the most 
religious part of the community was 
driven out of the Church, and those that 
remained sunk into a state of careless- 
ness, till they ceased to feel and to regret 
their own calamitous condition. The 
rising generation grew up accustomed to 
such a state of matters, regardless, com- 
paratively, of the sacredness of that day 
which God hallowed to himself, neglect- 
ful of public worship, and utterly destitute 
of personal religion, which too often the 
example, and even the language, of their 
half-infidel ministers taught them to des- 
pise and deride as hypocrisy and fana- 

* It may be noted, as proving the consistency of Mod- 
eratism in its unconstitutional career, that Dr. Cook 
goes even beyond Dr. Hill, and defends absolute and 
unlimited patronage. "The idea of a discretionary 
power to set aside a presentation, in particular cases, 
is decidedly rejected by the Moderate party." The 
"want of a sufficient call is no ground of rejection." 
" The law of patronage admits of no limitation but the 
defined qualifications of a presentee not existing in a 
particular individual." (Cook's Life of Hill, pp. 161, 

48 



ticism. The Church of Scotland, wher- 
ever thorough Moderatism prevailed, 
seemed spiritually dead, and all Jiving 
Christians withdrew from its polluting 
touch. Yet there were many truly pious 
ministers sprinkled over the land, shining 
in their own spheres apart, amid the pre- 
vailing moral darkness, like the few scat- 
tered stars that faintly break the gloom 
of a chill and misty night.* 

Although the sagacious opposition of 
Dr. Robertson, and the intimated danger 
to their pecuniary interests, had deterred 
the extreme Moderates from openly ex- 
pressing their desire to be released from 
the necessity of subscribing the C. nfes- 
sion of Faith, yet the intention was by no 
means abandoned ; only it was judged 
expedient to bring in the change gra- 
dually, by a series of precedents. In the 
year 1789, the presbytery of Arbroath 
presumed to ordain Mr. George Gleig to 
be minister in the church of that burgh, 
without requiring him to sign either the 
Confession of Faith or Formula.! This 
strange and daring conduct was brought 
before the Assembly; and although it 
deserved a very high censure, the Assem- 
bly deemed it expedient to exercise 
leniency in the first offence of the kind. 
Mr. Gleig was allowed to retain the 
church, upon signing the Confession of 
Faith in presence of the Assembly ; and 
the presbytery was rebuked at the bar, 
and admonished to be more careful for 
the future, on pain of a higher censure. 
This decided expression of the mind of 
the Church, though accompanying a very 
lenient censure, had the effect of prevent- 
ing that or any other presbytery from a 
repetition of the offence. 

[1790.] Mention has been already made 
of the strong tendency to Socinianism 
prevalent in many districts of the country 
where Moderatism chiefly reigned, and 
particularly in the west of Scotland. 
During above ten years the west country 
was fiercely agitated with polemical con- 
troversy between these Socinians and 
their sounder brethren. The Socinian 
party were termed New Light men, and 

* Such men as Dr. Erskine, Dr. Hunter. Dr. Davidson, 
Dr. Kemp. Dr. Balfour of Glasgow, Mr. Freebairn of 
Dunbarton,Dr Bryce Johnson of Holy wood, his nephew 
of Crossmichael, Nisbet of Montrose, Mitchell of Kem- 
nay. and many others who might be named. 1 emaining 
within the pale of the Church, kept her alive, during 
this long and dreary period ; and she perished not, for 
a blessing was in her. 

t Acts of Assembly, year 1789; Scots Magazine 



378 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. [CHAP. X, 



their opponents were called the defenders 
of the Old Light. In this controversy, as 
was to be expected, every person of irre- 
ligious and immoral character espoused 
the cause of the New Light or Socinian 
party ; and what they wanted in argu- 
ment they endeavoured to supply by the 
employment of ridicule, slander, and pro- 
fane mockery of their antagonists. In 
an evil hour for his country and himself, 
the New Light party induced Robert 
Burns to join them, and to prostitute his 
high poetical genius in a cause so worth- 
less as the defence of such unprincipled 
and depraved men, — nay, initiated him 
in depths of iniquity to which till then he 
had been a stranger, — nay, still more 
fearful, — destroyed what may be termed 
the natural devotional tendency of the 
poetical temperament, and impelled him 
to aim the shafts of his satire against the 
most sacred rites of the Church and the 
essential truths of the everlasting gospel. 
The future dark career and melancholy 
end of this unhappy son of genius is 
mainly to be ascribed to the fatal taint 
which his mind received from his inter- 
course with the Moderate, Socinian, New 
Light ministers of Ayrshire and their 
adherents. These guilty men have been 
already named ; and their misled victim's 
poems will, when rightly understood, in- 
flict upon them the retributive justice of 
branding their unhonoured memory with 
the impress of perpetual infamy.* 

At length Dr. M'Gill of Ayr had the 
temerity to publish a work entitled, " A 
Practical Essay on the Death of Jesus 
Christ," in which the most glaring Soci- 
nianism was openly taught and main- 
tained. This could not be overlooked. 
A prosecution was instituted against the 
author of a work so manifestly heretical. 
His friends, cherishing, many of them, 
the same sentiments, but not exposed to 
equal danger, because they had not given 
their opinions to the public in any palpa- 
ble form, made every exertion in their 
power to shelter him from justice. A 

" It can be proved beyond the power of doubt, by 
living and unimpeachable testimony, that Burns him- 
self, within the last fortnight of his life, expressed the 
ueepest remorse for what these men had led him to 
write, and an anxious wish that he might live a little 
longer, to make some attempt to repair the injury he 
had done. And Gilbert Burns, in his latter years, re- 
peatedly declared, that the New Light ministers were 
the chief subverters of all regard for religion in his 
brother's mind, and that he himself had not escaped 
unwounded, and long retained Mie aching scar. 



protracted litigation before the subordinate 
church judicatories followed. But at last 
the matter came before the synod of Glas- 
gow and Ayr, and assumed an aspect so 
serious, that he and his friends considered 
it expedient for him to evade the danger 
of deposition, by offering to explain his 
meaning, acknowledge his error in what 
could not be explained away, and suppli- 
cate forgiveness. There were too many 
in the synod scarcely less heretical than 
he, for it to pursue a more faithful course. 
His explanation and apology, though 
very lame and impotent indeed, were sus- 
tained as satisfactory. The Synod pub- 
lished an account of their proceedings in 
the case; the condemned book sunk into 
that oblivion which was its natural 
destiny ; and the worthless man was per- 
mitted to return to the perishing flock 
whom he could not lead to Christ, as he 
himself knew not the way.* 

[1791-96.] It is not necessary, nor even 
proper in a work devoted to ecclesiastical 
matters, to do more than glance at those 
great political movements which agitate 
and mould the structure of society, — espe- 
cially movements so vast as to shake the 
whole of Europe, and so recent that their 
vibrations have not yet settled into repose. 
For this reason we shall merely allude to 
that terrific event the French Revolution, 
which was on the eve of bursting forth in 
1790, and which for several successive 
years startled and appalled the world, by 
the sudden changes of aspect, each more 
hideous and wild than the last, which it 
assumed, the fierce infidelity which it 
avowed, and the scenes of atrocious car- 
nage which marked its dreadful progress. 
Even the most unreflecting were com- 
pelled to perceive what man is when with- 
out religion, — how fearful a thing the de- 
praved, deceitful, and desperately wicked 
human heart can be, when left to fol 
low its native tendency, without God, and 
without hope in the world. The moralist 
recoiled in horror; the tongue of the phi 
losophical divine clave to the roof of his 
mouth ; but the evangelical preacher of 
the gospel rushed forward, and took his 
stand betwixt the living and the d^ad. A 
mighty revival of genuine spiritual 
Christianity took place all over Britain, 
and great exertions were made by the 

* Proceedings of the Synod of Glasgow and Ayr, 
April, 1790. 



A. D. 1796 ] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



379 



friends of religious truth to communicate 
to all around them the knowledge of the 
gospel of peace and holiness. Numerous 
religious societies sprung almost simulta- 
neously into being, and reviving Chris- 
tianity began to put forth vital and expan- 
sive energies, which had lain dormant 
since the Reformation. With returning 
spiritual life returned that spiritual intelli- 
gence which enables a man to know for 
what object spiritual life is given. The 
Christian community was startled and 
alarmed at perceiving, that for centuries 
"t had neglected to attempt the discharge 
of that very duty, the accomplishment of 
which is the chief end of the Christian 
Church Universal. It had neglected the 
risen Redeemer's imperative command, 
" Go ye into all the world, and preach the 
gospel to every creature under heaven." 
Immediately the idea of instituting Chris- 
tian missions, for the purpose of fulfilling 
the Saviour's injunction, extending his 
kingdom, and promoting the salvation of 
perishing souls, became a leading impulse 
in the heart and soul ofevery truly spiritual- 
ly-minded Christian, whether he belonged 
to a Dissenting, Seceding, or Established 
Christian Church. And in the warm 
fervour of renewed Christian life and love, 
many of the distinctions which had kept 
men asunder like brazen walls, melted 
like wax in the fire, and free scope was 
readily given to an amount of Christian 
intercourse which had for ages been un- 
known. 

In Scotland the reviving power of this 
truly Christian spirit was early and 
strongly felt. A missionary society was 
formed in Glasgow, and another in Edin- 
burgh, which held its first meeting in 
March, 1796, the venerable Dr. Erskine 
acting as its president. Circular letters 
were sent to every part of the country, ex- 
plaining and advocating the object for the 
promotion of which this central mission- 
ary society was formed. These circulars 
gave rise to much discussion throughout 
the Church; and the synods of Fife and 
Moray transmitted overtures to the Gen- 
eral Assembly, the general tenor of 
which was, that the General Assembly 
should " take into consideration by what 
means the Church of Scotland might 
most effectually contribute to the diffusion 
of the gospel over the world ;" and that 
u an act might be passed recommending a 



general collection throughout the Church, 
to aid the several societies for propagating 
the gospel among the heathen nations." 
In this manner the great object of the 
Church general of Christ was brought 
before the notice of the Church of Scot- 
land, assembled in its supreme court; 
and a fair and complete opportunity was 
given to both parties, into which that 
court is divided, to emit a public demon- 
stration and testimony how much, or how 
little, of the true spirit of Christianity they 
respectively possessed. 

This most important discussion began 
with a piece of very disingenuous policy 
on the part of the Moderates, who con- 
trived to have both the overtures consi- 
dered in one discussion. Dr. Hill had 
managed to exclude from the Fife over- 
ture the specific approbation of missionary 
exertions which it at first contained, leav- 
ing in it nothing more than a vague ex- 
pression of the propriety that the Church 
of Scotland should in some way or other 
contribute to the diffusion of the gospel 
over the world, which any Moderate 
could complacently affirm, and remain 
inactive, as pledged to no specific object. 
On the other hand, the Moray overture 
recommended a general collection, against 
which plausible objections might be urged, 
on the ground of this having a tendency 
to diminish the resources of the session 
for the support of the poor. The Evan- 
gelical party wished the overtures to be 
considered separately, in the hope of car- 
rying the general proposition in behalf 
of the missionary enterprise, even though 
the proposed method of promoting it 
might be rejected. Moderate tactics pre- 
vailed, and the discussion was made to in- 
clude both overtures. The debate which 
ensued exhibited the character of Mo- 
deratism in a manner which cannot be 
misunderstood. One of the leading speak- 
ers on the Moderate side, Mr. George 
Hamilton, minister of Gladsmuir, began 
by some general admissions of the pro- 
priety of diffusing the gospel. " To dif- 
fuse," said he, " among mankind the 
knowledge of a religion which we profess 
to believe and to revere, is doubtless a 
good and important work; as to pray for 
its diffusion, and to expect it, is taught us 
in the sacred volume of Scripture." — M To 
spread abroad the knowledge of the gos- 
pel among barbarous and heathen nations, 



380 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. X 



seems to be highly preposterous, in as far 
as it anticipates, nay it even reverses, the 
order of nature. Men must be polished 
and refined in their manners before they 
can be properly enlightened in religious 
truths. Philosophy and learning must, 
in the nature of things take the prece- 
dence." Then followed a glowing eulo- 
gium upon the "simple virtues" of the 
"untutored Indian." " But go, — engraft 
on his simple manners the customs, re- 
finements, and, may I not add, some of 
the vices, of civilized society, and the 
influence of that religion which you give 
as a compensation for the disadvantages 
attending such a communication will not 
refine his morals nor ensure his happi- 
ness." — "When they shall be told that 
man is saved not by good works, but by 
faith, what will be the consequence ? We 
have too much experience of the difficulty 
of guarding our own people against the 
most deplorable misapplication of this 
principle, to entertain a rational doubt, 
that the wild inhabitants of uncivilized re- 
gions would use it as a handle for the 
most flagrant violation of justice and 
morality " — " But even suppose such a 
nation [one already civilized,] could be 
found, I should still have weighty objec- 
tions ao-ainst sending missionaries thither 
• Why should we scatter our forces and 
spend our strength in foreign service, 
when our utmost vigilance, our unbroken 
strength is required at home? While 
there remains at home a single individual 
without the means of religious knowledge, 
to propagate it abroad would be improper 
and absurd." And at length directing 
his attention to the idea of collections for 
the aid of missions, he exclaimed — " For 
such improper conduct censure is too 
small a mark of disapprobation ; it would, 
I doubt not, be a legal subject of penal 
prosecution." — " Upon the whole, while 
we pray for the propagation of the gospel, 
and patiently await its period, let us unite 
in resolutely rejecting these overtures " 
Dr. Carlyle of Inveresk, who had been 
quite ready to spend time and money in 
theatrical amusements, rose and said — 
" I have, on various occasions, during a 
period of almost half a century, had the 
honor of being a member of the General 
Assembly, yet this is the first time I re- 
member to have ever heard such a propo- 
sal made, and I cannot help also thinking 



it the worst time." HI therefore se- 
conded Mr. Hamilton's motion, "that the 
overtures be immediately dismissed." 

Dr. HiJI made a cautious, plausible 
speech, evading the main topic, animad- 
verting sharply on the peculiarities of 
missionary societies, and concluding with 
a more guarded motion, admitting ge- 
nerally the propriety of aiding in the pro- 
pagation of the gospel — disapproving of 
collections — recommending the promo- 
tion of Christianity at home — praying for 
the fulfilment of prophecy, and resolving 
to embrace any future opportunity of con- 
tributing to the propagation of the gospel. 
David Boyle, Esq., advocate, indulged in 
a furious philippic against missionary so- 
cieties, as all of a political character, and 
dangerous to the peace of the community. 
Finally, the motions of Mr. Hamilton and 
Dr. Hill were combined, and carried by 
a majority of fourteen, the vote being 
fifty-eight to forty-four.* So well satisfied 
were the Moderates with the conduct of 
Mr. Hamilton, and with his brilliant ora- 
tory, that they soon afterwards honoured 
him with the title of doctor in divinity, 
and elevated him to the moderator's chair, 
as a reward for his anti-missionary exer- 
tions 

Such was the obedience rendered by 
Moderatism to the risen Redeemer's 
direct command, " Go ye and make disci- 
ples of all nations, — preach the gospel to 
every creature under heaven ;" and thus 
did it prove itself to be, as a system, essen- 
tially anti-christian. This may seem a 
harsh saying, and it is with pain and sor- 
row that it is said. But attachment to 
genuine and vital Christianity requires its 
dead counterfeit to be detected and de- 
nounced ; the love of country and of man- 
kind demands, that whatever obstructs 
the true welfare of Britian and the world 
should be pointed out and removed ; and 
true compassion for erring fellow-crea- 
tures, especially for erring Christian 
brethren, forbids the use of injudicious 
and criminal tenderness of language in 
the statement of their grievous errors, 
which might soothe an uneradicated evil, 
and leave a deadly hurt unprobed, un- 
healed, deeply and silently festering to 
death. 

[1797] While religious and moral 
desolation overspread the districts of the 

* See an account of the Debate published in 1796. 



A. D. 1797.] HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 



381 



country where Moderatism chiefly pre- 
vailed, and an alarming increase of vice, 
immorality, crime, and political discon- 
tent, exhibited the pernicious results of 
that dead form of worldly religion, there 
were other parts of the kingdom which 
still enjoyed the priceless blessing of an 
evangelical ministry, and where living 
Christianity bore its natural fruits, both 
in the earnestness with which the people 
attended upon the ministrations of their 
faithful pastors, and in the anxiety which 
the increasing population of such districts 
showed to obtain additional means of re- 
ligious instruction, adequate to the wants 
of their increasing numbers. Overtures 
were sent to the General Assembly, from 
several presbyteries, for permission to 
erect what were termed chapels of ease 
in populous parishes, where additional 
accommodation was wanted beyond what 
he parish church could afford, and where 
also the need of an additional pastor was 
equally manifest. It may be easily sup- 
posed that no such requests came from 
the parishes where there had been violent 
and intrusive settlements ; for in such 
cases, the people seceded from the Na- 
tional Church, and built churches of their 
own. But wherever there were faithful 
and evangelical ministers, the people 
manifested no desire to quit the Church 
of their fathers ; but when the provided 
means were not sufficient, they were 
willing to build a new church in the ne- 
cessitous locality, and remain within the 
pale of the national establishment, pro- 
vided they could obtain the sanction of 
the General Assembly to such a mea- 
sure. Jt might be thought that there 
could be no possible objection to this. 
Not so thought the sagacious Moderates. 
They perceived clearly, that in general 
these chapels of ease would be the resorts 
and the nurseries of evangelism ; and as 
they wished the whole kingdom to be 
brought as speedily as possible into the 
same state of lethargic indifference as 
that in which they were themselves con- 
tentedly slumbering, they discountenanced 
all such proposals. After the Assembly 
had been repeatedly addressed on the sub- 
ject, and it had become no longer possible 
to evade it, a committee was appointed in 
1795 to inquire into the matter, and re- 
port to next Assembly. The report was 



received in 1796, approved of, and trans- 
mitted to the presbyteries, according to 
the Barrier Act, previous to its being 
made a standing law of the Church. In 
1797, it came before the Assembly, when 
it appeared that thirty-four presbyteries 
disapproved of the overture, and only 
thirty approved ; consequently, according 
to the constitutional laws of the Church, 
it was rejected.* Yet the Moderates, 
making a desperate effort in the Assem- 
bly, passed the actually rejected overture 
into an interim act, and re-transmitted it 
again to the presbyteries, in which, by 
dexterous management, they succeeded 
in procuring a majority to approve, so 
that the Moderate overture finally passed 
into a law in the year 1798. 

The chief point in this act of Assembly, 
on account of which the Evangelical par- 
ty opposed it, is the clause which proposes, 
that when a petition for a chapel of ease 
is laid before any presbytery, they " shall 
not pronounce any final judgment on the 
petition, till they shall have received the 
special directions of the Assembly there- 
on." The object of this was to put it in 
the power of the General Assembly, 
where the Moderates could secure a ma- 
jority, to prevent the erection of a chapel 
in any dangerous place, where Evangel- 
ism was already strong, and in general to 
discourage the erection of chapels. And 
in order to accomplish this so desirable 
an object, as they viewed it, they did not 
hesitate to deprive presbyteries of their 
constitutional right to judge in the first 
instance of every ecclesiastical matter 
within their bounds, subject only to the 
review of the superior church courts by- 
appeal. Against this glaringly unconsti- 
tutional procedure, as well as against the 
object which it was intended to effect, the 
Evangelical and constitutional party 
strove earnestly but unsuccessfully. Dr. 
Hunter, professor of theology in Edin- 
burgh, Dr. Bryce Johnston of Holywood 
and Sir Henry Moncreiff, distinguished 
themselves in this controversy on the 
Evangelical side.f This conduct of the 
Moderate party furnishes another clear 
proof of the equally unchristian and un- 
constitutional character of their princi- 

* Reasons of Dissent. 
* Remarks on a paper entitled " Heads of an Argu- 
ment," &c. by Sir Henry MoncriefT; Reasons of Dis- 
sent. 



382 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. X. 



pies and their whole system. So recent- 
ly as the preceding year they had declared 
it " improper and absurd to propagate the 
gospel abroad, while there remained a 
single individual at home without the 
means of religious knowledge." And 
now they did their utmost to prevent the 
people from procuring the means of reli- 
gious instruction to themselves, and at 
their own expense, thereby, so far as they 
were able, inflicting a deadly paralysis 
upon the progress of Christianity both at 
home and abroad ; violating, too, the 
constitution of the Presbyterian Church, 
that they might accomplish their purpose. 

[1798-99.] Little was now wanting to 
complete the full developement of Mode- 
ratism, and that little was not long in be- 
ing supplied. It had already done its ut- 
most in driving the gospel out of its own 
circle, denying it equally to the heathen 
abroad and to the people at home : it had 
now nothing to do but to put an end to 
the Christian communion of all true be- 
lievers, so far as its power could do so. 
The occasion of proceeding to this last 
act of degeneracy was furnished by the 
late celebrated Rowland Hill. This 
somewhat eccentric man, but most faith- 
ful and indefatigable servant of the Lord, 
came to Scotland about the end of July 
1798, and immediately began to preach, 
in churches when permitted, and in the 
open air when he could not obtain admis- 
sion to a place of worship. Edinburgh 
was too strongly garrisoned by Moderate 
divines for him to obtain access to the pul- 
pits in that city ; but he preached on the 
Calton Hill to great multitudes of atten- 
tive hearers. At Glasgow, Paisley, and 
other places in the west of Scotland, he 
was freely admitted to preach in the 
churches of the Establishment. In seve- 
ral other parts of Scotland he met with 
similar Christian brotherhood ; and some 
of the Seceders allowed him to preach 
in their meeting-houses, while others re- 
fused. After his return to England, he 
published an account of his Scottish tour, 
in which he indulged freely in remarks 
and animadversions upon the state of re- 
ligion in Scotland. There were several 
mistakes, much strong sense, great 
warmth and liberality of Christian feel- 
ing, and a considerable degree of pun- 
gent severity in his remarks, especially 



when expressing his opinion of the Mod' 
erate party and their adherents.* 

The Moderate party were extremely 
displeased that Rowland Hill had been 
permitted to preach in several churches 
of the Establishment, and felt keenly 
galled by his pointed and severe animad- 
versions upon their principles and con- 
duct. And as it was known that he con- 
templated an early repetition of this visit, 
they determined to prevent the possibility 
that either he or any other evangelical 
minister of any other Church should be 
again permitted to preach within the pale 
of the Establishment. An act was ac- 
cordingly passed by the General Assem- 
bly in 1799, declaring that all licences 
granted to probationers, " without the 
bounds of this Church," are invalid, and 
that presentations given to such persons 
must be refused. The ostensible reason 
for this part of the enactment was, to pre- 
vent incompetent persons from resorting 
to England or Ireland to obtain a license, 
by means of which they might be intro- 
duced to churches without due qualifica- 
tion. It had the effect, however, of pre- 
venting any man from being appointed 
to a church in Scotland if he had not 
been licensed by a Scottish presbytery, 

* " The dispensation of mercy to fallen man entirely 
by Jesus Christ is not the subject preached by the ma- 
jority ; but with some, a mangled gospel, law and gos- 
pel wretchedly spliced together; with others, a mere 
hungry system of bare-weight morality ; and with a 
third, what is worse still, a deliberate attack on all the 
truths they have engaged to uphold. The few, in 
comparison, orthodox among them are stigmatized by 
the nickname of the «»7d,while the fashionable divines 
on the other side of the question compliment them- 
selves with the appellation of the Moderate. This epi- 
thet naturally reminds us of another, ^ lukewarm, 
neither cold nor hot.' In short, il is as with all who 
adopt the present half-way infidel system of the day, 
so, report says, it is with them ; the cause of morality 
declines with the cause of the gospel ; and I fear the 
Scots, by far the best educated and best behaved people 
in the British dominions, will noon be no better than 
their neighbours. Like their ministers, they will all 
become Moderates ; first, they will be Moderates in re- 
ligion ; they will have Moderate notions of Jesus Christ 
and the gospel of salvation, for we cannut expect they 
will be better than their teachers; they will next be 
contented with a Moderate share of love to God, of 
prayer, and of repentance ; they will be more Moderate 
in regard to the use of their Bibles, and be more Mod- 
erate in their zeal in teaching their children the Assem- 
bly's Catechism; and this will lend them to be Mode- 
rates in morality. In point of chastity, sobriety, hon- 
esty, &c, they will soon become Moderate, and be very 
anxious to grow in this famous fashionable moderation, 
till they become immoderately wicked ; unless, through 
Divine mercy, they hear a little more of the 'grace of 
God that bringeth salvation,' the only doctrine that 
' teacheth us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and 
to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present 
world.' "—(Journal through the North of England, and 
parts of Scotland, with Remarks on the Present State 
of the Established Church of Scotland, &c. By Row- 
land Hill. Pp. Ill, 112.) 



A. D. 1799.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



383 



whatever might be his qualifications ; 
and it was certainly indicative of a nar- 
row and illiberal spirit. But the conclud- 
ing part of the act is that which most de- 
serves attention. It prohibited ministers 
of the Establishment " from employing 
to preach, upon any occasion, or to dis- 
pense any of the ordinances of the gos- 
pel," persons not qualified to accept a pre- 
sentation ; and also, "from holding minis- 
terial communion in any other manner 
with such persons."* By this act such 
men as Rowland Hill and Simeon of 
Cambridge were expressly aimed at, and 
excluded from every pulpit in the Estab- 
lished Church of Scotland, not because 
they were Episcopalians, but because their 
doctrine was evangelical ; for this act was 
moved, carried, and enforced by the 
Moderate party, contrary to the feelings 
and the wishes of their Evangelical op- 
ponents. It may be mentioned also, that 
by the same Moderate party in the As- 
sembly, a pastoral admonition was pre- 
pared and sent through the Church, 
warning against giving countenance to 
religious societies, missionary associa- 
tions, itinerant preachers, and Sabbath 
schools, on the assumption that these were 
conducted by " ignorant persons, altogeth- 
er unfit for such an important charge," — 
and " persons notoriously disaffected to 
the civil constitution of the country, and 
who kept up a correspondence with other 
societies in the neighborhood." It need 
scarcely be said now that these accusa- 
tions were altogether groundless ; and it 
can hardly be supposed that those who 
uttered such charges did themselves be- 
lieve them. But it was a convenient 
mode of fixing the brand of " sedition" 
upon preachers and teachers of Chris- 
tianity, as was done in the days of the 
apostles, and has often since been repeated, 
when the enemies of the gospel wished 
to obtain a plausible pretext for persecut- 
ing its defenders. 

The acts of this Assembly may be re- 
garded as having completed the develope- 
ment of the system of Moderatism. It 
had its origin, as a system, in the combi- 
nation which early took place between the 
indulged ministers and the Prelatic in- 
cumbents, who were introduced into the 
Church by the pernicious " comprehen- 

* Acts of Assembly, year 1799 ; Cook's Life of Hill 
p. 175. 



sion scheme" of King William. The 
perfidious act of 1712, reimposing pa 
tronage, gave it growth and fostered it in- 
to strength. Early in its progress it 
showed itself favourable to unsoundness 
of doctrine and laxity of discipline, and 
strongly opposed to the rights and privi- 
leges of the Christian people. Heresy 
was more than tolerated ; the doctrines of 
grace and evangelical truth were con- 
demned ; legal preaching was encour- 
aged ; and a cold and spiritless morality 
was substituted instead of the warm life 
of the gospel. Increasing in power, it 
gave more open and vigorous exercise to 
its malignant nature, by violating the con- 
stitutional principles of the Presbyterian 
Church, perpetrating intrusive and violent 
settlements, repressing the remonstrances 
of faithful ministers, driving them out of 
the Church, protecting its own heterodox 
and immoral adherents, courting patrons 
and politicians, insulting and deeply 
grieving the religious part of the commu- 
nity, and causing them, even more in 
sorrow than in anger, to abandon the be- 
loved National Church of their martyred 
fathers. Arrived at maturity, it boldly 
declared its principles to be entirely 
worldly, and its whole policy to be founded 
on the maxims of secular society, directly 
contrary to the distinct declarations of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and His inspired apos- 
tles. With difficulty was it restrained 
from abandoning the subscription of the 
Confession of Faith, though even world- 
ly policy could perceive the danger of a 
deed so glaringly unconstitutional. Ad- 
vancing towards the stage of rigidity 
which is symptomatic of decline, it pro- 
hibited the missionary enterprise, and 
thereby declared to the world that it had 
so little of a Christian spirit as not to feel 
itself bound to discharge the great com- 
mission given by the risen and ascending 
Saviour to His disciples. Having refused 
to aid in propagating the gospel abroad, it 
next exerted itself in checking the exten- 
sion of Christian instruction at home, by 
the obstructions and difficulties with 
which it opposed the erection of new 
churches ; and by the act 1799, it declared 
against Christian communion with other 
Churches, however sound in their doc- 
trine and faithful in their ministry. As a 
worldly system it was now complete. 
Vital religion had been driven out of its 



3S4 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. X, 



pale, or paralyzed within it. By declar- 
ing against the propagation of the gospel, 
it had almost avowedly thrown off its al- 
legiance to Christ. By prohibiting all 
ministerial communion with other ortho- 
dox Protestant Christian Churches, it 
virtually denied the doctrine of a " Church 
Universal," rejected the " Communion of 
Saints," and disclaimed the all-pervading, 
heart- uniting, and love-breathing brother- 
ly affection, infused into all true members 
of the household of faith, by the presence 
and energy of the Holy Spirit. Such 
did Moderatism prove itself to be, when 
it reached its full developement, as a sys- 
tem, worldly, despotic, unconstitutional, 
unpresbyterian, unchristian and spiritual- 
ly dead, — the utter negation of every 
thing free, pure, lofty, and hallowed, — if 
indeed, it ought not rather to be said, that 
its essence was antipathy to every thing 
scriptural, holy and divine.* 

But while Moderatism was thus swath- 
ing itself up in thick cerements, as if to 
indulge in a long and dignified repose, 
like a lifeless yet life-like embalmed 
Egyptian monarch in his hieroglyph-en- 
crusted sarcophagus, there was an active 
life around it, and even a disturbed vital- 
ity, within the oppressed heart of its own 
torpid frame. It has been already stated, 
that several of the ordinary supporters of 
the Moderate policy held and taught the 
doctrines of the gospel. Not only was it 
necessary to retain these, because without 
them it would not have been possible to 
secure majorities in church courts, but it 
was also necessary to conciliate them, by 
occasionally passing measures contrary 
to the true nature of the Moderate sys- 
tem. Thus it was, that at the very time 
when that system had acquired its com- 
plete developement, it began to exhibit 
symptoms of disorganization, the sure 
harbingers of decay. But thus it is in 
all things essentially worldly ; the point 
of full maturity is that where decline 
and fall begins. The decline of Mode- 
ratism was hastened also by the quick- 
ened life and energetic movements of so- 
ciety at large, which could no longer 
tolerate the sluggish inertness and rigid 

" It will be perceived that Moderatism is here viewed 
as a system without specific reference lo those who 
embraced it, and without meaning to deny that there 
were among the Moderates many men, who were bet- 
ter than their system ; in the same manner as the sys- 
tem of Popery is condemned, without denying the vital 
C "iristianity of many of its members. 



encrustation of a system unsuited to the 
spirit of the times. This became appa- 
rent early in the century which was on 
the point of commencing, and in which 
the contest between the worldly policy of 
Moderatism and the spirit of evangelical 
Christianity became warm, incessant, and 
intensely determined; every year in- 
creasing the strength and brightening 
the hopes of those true friends of con- 
stitutional, Presbyterian, and Christian 
principles, who were the genuine repre- 
sentatives of the Church of Scotland ; 
and weakening both the power and the 
courage of their opponents, who soon be- 
gan to display, not the calm and haughty 
confidence of superior might, but the 
restless and angry energy ol danger and 
despair. 

[1800-5.] It is at all times hazardous 
to write what may be termed contempo- 
raneous history ; both because the histo- 
rian is himself exposed to the bias arising 
from personal predilections, and because 
the minds and feelings of the living 
generation are too much occupied by 
their own share of the transactions, to 
permit them to exercise an impartial 
judgment either on the events themselves, 
or on the narrative of the historian. Yet 
in matters of great and sacred principle 
it may be possible to state the truth both 
fairly and fearlessly, leaving it to future 
times to repel any charge of partiality 
which may be made. It will not be ne- 
cessary, however, to do more than trace 
the outlines of the leading facts and prin- 
ciples of a period which lies within the 
memory of men but little past the prime 
and vigour of their life. 

The first subject which occurred in 
the new century, of sufficient importance 
to demand attention, was that of a plural- 
ity of offices in the Church, held by the 
same individual. In the year 1800, Dr. 
Arnot, professor of divinity in St. An- 
drews, was presented to the parish of 
Kingsbarns, which is six or seven miles 
distant from the town. This union of 
olhces was opposed in the presbytery by 
Mr. Bell, minister of Crail, but unsuc- 
cessfully. It was also opposed in the 
synod, and came before the Assembly, 
where it gave rise to one of the most 
animated debates that ever occurred in 
that venerable court. In that celebrated 
discussion, Principal Brown of Aber- 



A. D. 1805.] HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



385 



deen opposed pluralities in a speech of 
surpassing eloquence and power, before 
the constitutional principles, high moral 
tone, clear strength of argument, and 
elevated Christian faithfulness of which, 
the firmest Moderate quailed and shrunk 
in conscious feebleness. But though ma- 
nifestly defeated in argument, the "pre- 
vailing party" could still procure the 
sanction of a majority of votes ;. and Dr. 
Arnot was allowed to retain both the pa- 
rish and the chair, contrary to the whole 
spirit of the Presbyterian constitution, 
and with the certainty that in such a 
combination of offices the duties of nei- 
ther could be adequately discharged.* 
Although the Evangelical party failed in 
this constitutional struggle, a deep and 
lasting impression was made on the mind 
of the community, and public intelligence 
began to mark on which side of the 
Church integrity and faithfulness was 
chiefly to be found. The Moderate 
triumph was equivalent to a defeat ; for 
all the sophistry which they employed 
could not allay the strong feeling of re- 
pugnance to such unions which had 
been excited, and the country rang with 
the clear and loud sentence of condemna- 
tion uttered indignantly against such self- 
interested conduct. 

The celebrated Leslie case, as it has 
been termed, came next, and deepened 
the imptession which that of Dr. Arnot 
had produced. Upon the death of Mr. 
John Robison, professor of natural phi- 
losophy in Edinburgh, and the promo- 
tion of Mr. Pla^fair from the mathemat- 
ical chair to that which had become 
vacant, the Edinburgh ministers deemed 
it a convenient opportunity for securing 
another plurality, and immediately en- 
deavoured to procure the appointment of 
Dr. Macknight to the chair of mathemat- 
ics. This, however, soon appeared to be 
a matter of more difficult accomplishment. 
Two of the most distinguished professors 
in the university, Dugald Stewart and 
Playfair, wrote letters upon the subject to 
the lord provost ; in which they proved 
that the duties of a professor gave full 
employment for the talents and industry 
of any man, and that a faithful discharge 
of them was incompatible with those im- 
portant functions of a different kind 
which belong to a clergyman holding 

" Scots Magazine, year 1801. 

49 



the pastoral office. The town-council, in 
whom the nomination to that chair is 
vested, were convinced by these argu- 
ments, and declared their intention of 
giving the appointment to him by whom 
the highest testimonials of qualification 
should be produced. This determination 
rendered it no longer doubtful who 
should be the successful candidate, as 
none of them could at all stand a com- 
parison with Mr. John Leslie in point of 
scientific genius and acquirements. But 
in a Treatise on Heat, which that gen- 
tleman had published a short while be- 
fore, he had thought proper to diverge 
into some metaphysical speculations on 
the idea of necessary connection between 
cause and effect. This was immediately 
laid hold of by the Edinburgh doctors, 
and an attempt was made to convict Les- 
lie of advocating principles of an atheis- 
tical tendency. A controversy of a 
metaphysico-theological kind arose, in 
which the Moderates assailed Mr. Les- 
lie's view, and the Evangelicals defend- 
ed it, to the astonishment of the literary 
public, who saw in the party which they 
had been accustomed to regard as con- 
sisting of narrow-minded fanatics, the 
most enlightened defenders of true sci- 
ence. The subject came at length be- 
fore the Assembly ; and after a long and 
able debate, this attempt of Moderate in- 
tolerance was defeated by a majority of 
twelve.* 

This discussion was of considerable 
general importance, especially in direct- 
ing the public mind towards the tendency 
of the Moderate system. So long as that 
was confined to Church politics, compa- 
ratively little interest was felt respecting 
it; and although by one part of that 
system plurality of offices had been in- 
troduced, so long as that was restricted to 
the theological professorships, it did not 
attract much notice. But when it was 
perceived that the dominant party were 
endeavouring to acquire the possession 
of the chairs devoted to literature, sci- 
ence, and philosophy, it was felt that this 
encroaching spirit must be repelled, lest 
the interests of literature and science 
should suffer. The argument against 
pluralities was not indeed placed on the 
strongest ground by the literary part of 

'Pamphlets on the Leslie Controversy; Assembly 
Debate ; Edinburgh Review, No. xiii. 



386 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. X. 



the community. They looked to the in- 
jury likely to be sustained by science, if 
its teachers should be men whose atten- 
tion was distracted by another class of 
duties ; but Christian men deplored the 
evil which must be done to religion, if its 
teachers should devote themselves to 
secular employments, and neglect the 
eternal welfare of those over whose spi- 
ritual interests they had been appointed 
to watch. And the idea very readily 
suggested itself to the minds of reflecting 
people, " Surely these men must enter- 
tain a very low notion of the ministerial 
office and its unspeakably important du- 
ties, who can so eagerly grasp at another 
office, totally different in its nature, to 
which if they attend, they must inevita- 
bly neglect their pastoral charge." Such 
opinions becoming prevalent, tended 
greatly to weaken Moderatism, by lead- 
ing men to inquire into its real character, 
and to contrast it with Evangelism, so 
long calumniated or despised. 

[1805-10.] Nothing of peculiar public 
moment marked the years between 1805 
and 1810. Perhaps the only thing which 
deserves to be noticed is the internal dis- 
organization which began to appear 
among the Moderate party during that 
period. The most remarkable instance 
of it occurred in the different views taken 
by Dr. Hill of St. Andrews, and Drs. 
Grieve, Finlayson, and others of the 
Edinburgh ministers, in the case of the 
Duke of Hamilton against Mr. Scott, 
minister of Strathaven, respecting the 
claims of the latter for an augmentation. 
Dr. Hill disapproved of the strong meas- 
ures advocated by the Edinburgh minis- 
ters, and stated his views to Lord Mel- 
ville, who entirely agreed with him ; but 
as the Edinburgh clergy had been in the 
habit of acting like a permanent commit- 
tee for the management of ecclesiastical 
affairs, they were indignant that even 
Dr. Hill should have offered an opinion 
till he had consulted them.* The high- 
minded and honourable conduct of Dr. 
Hill prevented this disagreement from 
widening to an actual breach ; but it put 
an end to that unanimity by which the 
course of Moderate policy had been 
hitherto characterised. It was indeed 
itself a consequence of causes previously 
in operation. Of these, the chief were, 

• Dr. Cook's of Life Hill, pp. 189-207. 



as already stated, the residence of Dr. 
Hill, the avowed leader of the Moderates, 
in St. Andrews, which prevented him 
from being generally present in the pri- 
vate consultations of the Edinburgh 
clergy ; and the deeper and sounder 
theology of Dr. Hill himself, which ren- 
dered it impossible for him to be a tho- 
rough Moderate on all points, although 
he followed the principles of Robertson 
with regard to Church government. 

In the year 1810, Dr. Andrew Thom- 
son was appointed to one of the Edin- 
burgh churches, and four years after- 
wards to St. George's, as minister of 
which, this distinguished and remarkable 
man became fully known to the public. 
He was one of those men who stamp the 
impress of their own character upon that 
of the age in which they live ; and hi? 
appearance in the Scottish metropolis 
must be marked as the commencement 
of an era in the ecclesiastical history of 
his country. Soon after his arrival in 
Edinburgh, the " Christian Instructor" 
was commenced under his management 
as editor ; and by its means the thoughts 
and reasonings of his powerful mind 
were communicated to the public like 
successive shocks of electricity, stirring 
the heart of the kingdom from its torpid 
lethargy, and spreading dismay among 
his discomfited antagonists. The public 
mind had indeed been already partially 
aroused ; and instead of being allowed 
to sink back into dull and listless repose, 
the favourable moment was seized, and 
it was urged forward with a steady and 
persevering might, which could not long 
be successfully resisted. Every year it 
became more and more a matter of gene- 
ral conviction that some measure of ec- 
clesiastical reform was become impera- 
tively necessary ; and as the true princi- 
ples of the Presbyterian Church of Scot- 
land were rescued from the oblivion into 
which they had been cast, this conviction 
assumed the form of a full belief, that 
nothing more was necessary than to re- 
store those principles to their native and 
vital operation. 

[1811.] By a remarkable coincidence, 
at the very time when Dr. Thomson had 
resolved to employ the mighty power of 
the press for the purpose of reawakening 
the slumbering energies of the Presbyte- 
rian Church, a potent auxiliary was on 



A. D. 1817 ] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



387 



the point of appearing in the field, and 
engaging in the maintenance of the same 
great cause. In November 1811 was 
published " The Life of John Knox," 
by the Rev. Thomas M'Crie. A huge 
host of prejudices were at once scattered 
to the winds, or compelled to retreat to 
the dark lurking-places of ignorance, on 
the appearance of this magnificent biog- 
raphy. The enemies of the Church of 
Scotland found that it was no longer pos- 
sible to accuse the great Scottish Re- 
former of morose and gloomy bigotry, 
or wild and stern fanaticism, without 
periling their own characters, and ex- 
posing themselves to the charge of igno- 
rance too dark to be enlightened, and 
prejudices too dense to be dispelled ; 
while the friends of scriptural truth 
found themselves at once admitted to the 
armoury of the invincible chiefs of old, 
from which they might obtain weapons 
wherewith to resist and quell the adver- 
sary. Nothing could more have borne 
the aspect of an express arrangement of 
Providence than did the propitious ap- 
pearance of this noble work. Even the 
leading authorities in the literary world 
were prompt and loud in their applause • 
and the great principles which it con- 
tained and enforced wrought their way 
into the public mind, convincing, enlight- 
ening, and invigorating thousands, pre- 
paratory to their coming forward to dis- 
charge their duty in the sacred contest 
which the true Church of Scotland has 
ever waged in defence of civil and reli- 
gious liberty. 

[1813-17.] Another plurality case oc- 
curred in the year 1813. Mr. Ferrie, 
professor of civil history in St. Andrews, 
was presented to the parish of Kilcon- 
quhar, distant twelve miles from the uni- 
versity seat. The presbytery refused to 
sustain the presentation, unless Mr. Fer- 
would assure them that he would resign 
his professorship immediately on being 
settled in the parish. To this he would 
not consent, and the matter was carried 
by appeal to the Assembly. After a very 
long and animated debate, the sentence 
of the presbytery was reversed by a ma- 
jority of five, in a very full house. Al- 
though the union of offices involving 
non-residence was thus once more sanc- 
tioned by the strenuous exertions of the 
Moderates, yet the smallness of the ma- 



jority indicated that such abuses could 
not much longer be endured. Next year 
the subject was brought before the As- 
sembly by an overture from the synod of 
Angus and Mearns ; and afte; a long 
and full discussion, what is termed a 
declaratory act was passed, declaring it 
to be inconsistent with the constitution 
and the fundamental laws of the Church 
of Scotland for any minister to hold ano- 
ther office which necessarily required 
his absence from his parish, and subject- 
ed him to an authority that the presbytery 
to which he was a member could not con- 
trol.* In the Assembly of 1815, an ac- 
tempt was made to alter the judgment of 
the preceding year, on the ground that it 
was really a new law, and ought to have 
been subject to the regulations of the 
Barrier Act. This was successfully re- 
sisted ; but a great outcry was raised by 
the moderate party, who asserted that the 
Assembly was violating the intrinsic 
rights of presbyteries, and insisted that 
the recent act should be rescinded, and 
an overture on the subject should be 
transmitted to presbyteries in the usual 
manner. An overture was accordingly 
framed by Dr. Hill in 1816, similar to 
the recent declaratory act, which, after 
passing the usual course, was confirmed 
by the Assembly of 1817, and became 
a permanent law on the subject of the 
pluralities, to the extent of putting an 
end to every such union of offices as was 
incompatible with residence in the parish. 
This was so far a reforming act, extorted 
from the Moderate party by the growing 
strength of evangelism, and the increas- 
ing intelligence and enlightenment of 
the age. 

But that Moderatism itself was not 
improved, may be very easily shown by 
one or two illustrations. Several instan- 
ces occurred about this time of ministers 
accused of drunkenness and immorality ; 
and although these accusations were cor- 
roborated by evidence sufficient to satisfy 
almost every impartial man, they were 
explained away into " alleged breaches 
of decorum," and the culprits allowed to 
pass unpunished. In another case a 
minister was accused of criminal inti- 
macy with a female servant ; the ecclesi 
astical courts managed to find the charge 
not proven, but the civil court found the 

* Acts of Assembly, year 1814 ; Scots Magaiine 



388 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. X. 



evidence sufficient to entitle the woman 
to legal support for herself and her in- 
fant, which the minister was obliged to 
give, and still was allowed to remain in 
the spiritual office, which he held but to 
desecrate. 

The year 1815 is marked by one in- 
cident, apparently slight in itself, but 
fraught with consequences the impor- 
tance of which cannot easily be over- 
estimated. In that year was published 
the address of Dr. Chalmers to the pa- 
rishioners of Kilmany, when he left that 
parish on being translated to the Tron 
Church, Glasgow. There are circum- 
stances connected with that event, the 
history of which cannot yet be written. 
But every one who peruses needfully 
that address, will mark the deep tone of 
fen ^nt evangelical piety by which it is 
peivaded; and some of clearer vision 
may perceive in it traces of that solemn 
and profound emotion which fills the 
soul that has recently been called out of 
darkness into God's marvellous light, 
and is still tremulous with the fresh fer- 
vour of its new-born spiritual life. From 
that time forward the world was again to 
see, as in earlier and better days, how 
great and lovely a thing is genius of the 
loftiest order, hallowed by the love of 
God, and consecrated to His glory. 

[1820-25.1 In the year 1820, there oc- 
curred an instance of the fierce malignity, 
defeating its own purpose in its blind 
vindictiveness, which often characterizes 
the conduct of a falling party. An over- 
ture was introduced by Dr. Bryce, regard- 
ing the sharp and severe animadversions 
on the conduct of the Moderate party, 
which frequently appeared in the "Chris- 
tian Instructor." A very animated dis- 
cussion took place, the galled party rising 
into unusual eloquence under the stimu- 
lating influence of the castigation which 
they had often received. The motion 
was carried by a majority of one, but it 
gave rise to no ulterior proceedings.* 
The voice of an indignant public was 
heard, too loud to be disregarded by even 
that party whose characteristic it was to 
disregard the public voice. It might 
have been very convenient to hide in im- 
penetrable darkness those Jeeds which 
could not bear the light ; but the nation 
was not prepared to suffer the liberty of 

* Christian Instructor. 



the press to be abridged for the accom 
modation of those who crouched in its 
free presence, and shrunk from its indig- 
nant rebuke. The Moderate triumph 
was a severe defeat. It showed at once 
vindictiveness and impotence, and caused 
the loss of both respect and dread. 

The great question of pluralities came 
again before the General Assembly in 
the year 1824. It was caused by the 
appointment of Dr. Macfarlan to be Prin- 
cipal of the University in Glasgow, and 
also minister of St. Mungo's in the same 
city. This was the first instance in which 
the propriety of a union of offices in the 
same city or parish was made the subject 
of a debate in the Assembly. It had 
J>een strenuously opposed in the presby- 
tery by Dr. Macgill ; but a large major- 
ity decided in favour of the union when 
the subject came before the supreme 
ecclesiastical court. It was, however, 
generally believed that a different result 
might be expected, if the question were 
tried on its general merits, apart from all 
personal considerations, such as arise 
when the interests of individuals are con- 
cerned. Eighteen overtures on the sub- 
ject were laid on the table of the General 
Assembly in 1825, proving the deep in- 
terest with which it was regarded by the 
community at large. A debate ensued, 
remarkable for the accurate research into 
the constitutional history of the Church 
displayed by some, the grave and lofty 
views of the sacredness and importance 
of ministerial duties exhibited by others, 
and the powerful and thrilling eloquence 
of Chalmers and Thomson.* But again 
the power of numbers prevailed over the 
power of learning, reason, genius, and 
Christian principle; and a majority of 
twenty-six was found to defend the union 
of professorships with parochial charges 
in the seat of a university. It deserves 
to be remarked, although the observation 
may seem to be minute, that the Moderate 
party obtained their general majority by 
means of the elders, there being a positive 
majority of four ministers against plurali- 
ties. This fact was not unnoticed by the 
public, who did not fail to mark on which 
side of the Church they were to look for 
personal disinterestedness and a high 
sense of duty in the discharge of their 

* Debates on the Plurality Question, years 1825 and 
1826. 



A. D. 1830.] HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 389 



sacred functions. Nor will it be thought 
strange, that the elders should have so 
generally voted on the Moderate side, 
when it is remembered how, and for what 
purpose, that party had been in the habit 
of making Assembly elders. The spirit 
of the evangelical and reforming party 
was not, however, broken by this defeat. 
Sixteen overtures on the subject brought 
it again before the Assembly of 1826, 
and another able and brilliant debate took 
place. But a strong exertion had been 
made by the Moderate party, their full 
strength was mustered, and they obtained 
a majority of fifty-four. This was the 
last debate on the subject. A royal com- 
mission for visiting the universities of 
Scotland having been appointed, the two 
parties in the Church agreed to suspend 
the desperate struggle, and to await the 
decision of the commission. To this the 
Evangelical party might well consent ; 
for public opinion had already expressed 
itself decisively against such a union of 
offices as rendered it absolutely impossi- 
* ble for the person who held them to dis- 
charge adequately the important duties of 
both. The opinion of the royal commis- 
sion was at length given, and almost in 
the very terms of the motions which the 
Evangelical party had so long and strenu- 
ously advocated in the Assembly.* Thus 
one fundamental principle of the Church 
of Scotland was again revived and en- 
forced, greatly to the discomfiture and 
dismay of tiat unconstitutional party 
which had so long held a usurped do- 
minion over the Church, and with the 
usual policy of usurpers, had striven to 
misinterpret those laws which could not 
be concealed, and to conceal those that 
could not be misinterpreted. And as 
each successive great principle was 
brought anew to light by the true and 
fearless defenders of Scotland's ancient 
Church, a fresh vitality was poured into 
the nation's heart, a new intelligence 
enlightened the public mind, and like an 
iceberg pierced by the sunbeams and 
wasted by the rush of living waters, the 
cold fabric of Moderatism swayed heavily, 
and tottered to its fall. 

[1826-30.] It has been already stated, 
that the infusion of evangelical principles 
into even the Moderate party tended 
greatly to cause the overthrow of Mode- 

* Report of the Royal Commission. 



ratism as a system ; and Dr. Hardy and 
Dr. Hill have been mentioned as having 
been greatly instrumental in promoting 
this better spirit among their party. To 
their respected names must be added those 
of Dr. William Ritchie, Dr. Nicoll, and 
especially Dr. Inglis, all of whom taught 
evangelical doctrine, although they sup- 
ported the general course of Moderate 
church policy. To Dr. Inglis is especial 
honour due, as the man by whom was 
first proposed, matured, and carried into 
effect, that measure on which so much of 
the Divine blessing has conspicuously 
rested, the Church of Scotland's Mission 
to India. And it is with peculiar delight 
that this brief tribute of respect and gra- 
titude is paid to the memory of one who 
was distinguished by remarkable clear- 
ness and soundness of judgment, candour, 
sincerity, and frankness of mind, and a 
calm personal piety, deepening as he 
grew near the close of his life, and ren- 
dering his last years both the loveliest and 
the best* So early as the year 1818, 
the attention of Dr. Inglis had been di- 
rected to the subject of missions, and his 
enlightened mind speedily detected the 
unchristian character of the opinions 
promulgated respecting it by the Moder- 
ate leaders of 1796. In 1824 he brought 
the matter publicly before the Assembly, 
and the weight of his character, and the 
position which he occupied, at once 
secured for it a degree of attention from 
both sides of the Church, which it could 
not otherwise have easily obtained. There 
is no reason to doubt, that if it had been 
brought forward by one of the Evangeli- 
cal side, it would have met immediate and 
strong opposition ; but the wisdom of 
Providence was clearly shown in prepar- 
ing a leader of the Moderate party to be 
the first advocate of a measure of such a 
Christian character, and respecting which 
it was so exceedingly desirable that there 
should be no dissentions in a Christian 
Church. In 1825, a committee was ap- 
pointed to consider and report on the sub- 
ject; and in 1826, a « Pastoral Address 
to the People of Scotland," from the pen 
of Dr. Inglis, appeared, and tended pow. 

* It deserves to be stated to the honour of Dr. Inglis, 
that in the case of North Leith he declared, that, ac- 
cording to the Constitution of the Church, ordination 
to the pastoral office proceeded upon the Call alone, 
and that the presentat ion of a patron had no further ef- 
fect than securing a legal right to the fruits of the bene 
fice. 



390 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. X. 



erfully to direct the attention of the king- 
dom to the sacred duty of propagating the 
gospel among the heathen, and especially 
in India. Collections were made and 
subscriptions obtained, till a sufficient fund 
was raised to enable the committee to pro- 
ceed with their holy enterprise ; and at 
length, in 1829, Dr. Duff, the first mis- 
sionary ever sent forth by any national 
Protestant Church, in its corporate char- 
acter, left his native land, commissioned 
by the Presbyterian Church of Scotland 
to convey to India the light of gospel 
truth, and to offer for her acceptance the 
simple, pure, efficient, and most truly 
apostolic form of Christianity, which is 
the glory and the strength of the Pres- 
byterian Church.* It is but an act of 
justice to the memory of a great and far- 
seeing man to state, that to a suggestion 
made by Dr. M'Crie, at a public meeting 
held in Edinburgh in the year 1813, and 
taken up and prosecuted with character- 
istic energy by Sir Henry Moncreiff, was 
the Church of Scotland indebted for a 
share of legal countenance and support 
in India, without which she could not 
have sent forth her celebrated India Mis- 
sion, in her corporate character as a Na- 
tional Church. f 

Several events of great importance, 
partly in a religious and partly in a na- 
tional point of view, occurred during this 
period, and would deserve to be fully 
stated, were they not so recent that they 
must still be fresh in the recollection of 
thp public. Of these, the first in point 
of time was the Apocrypha Controversy, 
which arose in consequence of the Bri- 
tish and Foreign Bible Society having 
been led to violate one of its fundamental 
conditions, the circulation of the pure 
Bible, without note or comment. The 
directors, induced by considerations of 
expediency, consented to permit the Apo- 
crypha to be inserted in the Bible, pre- 
faces to be prefixed, and other violations 
of the fundamental condition to be com- 
mitted, in the hope that Romanists and 
others might accept the Bible in that 
vitiated state, who would have rejected it 
in its purity.J Against this sinful com- 
promise the Edinburgh committee remon- 

* Acts of Assembly ; Dr. Duff on India and India mis- 
sions, pp. 476-491. 

t Life of Dr. M'Crie, pp. 201-204. 

X See pamphlets on the Apocrypha Controversy ; and 
Christian Instructor. 



strated, but without effect. A controversy- 
arose on the subject, which soon became 
in reality a contest between expediency 
and principle. In this controversy Dr. 
Andrew Thomson stood forth the fearless 
and mighty champion of sacred truth, not 
quite alone, but first without a second, 
discomfiting every antagonist that dared 
the encounter. His exertions were per- 
fectly marvellous for several successive 
years ; and were a fair estimate made, 
they would prove to be equal, if not su- 
perior, to those made by any man in any 
department of mental labour within as 
short a time. It cannot be doubted that 
his excessive labours in that great cause 
hastened him. prematurely for his country 
and the Church, in the fifty-second year 
of his age, to the abodes of everlasting rest 
and peace. The public mind was during 
the same period powerfully directed to- 
wards the abolition of slavery in the West 
India Islands ; and in this truly Christian 
object Dr. Thompson earned peculiar dis- 
tinction, especially by one speech in which 
his eloquence rose to a pitch of grandeur 
and sublimity such as has been rarely 
equalled. Another event of this singu- 
larly energetic time, fertile in producing 
the elements both of evil and of good, 
must also be mentioned. In the year 
1829, a bill passed the British legisla- 
ture, and received the ratification of the 
sovereign, removing all the civil disabili- 
ties to which the adherents of the Church 
of Rome had been subjected, and render- 
ing them eligible to any office of the 
State, with the exceptions only of the 
Lord Chancellorship and the Crown it- 
self Into any discussion respecting the 
merits or demerits of this measure it is 
scarcely our province, and not our pre- 
sent intention, to enter, both because it 
was the act of the State, not of the Church, 
and because its full effects upon the char- 
acter and prospects of the nation have not 
yet been developed, although they have 
assumed an ominous aspect. 

[1831.] The year 1831 may be re- 
garded as the commencement of a great 
era, both in the ecclesiastical and in the 
civil history of the empire. To the civil 
history, we make no further allusion than 
merely to state, that the passing of the 
Reform Bill gave an impulse to the pub- 
lic mind, which sent it rushing with irre- 
sistible force into every channel of thought 



A. D. 1831.] HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



391 



and mental enterprise. From that time 
it was manifest, that no public institution, 
civil or sacred, could be long in a state of 
safety, which could not stand the most 
searching scrutiny, and which, did not 
possess in itself a vital principle, that 
could give it spontaneous movement and 
ready adaptation to the spirit of the age. 
In what manner this was shown in poli- 
tical matters, let the civil historian record: 
our own province demands our undivided 
attention. 

On the 9th of February 1831, Dr. 
Andrew Thompson was suddenly called 
to rest from his mighty toils ; and the 
heart of Scotland was stunned with her 
great and unexpected loss. The universal 
sorrow of the nation bore testimony to 
his great and varied excellencies : the 
impress of his character and opinions 
stamped on society is his memorial. 

The Assembly of that year had to dis- 
charge the painful duty of deposing Mr. 
Campbell, minister of the parish of Row, 
on account of his holding and teaching 
the heretical doctrine of universal redemp- 
tion, together with several other erro- 
neous tenets. The same Assembly de- 
prived Mr. M'Lean of his license as a 
probationer, because he publicly avowed 
and preached doctrines respecting the 
human nature of the Divine Redeemer, 
similar to those held by the lamented 
Edward Irving. As these heretical opin- 
ions did not long continue to spread in 
the Church, and have since sunk into 
comparative oblivion, it does not seem 
either necessary or desirable to offer any 
further remarks concerning them, except 
to state, that while these men diverged 
unhappily into deplorable errors, in con- 
sequence of their fervent but ill-regulated 
zeal, their personal characters were un- 
impeachable, their piety was warm and 
earnest, and they were generally regarded 
with equal pity and esteem. 

The attention of the public mind began 
about this time to be strongly directed to 
what has been termed the Voluntary con- 
troversy. The subject had indeed been 
so far silently working its way into the 
minds of many luring a period of more 
than thirty years ; but it had hitherto 
attracted little attention, and it was only 
now that, under the strong impulse given 
to every topic of real or speculative in- 



[ terest, its demands became too loud and 
urgent to be any longer unheard or dis- 
regarded. A few preliminary remarks 
are necessary to render this subject of 
controversy at once simple and intel- 
ligible. 

It has not been considered necessary to 
advert particularly to the history of the 
Secession Church of Scotland subsequent 
to the formation of that new body which 
assumed the name of the Relief A very 
brief statement of a few leading topics 
must now be given, as necessary to a clear 
view of the subject. In 1747, the Seces- 
sion was divided into two parties, by a 
controversy about the oath taken by bur- 
gesses ; which two parties were generally 
known by the names of Burghers and 
Antiburghers.* Both parties continued 
to adhere to the Act and Testimony of the 
first Seceders, though divided into two 
distinct synods ; and as the dominant 
Moderate party in the National Church 
persevered in that course of defection in 
doctrine, government, and discipline, 
which had caused the Secession, this 
division, instead of weakening the Sece- 
ders, actually contributed to weaken the 
Church, in consequence of the new op- 
portunities afforded and inducements held 
forth to draw men of all shades of opinion 
from the communion of a Church, whose 
leaders seemed to take a peculiar pleasure 
in despising and insulting the people. 
This conduct of the Moderate party 
caused both synods of the already es- 
tranged and alienated Secession to begin 
to question whether the tyranny and cor- 
ruption of the Church might not be 
directly ascribed to her connection with 
the State, which seemed to lead to the 
infusion of a baneful secularizing in- 
fluence, and might be thought to give 
undue power to the civil magistrate m 
religiotfs matters. But as the constitution 
of the Church, to which by their Act and 
Testimony they still adhered, maintained 
not only the lawfulness of religious es- 
tablishments, but also the duty of the civil 
magistrate to establish a national religious 
institution, they oegan, almost at the 
same time in each synod, to give a quali- 
fied assent to their own standards, and to 
subscribe them with evasive explanations, 
which was soon felt to be equally din- 

* Gib's Display, vol. ii. 



392 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. X 



gerous and irksome, not to say inconsis- 
tent with honest integrity of heart and 
mind. 

This change of sentiment made its 
first appearance in a pamphlet, published 
by a member of the Burgher Synod about 
the year 1780; and having gradually 
gained ground in that body, it was 
brought before them publicly at their 
synod ical meeting in May 1795, in a 
petition that acknowledged the change, 
and requested that the language of the 
Confession of Faith and Formula might 
be so far altered as to be rendered more 
consistent with the opinions entertained 
by a large proportion of the members. 
A strong opposition was made to this 
proposal by several of the most respecta- 
ble ministers, among whom Mr. Willis 
of Greenock distinguished himself by the 
prominent and decided part which he 
took in defence of the fundamental prin- 
ciples which all had subscribed. The 
innovation, however, went on ; a modified 
formula was proposed, and, after some 
delay, ratified by the Synod, in accor- 
dance with the new views of the majority. 
A small minority dissented, withdrew 
from the innovating party, formed them- 
selves into a presbytery in 1799, and be- 
came known by the designation of the 
Old Light Burghers.* 

A similar innovating process was about 
the same time going on in the Anti- 
burghcr synod, though it does not appear 
either to have begun or to have been op- 
posed so ea v ly ; and as it produced cor- 
responding- results, and has attracted more 
attention in consequence of the subsequent 
celebrity of one distinguished man, to 
whose great mental power it was the 
means of first directing public notice, it 
must be somewhat more fully stated. In 
order to escape from the unpleasant and 
scarcely honourable state of matters in 
which subscription of their standards, ac- 
companied with evasive explanations, in- 
volved them, it was proposed in the Anti- 
burgher Synod, that the Testimony should 
be enlarged, and so far modified as to 
adapt it to the altered circumstances 
which a series of years had produced.! 
The enlarging and modifying process 
thus begun, led to results which could 

* Little Naphtali, by the Rev. W. Willis, Greenock 
See also Appendix to the Judicial Testimony, published 
by the Old Light Burghers, 1800. 

t Life of Dr ftCrie, pp. 45, 46. 



scarcely have been contemplated by those 
who proposed it. The minds of those 
who were engaged in this attempt 
diverged further and further from their 
original position, as they proceeded in 
their task ; and the result was, the pro- 
duction of a new work, which was desig- 
nated, " The Narrative and Testimony." 
This was, however, the work of years, 
and was not finally adopted, so as to su- 
persede the original Testimony, till the 
year 1804, although the outline of the 
work received the sanction of the Synod, in 
the form of an overture, in the year 1793. 
An act of Synod was passed in 1796, the 
tenor of which indicated darkly that the 
Secession Church was on the point of 
abandoning the principles of the Church 
of Scotland, and consequently of their 
own founders, who seceded expressly for 
the purpose of the more strenuously as- 
serting those principles. Some of the 
ablest and best ministers of the Secession 
perceived the danger of these proceed- 
ings, and strove earnestly to stem the tide 
of defection which was rapidly drifting 
the great body of their Church into a 
contradiction of their own acts and stand- 
ards. But all their remonstrances and 
protests were ineffectual. In May 1804, 
the Synod enacted their Narrative and 
Testimony into a term of communion. 
In August 1806, the Rev. Messrs. Bruce, 
Aitken, Hog, and M'Crie, formally aban- 
doned their connection with the Synod, 
and constituted themselves into a presby- 
tery, assuming the name of the Constitu- 
tional Associate Presbytery. The Synod 
deposed their more honest and conscien- 
tious brethren without delay, and even 
passed sentence of excommunication upon 
Dr. M'Crie, probably as being the most 
distinguished and forminable opponent 
of their defections. In 1807, that gifted 
and high-principled man published a 
"Statement of the Difference" between 
the original Testimony of the first Sece- 
ders and the new production of their 
descendants, proving beyond all doubt 
that they had abandoned their principles, 
and adopted others pregnant with danger 
to the civil and religious peace and wel- 
fare of the kingdom. This very valuable 
production made comparatively little im- 
pression on the public mind when it first 
appeared, as th deep importance of the 
subject was scarcely perceived beyond 



A. D. 1831.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



393 



the limits of the Secession ; but no work 
which has since been published on the 
Voluntary controversy will more amply 
repay a studious perusal.* To close 
these preliminary remarks : In 1820, the 
two parties of Seceders, the Burghers and 
Antiburghers, again commenced the work 
of enlargement and compromise, aban- 
doned some more of their original princi- 
ples, opened their views more fully on 
the subject of hostility to all national es- 
tablishments of religion, and combining 
on this basis, formed themselves into one 
body, under the name of the United Se- 
cession. Such was the condition of the 
Scottish Seceders, who had gradually 
abandoned their principles and become 
Dissenters, when the popular movements 
which were taking place throughout the 
kingdom encouraged them to bring 
prominently before the public those senti- 
ments which had been long maturing in 
secret, and for which they now began to 
expect an early and complete triumph. 
Indications of this intention were given 
from time to time for several years ; but 
it was not till 1830, or rather 1831, that 
the discussion respecting the lawfulness 
of a civil establishment of religion, in the 
form of a National Church, assumed the 
grave aspect of a public controversy ; and 
it was not till 1832 that it became suffi- 
ciently important to draw into the contest 
the leading men both of the Secession 
and of the Church. Speedily, however, 
it reached such a degree of intensity as 
to engage the attention of the whole 
kingdom, and to make it evident, that 
upon the decision of this great question 
would depend the peace and stability of 
the British empire. 

It will not be expected that any thing 
more than a very brief summary of the 
chief points discussed in this great con- 
troversy should be given here. And in 
attempting such a summary it shall be 
our endeavour to state nothing but what 
belongs to the very essence of the contro- 
versy. The subject matter of the contro- 
versy, when divested of every thing ex- 
traneous, was simply this, " Whether or 
not it be the duty of the State to give 
support and countenance to Christianity, 
by establishing and endowing a national 
institution for the purpose of imparting 

The whole of this subject is very clearly stated in 
the Life o Dr. M'Crie, by' hi3 Son. 

50 



to the whole body of the community in- 
struction in the faith and practice of the 
gospel V Those who were opposed to 
all religious establishments, were of 
course bound to take the negative side of 
this proposition, and to attempt to prove, 
that it was not the duty of the State to in- 
terfere in religious matters, even in the 
slightest degree, either by supporting 
truth or repressing falsehood. Very few 
of them, however, were willing to occupy 
the position of maintaining a theory which 
clearly involved national infidelity and 
atheism, by the total exclusion of religion 
from the civil and legislative character 
of the nation. Those who did approach 
most closely to the central principle of 
the controversy, endeavoured to evade 
that conclusion, by giving such definitions 
of Church and State as might seem to 
show the impossibility of any connection 
between them which did not involve the 
most pernicious consequences. They 
were careful to maintain, that the power 
competent to states is " wholly temporal, 
respecting only the secular interests of 
society; and they seemed to think, that 
any possible connection which the civil 
magistrate could have with religion could 
only lead to its persecution or its corrup- 
tion. Their opponents both denied the 
correctness of this definition of civil ma- 
gistracy, and rejected the conclusion 
which was attempted to be deduced from 
it. 

The defenders of national establish- 
ments of religion assumed far higher 
grounds than their opponents. They 
held civil magistracy to be an ordinance 
of God, whether viewed in the light of 
natural, or in that of revealed religion ; 
rendering it the imperative duty of kings 
and states to maintain and promote, in 
their public and official character, the 
true and pure worship of Him to whom 
all power belongs, from whom they de- 
rive their station and authority, to whom 
they must render an account of all their 
conduct, public as well as private, and 
whom they are bound to recognise and 
revere as the King of kings and Lord of 
lords. This they held to be the first and 
highest duty of the civil magistrate, even 
antecedent to any express revelation. 
But God, the ruler and judge of the uni- 
verse, having revealed his will to man, 
the next point of inquiry necessarily was, 



394 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. X 



whether in that revealed will there could 
be found any statements calculated to 
modify or set aside this primary law or 
civil magistracy. There it was found, 
that, under the Mosaic dispensation, the 
duty of kings and states to maintain and 
promote the worship of God was most 
strongly and explicitly declared ; and 
when their opponents endeavoured to set 
aside the arguments deduced from the 
Old Testament dispensation, on the 
ground that its regulations were no longer 
binding under Christianity, this was an- 
swered, first, by the universally admitted 
principle, that what God had enacted no 
inferior authority could repeal ; and that, 
therefore, all the enactments of the Mosaic 
dispensation must be still binding, unless 
it could be shown that tbey were either 
so manifestly typical as to have terminated 
by fulfilment, or had been expressly re- 
vealed in the gospel ; secondly, by pro- 
ducing from the gospel dispensation itself 
such statements respecting the duties of 
the civil magistrate as it was manifestly 
impossible for him to discharge, without 
giving his direct sanction and authorita- 
tive support to Christianity. 

They further argued, that it was im- 
possible for the civil magistrate to per- 
form his own peculiar duties without the 
support of true religion ; that the true 
welfare of the nation, which it was his 
duty to promote, depended upon its moral 
purity, and the rectitude, impartiality, and 
humanity of its laws ; and that the only 
effectual method of promoting moral 
purity was to be found in the propagation 
of the gospel, and the only sure guide in 
framing just, equal, and humane laws, 
was' the Word of God. Hence it followed, 
that the first and most imperative duty 
of the civil magistrate, even when seeking 
to promote the physical, mental and 
moral welfare of the community, was to 
provide for and offer to the whole body 
of the nation, the means of instruction in 
the knowledge of the only living and true 
God, and of Christ Jesus, whom he hath 
sent to redeem, regenerate, and save man- 
kind from sin and misery. It was not 
difficult to show that, in discharging this 
duty, the civil magistrate was not entitled 
to use his power in any manner that 
might amount to persecution, both be- 
cause his duty was fulfilled by providing 
and offering the means of national reli- 



gious instruction, and because in support- 
ing Christianity, he supports a religion 
which pleads, entreats, persuades, but 
cannot and will not persecute, — whose 
power resides not in the sword, but in the 
gentle and gracious influence of heavenly 
love. 

But the main arguments used by the 
assailants of religious establishments were 
of a secondary character, not reaching 
the essence of the controversy, fallacious 
in their own nature, and inconclusive, 
even if they could have been proved to be 
true so far as they reached. They de- 
claimed loudly, that it was the duty of all 
Christians to give voluntary support to 
Christianity ; and from this undisputed 
proposition they deduced two very strange 
and illogical conclusions, — that no other 
method of providing support for the pub- 
lic teachers of religion was permissible, 
— and that this was perfectly adequate to 
the necessities of the nation. They con- 
founded the right of the pastor to be sup- 
ported, with the duty of the people to sup- 
port him ; and they virtually maintained 
the manifest absurdity, that what was the 
duty of each Christian in the nation in- 
dividually, was not the duty of the whole 
as a Christian nation collectively. Their 
other conclusion was resolvable into a 
mere question of facts. No one denied 
that it was the duty of all Christians to 
aid in propagating the gospel; but the 
defenders of national endowments as- 
serted, that without a national fund ap- 
plied for the support of ministers in poor 
and immoral localities, there would be a 
large propoition of the population left 
destitute of religious instruction, partly 
because too poor to provide it for them- 
selves, and partly because too immoral 
and irreligious to have any regard for it. 
The correctness of this view was easily 
tried by the test of statistical investigation ; 
and from the inquiries made by a royal 
commission appointed for that purpose, 
it appeared, that there were at least 
five hundred thousand souls in Scotland 
totally destitute of the means of religious 
instruction, notwithstanding the exertions 
of the Established Church, and the sup- 
plemental aid of all who held the Volun- 
tary principle, and were at liberty to em- 
ploy all the energies which they declared 
it to possess. Churchmen always said 
" We are eager to accept all the voluntary 



A. D. 1831.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



395 



aid from private Christian liberality 
which we can obtain ; and where that 
falls short, we call upon a patriotic and 
enlightened Christian legislature to sup- 
ply the deficiency, by contributing to send 
the bread of life to thousands who are 
perishing for lack of spiritual know- 
ledge." 

As the advocates of the Voluntary 
principle could not deny the proved 
spiritual destitution, they attempted to 
evade the obvious inference, namely, that 
their favourite principle was not so 
powerful as they affirmed, by boldly de- 
claring, that the very existence of reli- 
gious establishments was the cause of 
that inefficiency in the Voluntary princi- ' 
pie which could not be denied ; hazard- 
ing the paradoxical assertion, that civil 
establishments of Christianity had been 
the direct source of all the errors which 
had corrupted the Church, paralyzed its 
exertions, and impeded its propagation 
throughout the world. In this respect 
the controversy assumed a historical 
character ; and it was soon triumphantly 
proved, that almost every one of the most 
deadly errors that have crept into the 
Church had its origin in a period long 
before Christianity was established, — 
nay, that many of them sprang directly 
out of the felt defects of the Voluntary 
system itself, and might never have exist- 
ed had there been an adequate establish- 
ment in an earlier age. A minor de- 
partment of the same question furnished 
much scope for violent declamation 
against the abuses of all establishments. 
This was likely to be a popular theme, 
and was therefore much employed by the 
subordinate controversialists ; for all 
those of a higher order of mind were 
aware that no argument, founded mere- 
ly on the abuse of any thing, can be con- 
clusively against its proper use. 

But by the more intelligent opponents 
of the Church an attempt was made to 
bring essentially the same argument for- 
ward in another aspect, in which they 
asserted, " That in every Established 
Church, the very fact of entering into an 
alliance with the State involved such a 
sacrifice of the spiritual independence of 
the Church, as to render it incapable of 
exercising that freedom of government 
and purity of discipline which are abso- 
lutely essential to any Church of Christ 



which deserves the name." If it had 
been actually proved that there did not 
exist any Established Church which had 
not incurred the loss of due spiritual in- 
dependence, that would not have proved 
that there could not be an Establishment 
without the sacrifice of spiritual indepen- 
dence. For it was not difficult to show, 
by analyzing the nature of Church and 
State till their simplest elements were 
reached, and pointing out the respective 
provinces and duties of each, that they 
might be of great mutual support and 
aid to each other, without either of them 
in the slightest degree yielding up that 
which was peculiar to itself, or encroach- 
ing on what belonged rightfully to the 
other ; and even, that any encroachment 
of the one upon the other's province 
would inevitably not only inflict injury 
upon the aggrieved, but would also recoil 
upon the aggressor in some form at least 
equally calamitous. If the Church in- 
vade the functions of the State, that leads 
to Popery ; if the State invade those of 
the Church, that is Erastianism ; and in 
either case, both Church and State in- 
flict and sustain mutual and heavy injury. 
And appealing to facts, it was shown, 
that the Church of Scotland occupied the 
medium between these two extremes, in 
her connection with the State, neither en- 
croaching upon its functions, nor sur- 
rendering her own spiritual independence 
as a Church of Christ. This reference 
to the condition and character of the 
Church of Scotland was somewhat less 
conclusive than it would otherwise have 
been in consequence of the secular policy 
so long pursued by the unconstitutional 
Moderate party, which was undeniably 
Erastian ; but the course of reformation 
which had been in progress for several 
years, the rapid increase of Evangelism, 
and the resuscitations of the true constitu- 
tional principles of the Presbyterian 
church government and discipline which 
had taken place, were more than suffi- 
cient to neutralize any objection drawn 
from the long domination of Modera- 
tism ; and it was felt by the public, and 
even by the ablest Voluntaries themselves 
that equally in principle, argument and 
fact, the Church had gained the victory.* 

* It does not seem necessary to specify the numerous 
books and pamphlets written in the Voluntary contro- 
versy, as these are still in the hands of the public, ami 
have" as yet lost none of their interest. 



396 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. X, 



Every person capable of fully under- 
standing- this important controversy will 
readily perceive, that it could not have 
been gained by any Church but one hold- 
ing firmly the great Presbyterian prin- 
ciple of the sole Sovereignty and Head- 
ship of the Lord Jesus Christ over His 
spiritual kingdom, the Church. Eng- 
lish. Episcopacy could not have with- 
stood the shock which the Church of 
Scotland encountered and repelled un- 
shaken. This was clearly perceived by 
the greatest warrior and statesman of the 
age, when, with that intuitive penetration 
and sagacity by which he is distinguish- 
ed, he remarked, that " the battle of Es- 
tablishments must be fought in Scotland." 
But it must also be remarked, that the 
battle could not have been gained, had 
the struggle taken place during the domi- 
nation of Moderatism. Indeed, the 
Moderate party seem to have been aware 
of their own inability to dare the encoun- 
ter, as very few of them ventured to 
grapple with the subject, and of these 
few, none but Evangelical Moderates, 
and even they not with very distinguished 
success. 

It might have been expected, that the 
merit ot the Church of Scotland in this 
perilous conflict of principles, when she 
had proved herself to be the firmest bul- 
wark of the British constitution, would 
have gained her some favour in the eyes 
not only of Christians, but of prudent 
politicians and enlightened statesmen. It 
was not the first time in her history in 
which the Presbyterian Church had tri- 
umphantly defended the cause of reli- 
gious purity and truth, and thereby at the 
same time had protected civil liberty- 
To her it mattered not whether her as- 
sailant might be a cunning or an arbi- 
trary monarch, an avaricious and domi- 
neering aristocracy, or a degenerate Se- 
cession, aided by a revolutionary popu- 
lace. Her duty was to maintain her al- 
legiance to her own divine Head and 
King, by whomsoever that sacred prin- 
ciple might be assailed. In all her for- 
mer conflicts she had often realized the 
applicability to her history of her own 
singularly appropriate emblem and motto, 
the bush burning but not consumed, be- 
cause the Lord was in it. And before 
the Voluntary controversy had fairly 
ceased, she was violently exposed to ano- 



ther fiery trial, by the instrumentality of 
those who should have hailed her as 
their protectress, had they possessed wis- 
dom enough to comprehend the nature of 
the danger which had been warded off, 
or sufficient generosity to be grateful for 
their deliverance. 

[1832.] The quickening progress of 
the Voluntary controversy directed the 
attention of both the assailants and the 
defenders of the Church of Scotland to 
every thing, either in her constitutional 
principles or in her practice, which could 
furnish material for assault or defence. 
This inevitably led the friends of the 
Church to mark with sharpened intelli- 
gence those abuses which rendered her 
peculiarly vulnerable in any part, and 
stimulated them to inquire carefully, 
whether there did not exist in her consti- 
tution principles which needed but to be 
recalled into sanative action, in order to 
restore to her a life which all her foes 
could not destroy. The wisest and ablest 
of the Evangelical ministers had always 
felt that the mode in which patronage 
was exercised in the Church was her 
most assailable point ; that it had alien- 
ated the people, corrupted a large propor- 
tion of the ministers, diminished her use- 
fulness, and weakened her moral influ- 
ence over the public mind. But the law 
of patronage had now existed so long, 
that many who felt its arbitrary exercise 
to be a grievance, were nevertheless so 
far reconciled to the abstract idea of pa- 
tronage, that they did not at all contem- 
plate, nor even desire, its total abolition. 
The subject of the total abolition of pa- 
tronage had indeed been brought before 
the public, and an anti-patronage society 
formed, in the year 1825, the most active 
member of which was Dr. Andrew 
Thomson. Although little effectual pro- 
gress was made by this society, it di- 
rected the attention of the public mind to 
the subject, and in that manner probably 
accomplished all that its members ever 
expected. By such concurrent causes a 
very general feeling was produced, that 
some modification of patronage should 
take place, such as might render the 
method of appointing ministers to vacant 
charges less arbitrary and capricious 
than it had long been ; and also that the 
argument against Establishments, based 
on such manifest abuses, might be weak- 



A. D. 1833.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



397 



ened, if it could not be wholly removed. 
The chief direction, however, which the 
public mind took in the first instance 
was, to attempt such a definition of what 
a call really ought to be, and such an en- 
forcement of it in a legitimate manner, as 
might restore it to a proper degree of 
efficiency, as a constitutional limitation 
of patronage. 

When the General Assembly met in 
1832, there were laid on the table over- 
tures from three synods and eight pres- 
byteries. The general tenor of these 
overtures was to this effect : — " That 
whereas the practice of church courts for 
many years had reduced the call to a 
mere formality ; and whereas this prac- 
tice has a direct tendency to alienate the 
affections of the people of Scotland from 
the Established Church ; it is overtured, 
that such measures as may be deemed 
necessary be adopted, in order to restore 
the call to its constitutional and salutary 
efficiency." In the debate which fol- 
lowed. Professor Brown of Aberdeen 
moved, " that the overtures be remitted to 
a committee, with instructions to consider 
the subject, and to report to next Assem- 
bly." Principal Macfarlan of Glasgow 
moved, " that the Assembly judge it un- 
necessary and inexpedient to adopt the 
measures recommended in the overtures 
now before them." The latter motion 
was carried by a majority of forty-two ; 
and thus the Moderate party refused even 
to have the subject considered, that a de- 
liberate opinion might be formed whether 
the loud and general complaints of the 
kingdom were well-founded, and whether 
any method could be devised to remedy 
the evil and restore public tranquillity. 
A little more sagacity might have enabled 
them to perceive, that the matter could 
not be thus set aside and consigned to 
oblivion ; and that a comparatively slight 
amendment might put an end to an agi- 
tation which was rapidly increasing in 
both intensity and extent, and which 
would soon not be satisfied without a 
much greater change than had yet been 
contemplated. 

[1833.] A very short period of time 
after the rising of the Assembly was 
sufficient to prove, that the refusal of the 
Moderate party even to institute an in- 
quiry into the important subject which 
had been before them, had greatly in- 



creased the excitement of the public 
mind, and directed it more forcibly than 
ever towards the conflicting topics of pa- 
tronage and calls. This was sufficiently 
proved by the fact, that when the Assem- 
bly met in 1833, it appeared that the at- 
tention of the court was again to be di- 
rected to the subject by not less than 
forty-five overtures on calls. The gen- 
eral tenor of these overtures was closely 
similar to that of the eleven brought for- 
ward in the preceding year. Two dif- 
ferent motions were laid before the As- 
sembly, — one by Dr. Chalmers, the 
other by Dr. Cook ; and a very long and 
able debate ensued, in which the main 
elements of the question were very amply 
developed and discussed. It was clearly 
proved by the whole history of the 
Church, that ever since the Reformation 
it had been a fixed principle in her con 
stitution and laws, that no minister shall 
be intruded into any pastoral charge con 
trary to the will of the congregation ; 
that this had been verbally admitted even 
by the Moderate party, though too gen- 
erally disregarded in their procedure ; 
that this principle had been subjected to 
various fluctuations in modes of form and 
application, but had never been aban- 
doned or disclaimed ; and that its most 
natural position and method of operation 
was to be found in the call given by the 
people, inviting a qualified person to be 
their pastor, without which the settlement 
of a minister could not be legally and 
constitutionally effected. Dr. Chalmers 
proposed, that efficiency should be given 
to the call by declaring, that the dissent 
of a majority of the male heads of fami- 
lies, resident in the parish and communi- 
cants, expressed with or without the as- 
signment of reasons, ought to be of con- 
clusive effect in setting aside the presen- 
tee, save and except where it is clearly 
established, that the said dissent is 
founded in corrupt and malicious combi- 
nation, or not truly founded in any ob- 
jection personal to the presentee in re- 
gard to his ministerial gifts and qualifi- 
cations, either in general, or with refer- 
ence to that particular parish. Dr. 
Cook's motion declared, that it is compe- 
tent for the heads of families to give in to 
the presbytery objections, of whatever 
nature, against the presentee ; that the 
presbytery shall consider these objections, 



39* 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. X. 



and if they find them unfounded, or 
originating from causeless prejudices, 
they shall proceed to the settlement ; but 
if they judge that they are well-founded, 
they shall reject the presentation, the pre- 
sentee being unqualified. This latter 
motion was manifestly an evasion of the 
subject, as it gave no greater powers to a 
majority, or the whole of a congregation, 
than had always been possessed by any 
individual ; but in the course of his 
speech, Dr. Cook distinctly admitted an 
important principle, which the Moderate 
party, ever since the days of Principal 
Robertson, had strenuously denied, 
namely, " That the Church regarded 
qualification as including much more 
than learning, moral character, and sound 
doctrine, — as extending, in fact, to the fit- 
ness of presentees in all respects for the 
particular situation to which they were 
appointed."* The peculiar point of Dr. 
Chalmers' motion was, that by declaring 
the dissent of a majority, with or without 
reasons, conclusive, it rendered intrusion 
impossible, while it still reserved suffi- 
cient power in the church courts to pre- 
vent that dissent from being founded on 
malice or mere caprice on the part of the 
people. Dr. Cook's motion was, how- 
ever, carried by a majority of twelve, the 
numbers being one hundred and forty- 
nine to one hundred and thirty-seven. 
And it is worthy of notice, that in this in- 
stance again the Moderate majority was 
obtained by means of the elders, there 
being a positive majority of twenty min- 
isters in behalf of Dr. Chalmers' motion, f 
The discussion of this important ques- 
tion was both much more comprehensive 
and minute in this Assembly than in that 
of the preceding year, stripping off the 
thin disguise in which a specious sophis- 
try had sought to involve it, clearing 
away many prejudices and erroneous 
notions that had long been prevalent, and 
bringing prominently to the light those 
great constitutional principles which had 
been so long kept in obscurity and abey- 
ance. The public began now clearly to 
perceive, that the charge of innovation, 
so vehemently urged against the Evan- 
gelical party by their opponents, was al- 

* This view must have been since abandoned by the 
Moderate party ; otherwise they too must have opposed 
the recent encroachments of the Court of Session. 

t See the published debate of that year ; and the 
Presbyterian Reviews, vol. iv. 



together devoid of truth; that the insinua- 
tion of their being actuated by political 
motives rested on no better foundation ; 
but that, in reality, the principles for 
which they were contending, were pre- 
cisely those which had been held by the 
Scottish reformers, had been by them 
made the very essence and basis of the 
Church, and had been maintained by her 
in every period of her history ; that her 
purity and efficiency as a Christian Church 
had been exactly proportionate to the sin- 
cerity with which they had been held, 
and the efficiency which had been given 
to their operation ; and that, though these 
principles had been overborne and disre- 
garded during the long and dreary reign 
of ModeraUsni, they had still been held 
by a faithful few within the Church, ren- 
dering it a moral certainty, that if ever 
that constitutional party should obtain the 
ascendancy, they would of necessity bring 
into immediate operation those principles 
which they had never ceased to hold, and 
would restore to the nation, in all its 
original purity and excellence, the true 
Evangelical and Presbyterian Church of 
Scotland. 

But though still successful on this 
question, the Moderates sustained in this 
Assembly their first defeat as a party, 
and that, too, with reference to a very im- 
portant measure. The ministers of cha- 
pels of ease had petitioned to be admitted 
to their constitutional rights, as members 
of church courts, and to have sessions 
allowed them, that they might exercise 
discipline in their congregations. They 
craved to be heard by counsel in support 
of their petitions. This was opposed by 
Dr. Cook ; but, on a division, it was car- 
ried by a majority of a hundred and 
twenty-one to a hundred and one. The 
petitions were remitted to a committee, 
who were to report to next Assembly. 
A further result of this favourable deli- 
verance, was the passing of an act by the 
Moderates themselves, a few days after- 
wards, similar to that which had been 
sought for by the chapel ministers, in 
favour of the ministers of the parliamen- 
tary churches. This act deserves unqual 
ified approbation. By it, the parliamen- 
tary churches, as they were termed, which 
had been built and partially endowed in 
the most necessitous parts of the 'country 
chiefly in the Highlands had districts 



* 



A. D. 1834.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



399 



assigned to them, which were erected 
into separate parishes quoad sacra ; and 
the ministers of these new parishes were 
authorised to exercise all the functions 
competent to any ministers, both in their 
own parishes, and as members of church 
courts. This act was founded on a re- 
port laid before the Assembly by a com- 
mittee, of which Dr. Cook was convener; 
and however difficult it may be to recon- 
cile it with the ordinary policy of the 
Moderate party, it was in itself a just, 
prudent, and constitutional measure.* 

[1834.] The Assembly of 1834 must 
ever be held as one of the most memor- 
able whose proceedings have been re- 
corded in the annals of the Church of 
Scotland. When the Erskines and other 
fathers of the Secession appealed to the 
"first free and reforming Assembly," they 
little thought that exactly an hundred 
years would elapse before that despotic 
party which had expelled them would 
lose its ascendency, and a free and reform- 
ing Assembly would actually be held. 
Such, howeVer, was the case, as the 
shortest possible record'of its proceedings 
will sufficiently prove. A great number 
of overtures on calls again brought that 
subject under discussion ; and, from the 
crowded state of the house, it was mani- 
fest that the full strength of both parties 
was to be put forth, and that all Scotland 
was watching the issue with the most in- 
tense anxiety. A motion was made by 
Lord MoncreifF to the same purport as 
that made by Dr. Chalmers in the pre- 
ceding Assembly, declaring that the dis- 
approval of a majority of male heads of 
families, being communicants, should be 
deemed sufficient ground for the pres- 
bytery rejecting the person so disap- 
proved of; and declaring further, that 
no person should be entitled to express 
his disapproval, who should refuse, if 
required, solemnly to declare, in pre-, 
sence of the presbytery, that he is actu- 
ated by no factious or malicious motive, 
but solely by a conscientious regard to 
the spiritual interests of himself or the 
congregation. After a long and able 
debate, this motion was carried by a ma- 
jority of forty-six, the numbers being one 
hundred and eighty-four to one hundred 
and thirty-eight. This most important 
decision took place on Tuesday the 27th 

* Acts of Assembly, year 1833. 



day of May 1834 ; and with it terminated 
the reign of Moderatism in the Church 
of Scotland. 

On Thursday the 29th of May, the case 
of the chapels of ease was again brought 
before the Assembly, by several overtures 
on the subject, and the report of the com- 
mittee appointed in the preceding Assem- 
bly. Although the admission of the 
chapel ministers seemed necessarily to 
follow from that of the parliamentary 
church ministers, it was strenuously re- 
sisted by the Moderate party, chiefly on 
the ostensible ground of a doubt respect- 
ing the power of the Church to admit the 
ministers of chapels of ease to a partici- 
pation in church government, without 
previously asking and obtaining the con- 
sent of the legislature. As this supposed 
want of power equally affected the case 
of the parliamentary church ministers, 
with this sole difference, that the latter 
were not, like the chapel ministers, popu- 
larly elected, there is reason to believe 
that the unavowed objection was of a 
totally different nature. The vehement 
complaints subsequently poured forth by 
the leaders of that party against the ad- 
mission of the chapel ministers, as hav- 
ing been the direct cause of Evangelical 
ascendency, although quite erroneous in 
point of fact, give a strong indication of 
the secret apprehensions of the Moderates, 
and may not unfairly be regarded as fur- 
nishing the true explanation of their con- 
duct in this matter, both then and subse- 
quently.* In the course of the discussion 
it appeared, that within the space of a 
century, nearly six hundred dissenting 
congregations had risen up in Scotland, 
while there had been only sixty-three 
chapels of ease erected during the same 
period. It was proved also, that this 
paucity of chapels had been caused, in a 
great measure, by the anomalous and 
unconstitutional position in which their 
ministers were placed, which rendered 
them comparatively inefficient, and dis- 
couraged the people from the exertions 
which they would otherwise have gladly 
made. This argument was mightily en- 
forced by the consideration that, while 
the Church was thus remaining almost 
stationary, the population was increasing 

' The exact dates are given above, because it has 
been asserted that the Act on Calls was passed bj the 
support of the chapel ministers. 



4*00 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. X. 



with great rapidity ; so that vast numbers 
must either sink into practical heathenism 
and immorality, thereby becoming the 
enemies of all law and order, human and 
divine, or must join the Secession, which 
having now avowed the Voluntary prin- 
ciple, was the deadly foe of all ecclesiasti- 
cal establishments. Unless, therefore, 
some measure were speedily taken for 
encouraging the erection of new churches, 
giving to their ministers all due and re- 
quisite powers, and making a great effort 
to meet the necessities of the " outfield 
population," it was evident that the Church 
of Scotland must perish in the course of 
a few generations, as no longer capable 
of accomplishing the purpose for which 
a National Church exists, — the instruc- 
tion of the whole body of the people in 
the knowledge of what pertains to their 
mental, moral, and religious welfare. 
These arguments triumphed in this re- 
forming Assembly ; and the ministers of 
chapels of ease were, by a declaratory act, 
rescued from their curate-like position, 
empowered to perform all the functions, 
and authorised to enjoy all the privileges, 
of ministers of the Church of Scotland, in 
discipline and government, as constituent 
members of church courts. 

The only other topics of general im- 
portance connected with this Assembly 
were, the appointment of that committee 
for the purpose of promoting the erection 
of new churches, since so well known as 
the Church Extension Committee, insep- 
arably connected with the name of Dr. 
Chalmers, its great founder ; the appoint- 
ment of a committee on the subject of the 
eldership, two of the reforms suggested 
by which have since been carried ; and 
the sending of a deputation to London, to 
petition the legislature for endowments 
to the chapels of ease, and to the new 
churches which were already in contem- 
plation, that the great destitution of the 
means of religious instruction in Scotland 
might be effectually remedied.* 

It is impossible to pass the important 
acts of this Assembly without offering 
one or two remarks respecting them. 
The act on calls, since generally known 
by the name of the Veto Act, was cer- 
tainly a measure of an ambiguous char- 

* For the whole proceedings of this Assemory, see 
the mblished debate, or the Presbyterian Review 
▼ol. i . 



acter. In its preamble, it contained a 
clear statement of the fundamental prin- 
ciple of the Church of Scotland, that no 
pastor shall be intruded on any congre- 
gation contrary to the will of the people; 
and so far, it was a highly meritorious 
and constitutional act. But it may well 
be questioned whether the best mode of 
giving due effect to that principle was 
adopted by rendering the dissent of the 
people conclusive against a presentee, in- 
stead of giving direct efficiency to the 
positive call of a majority. The latter 
mode would certainly have been more in 
harmony with the spirit of the principle, 
as well as more consistent with the pro- 
cedure of the Church in her earlier and 
purer days. Eut it would have been a 
more direct and powerful check upon the 
law of patronage ; and unfortunately the 
learned judge, by whom the motion was 
introduced, had no wish to see patronage 
abolished, or even very greatly shorn of 
its strength. The very nature of the act, 
therefore, was a compromise, containing 
two hostile elements in its heart ; and 
many foresaw th&t it could not possibly 
accomplish all the good which its san- 
guine supporters anticipated. Doubts 
were also entertained whether it might 
not be held that it was beyond the powers 
of the Church to pass such an act; but 
the opinions of the legal advisers of the 
crown removed these doubts, assuring 
supporters of the Veto Act, that it was 
perfectly competent for the Church to 
pass an act so manifestly consistent with 
her legally recognised constitution. Lord 
Chancellor Brougham also gave it his 
decided approbation, as " in every respect 
more desirable than any other course that 
could have been taken."* The Church 
of Scotland may be accused of too great 
caution and timidity in framing a law 
which did not give full developement to 
her own principles ; but to charge her 
with rashness, disregard of law, and in- 
novation, is to set matter of fact, truth, 
and reason, at defiance. 

[1835-39.] The Assembly of 1 835 was 
not equal to its predecessor in prosecuting 
the work of reformation. Great exer- 
tions had been made by the Moderates to 
recover their lost dominion, by sending 
their adherents to the Assembly from 

* See his Lordship's speech, quoted in Mr Hamilton's 
Remonstrance. 



A. D. 1835.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



401 



every quarter where they still retained 
supremacy. The Veto Act and the 
Chapel Act were, however, both ratified ; 
though some decisions were given incon- 
sistent with the spirit of the former. By 
dexterous management, they contrived to 
evade the discussion of the committee's 
report respecting the reformation of the 
eldership, and also the subject of patron- 
age. But the Christian eloquence of Dr. 
Duff, on the subject of missions to the 
heathen, gave an elevation to the char- 
acter of that Assembly which can never 
be forgotten. And the first report of the 
Church Extension Committee displayed 
to an astonished and admiring public the 
mighty energies of the Church of Scot- 
land, when set free from the leaden en- 
thralment of Moderate domination. In 
one short year, from the passing of the 
Chapel Act in 1834, till the Assembly 
of 1835, no less than sixty-four new 
churches had either been built or were 
in the process of erection, — exactly one 
more than had been erected during the 
whole preceding century. Another cheer- 
ing event took placeduring this Assembly. 
The Original Burgher Synod, which had 
not adopted the Voluntary principle, re- 
quested the appointment of a committee 
to confer with them, with a view to the 
arrangement of preliminaries for effecting 
a union between that body and the Esta- 
blished Church of Scotland. This most 
desirable event took place, after due deli- 
beration, conducted in a generous and 
Christian spirit on both sides, in the 
month of August 1839. 

One decision of the Assembly of 1835 
must be stated, not on account of its in- 
trinsic claims to attention, but because of 
the melancholy celebrity which subse- 
quent events have given to it. On the 
14th of October 1834, a presentation by 
the Earl of Kinnoull was laid before the 
presbytery of Auchterarder, in favour 
of Mr. Robert Young, preacher of the 
gospel, appointing him to the vacant 
church and parish of Auchterarder. The 
roll of communicants had not been made 
up by the late minister, owing to his fail- 
ing health, but was prepared under the 
authority of the presbytery previous to 
the time for moderating in the call. 
When that day came the call was signed 
by his lordship's factor, not a resident in 
the parish, and by two heads of families. 
51 



On the other hand, two hundred and 
eighty-seven heads of families, communi- 
cants, subscribed a dissent or disapproval 
of the presentee ; and as there were only 
three hundred and thirty on the roll, this 
amounted to an overwhelming majority 
of dissentients. The presbytery refused 
to sustain the call ; the presentee appealed 
to the synod, which affirmed the sentence 
of the presbytery; the presentee again 
appealed to the Assembly, and in this 
manner the subject came before the su- 
preme ecclesiastical court. The argu- 
ments in behalf of the presentee were 
based entirely on the alleged informality 
of the proceedings : the legality of tht 
Veto Act itself was never called in ques 
tion. The Assembly, on the motion of 
Lord Moncreiff, affirmed the sentence of 
the presbytery by a large majority. Such 
were the first stage of the proceedings in 
this ill-omened case. 

As various important cases arose about 
the same time, involving a long course of 
litigation, during which they simulta- 
neously occupied the attention of the civil 
and ecclesiastical courts, it seems expe- 
dient to trace each separately, so far as it 
has actually proceeded, in order to avoid 
the confusion which might be produced 
by intervvisting them with each other, as 
they evolved in the succession of years. 
We shall therefore continue to follow the 
case of Auchterarder, so far as it has ye^ 
proceeded, before directing our attention, 
to the other cases. 

On the 7th of July 1835, the presbytery 
of Auchterarder again met, and resumed 
consideration of the case of Mr. Young, 
as presentee to the parish of Auchterar- 
der ; and, in conformity with the sen- 
tence of the General Assembly, rejected 
him, and intimated this decision to the pa- 
tron, the presentee, and the elders of the 
parish. Against this sentence the presen 
tee's agent appealed to the synod of Perth 
and Stirling. This appeal, however, was 
subsequently abandoned, and an action 
raised in the Court of Session against the 
presbytery, at the instance of Lord Kin- 
noull, the patron, and Mr. Young, the 
presentee. When the case was first 
brought into court, the summons con- 
cluded alternatively to have it found that 
the presentee, or, failing him, the patron,, 
had right to the stipend on the ground of 
the presentation alone, notwithstanding 



402 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. X. 



the refusal of the church courts to induct 
him. The defence of the presbytery was 
simple and effectual, pleading, that as they 
pretended no right to the stipend, they had 
been improperly called as parties in such 
a cause. The validity of this defence 
was felt by the pursuers, who sought and 
obtained leave to amend their summons, 
by the insertion of a new and totally dif- 
ferent conclusion. The tenor of this new 
conclusion was, that the rejection of the 
presentee solely in respect of a veto of the 
parishioners, was illegal, and injurious to 
the patrimonial rights of the pursuer, and 
contrary to the provisions of the statutes 
and laws regarding the collation or settle- 
ment of ministers ; and that in conse- 
quence of the presentation, the presbytery 
were still bound to make trial of the qua- 
lifications of the presentee, and, if found 
duly qualified, to receive and admit him. 
The conclusions respecting the stipend 
were intentionally left out of view, till 
the question respecting the legality of the 
veto should be determined. 

The question now acquired a character 
of the deepest importance. The conclu- 
sion of the summons apparently assumed, 
that the presentee's right to be taken on 
trials without reference to the proceedings 
of the congregation at the moderating in 
the call, and if found qualified, to be ad- 
mitted, was of the nature of a civil right ;* 
and that the obligation on the part of the 
presbytery to take him on trial, and, if 
found qualified, to admit, and of necessity 
to ordain him, was a civil obligation. It 
also apparently assumed, that, if the pres- 
bytery should be held to have acted ille- 
gally, the Court of Session was the com- 
petent tribunal to review their proceed- 
ings, to direct them authoritatively in 
their duty with regard to admission to the 
pastoral office, and even, if necessary, to 
enforce the discharge of what should 
have been thus declared to be their duty. 
Such a conclusion was beyond ail ques- 
tion directly subversive of both the consti- 
tution and the spiritual independence of 
the Church of Scotland, and consequently 
of the British constitution itself, on which 
the well-ascertained rights and privileges 
of the Church of Scotland form not only 

It may be remarked, that it had always formerly 
been held as a Presbyterian principle, that a presentee, 
or one who had received a call, had still no right what- 
ever entitling him to aet, but that he must remain 
nu rely passive till after his induction. 



an integral part, but its very basis, <ts an 
essential and fundamental condition of the 
Treaty of Union. The Church, when 
entering into this action, was careful to 
guard against being thought to have 
yielded up her own spiritual jurisdiction, 
by strenuously maintaining, that the Court 
of Session had no jurisdiction whatever in 
regard to the matter of conferring the 
pastoral office, in which, and in every 
other manifestly ecclesiastical matter, the 
church courts were supreme and inde- 
pendent of control by any civil tribunal. 
The only point in which the Church ad- 
mitted the power of the Court of Session, 
or any other civil court, to adjudicate, 
was with regard to the disposal of the 
fruits of the benefice, in case the Church 
should be found to have acted illegally ; 
but even then it was denied that the Court 
of Session had any jurisdiction in a matter 
so clearly spiritual as the qualifications of 
a preseentee for the pastoral office, or was 
entitled to declare substantively against 
the presbytery, that their proceedings in 
such a matter were illegal. The Court 
of Session might determine whether a 
presentation were valid or not, and conse- 
quently whether the presentee possessed 
any legal claim to the fruits of the bene- 
fice in consequence of such a presentation; 
but when the presentation was sustained, 
every other step in the process of ad- 
mission was exclusively within the sole 
jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts, 
and not subject to the review of any civil 
court. Be the decision what it might, 
the Church expressly guarded against 
being supposed to have consented to any 
abridgment of her independent spiritual 
jurisdiction, distinctly declaring, that she 
would not obey the mandate of any civil 
court, nor could it enforce obedience, in 
such matters.* 

After a discussion of unprecedented 
length, seventeen days in all, the Court of 
Session, on the 8th of March 1838, by a 
majority of three, the numbers being eight 
and five, gave judgment in the case, but 
not to the full extent of the conclusion of 
the summons. From that the court 
seems to have shrunk, notwithstanding 
the very new and strange opinion uttered 
by some of the judges ; and instead of 
finding that the presbytery were stil 

* See the Procurator's Speech in the Auchterarde 
Report, vol. i. p. 101. 



A. D. 1837.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



403 



bound to take the presentee on trial, and, 
if found qualified, to admit him, which 
duty they might be compelled to perform, 
they first repelled the objection to the 
jurisdiction of the court, found that the 
presbytery, in rejecting the presentee 
on the sole ground of the dissent by the 
people, had acted to the hurt and preju- 
dice of the pursuers, illegally, and in vio- 
lation of their duty, and contrary to cer- 
tain statutes, and, in particular, contrary 
to the act of Queen Anne (the unconstitu- 
tional Patronage Act) ; and in so far re- 
pelled the defences of the presbytery, and 
decerned and declared according ly. How- 
ever erroneous in point of constitutional 
law this decision may have been, it was 
essentially powerless, except in so far as 
regarded the temporalities of the benefice ; 
and by its evasion of the main point in 
the conclusion of the summons, it afforded 
a sufficiently intelligible inference, that 
the Court of Session, whatever might be 
its inclination, entertained grave doubts 
respecting its own right to interfere with 
the spiritual jurisdiction of the Church of 
Scotland. 

At the next meeting of the presbytery 
of Auchterarder after the decision of the 
Court of Session, they received a me- 
morial from the pursuers, requiring them 
to comply with a decision which actually 
enjoined nothing. They resolved to refer 
the matter to the synod, on which a 
notarial protest was taken by Mr. Young's 
agent, holding the members of the pres- 
bytery jointly and severally liable to 
damages for refusing to take him on trials. 
In this state the case came again before the 
Assembly of 1838. The decision of the 
Court of Session had in the meantime 
produced intense excitement throughout 
the Church. A great number of over- 
tures were laid on the table, calling upon 
the Assembly to pass a declaratory act, 
asserting the independence of the Church 
upon any civil power in regard to her 
spiritual jurisdiction, and her determina- 
tion to maintain and enforce it. A mo- 
tion was made by Dr. Buchanan of Glas- 
gow, and carried by a majority of forty- 
one, to this effect : — " That the General 
Assembly, while they unqualifiedly ac- 
knowledge the exclusive jurisdiction of 
the civil courts in regard to the civil 
rights and emoluments secured by law to 
the Churchj and will ever give and incul- 



cate implicit obedience to their decision 
in such matters, do resolve, that, as is de- 
clared in the Confession of Faith of this 
National Established Church,—' The 
Lord Jesus Christ, as King and Head of 
the Church, hath therein appointed a 
government in the hand of church officers, 
distinct from the civil magistrate,' and 
that, in all matters touching the doctrine, 
government, and discipline of the Church, 
her judicatories possess an exclusive juris- 
diction, founded on the Word of God, 
{ which power ecclesiastical flows imme- 
diately from God and the Mediator, and is 
spiritual, not having a temporal head on 
the earth, but only Christ, the only spirit- 
ual King and Governor of his Church :' 
And they do farther resolve, that this 
spiritual jurisdiction, and the sole Head- 
ship of the Lord Jesus Christ, on which 
it depends, they will assert, and at all 
hazards defend, by the help and blessing 
of that great God, who, in the days of 
old, enabled their fathers, amidst mani- 
fold persecutions, to maintain a testimony 
even to the death, for Christ's kingdom 
and crown : And finally, that they will 
firmly enforce obedience to the same upon 
the office-bearers and members of the 
Church, by the execution of her laws in 
the exercise of the ecclesiastical authority 
wherewith they are invested." 

By this noble and truly Presbyterian 
motion, it was made evident that the 
Church of Scotland had once more taken 
her position upon the ground so invinci- 
bly held by the reformers and martyrs of 
other days, and that the contest was for 
no trivial matter, but in maintenance of 
her allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and in defence of his sole right to reign 
over his spiritual kingdom. The attempt 
to fix upon the Church the charge of a 
Popish usurpation of civil power was 
refuted by the first clause of the motion; 
and by the remainder it was rendered 
clear to every intelligent and unpreju- 
diced person, that her appeal to the 
House of Lords could not imply any ad- 
mission of the right of even that high 
court to interfere with her well-guarded 
spiritual jurisdiction, but merely her wish 
to obtain, from that supreme judicatory, 
protection against the illegal and uncon 
stitutional encroachments of the Court of 
Session, which also necessarily affected 
the temporalities of the benefice, severing 



404 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. X 



them during Mr. Young's life from the 
cure of souls. 

The General Assembly authorised the 
presbytery of Auchterarder to appeal to 
the House of Lords against the decision 
of the Court of Session; and sanguine 
hopes were for a time entertained, that 
the sentence of that supreme tribunal 
would be a reversal of the decision of the 
inferior court. After long and able plead- 
ing, judgment was given on the 3d day 
of May 1839, in the following terms : — 
" It is ordered and adjudged by the lords 
spiritual and temporal in parliament as- 
sembled, that the said petition and appeal 
be, and is hereby, dismissed this House ; 
and that the said interlocutor therein com- 
plained of be, and the same is hereby, af- 
firmed." Such was the judgment of the 
House of Lords, guided by the opinions 
of ex-chancellor Brougham, and the lord 
chancellor Cottenham. From the pub- 
lished speeches of these noble and learned 
lords it appears, that their judgment was 
founded on a principle repudiated even by 
the Moderate party in the Church, as 
shown by Dr. Cook's motion in 1833, 
viz., that the only grounds on which 
church courts could reject a presentee 
(even though not an ordained person,) 
was disqualification in one or other of the 
three particulars of life, literature, or doc- 
trine ; and that, as the dissent of the peo- 
ple was something different from the re- 
jection of a presentee on these grounds, 
it was illegal. It was even stated by 
Lord Brougham, that a call was "not 
much more than a mere ceremony" — 
" immaterial as a part of a valid settle- 
ment ;" and his lordship declared that, if 
requested, he " would at once make an 
order upon the presbytery to admit, if 
duly qualified, and to disregard the 
dissent of the congregation."* These 
views were not, indeed, contained in the 
judgment pronounced by the House of 
Lords ; but they served to show to the 
Church of Scotland that nothing less 
than the utter overthrow of her spiritual 
independence and the entire subversion 
of her constitution would be the inevitable 
result, if she swerved but a hair's-breadth 
from the position which she had taken, 
or failed but a moment in maintaining the 
sacred principles which she had avowed. 
On the cause coming back to the Court 

" Report of Speeches, &c. 



of Session, no further appearance was 
made far the presbytery, all matters 
of civil right involved being substantially 
settled by the decision now affirmed in 
the House of Lords. The pursuers ac 
cordingly obtained from the Lord Ordi- 
nary, in absence of the defenders, a 
decree in terms of the remaining 
conclusions of the summons, which pre- 
viously they could not obtain from the 
court. 

Fully aware of the nature of the crisis 
which had arrived, the General Assembly 
of 1839 prepared to deliberate on the 
steps now to be taken, in reference to the 
decision of the House of Lords in the 
Auchterarder case. An able and elo- 
quent debate ensued on the conflicting 
motions of Dr. Chalmers and Dr. Cook, 
which ended in the former being carried 
by a majority of forty-nine, the numbers 
being two hundred and four to one hun- 
dred and fifty-five. The motion thus car- 
ried was to the following effect : — " Hav- 
ing heard the report of the procurator re- 
specting the decision of the House of 
Lords, and being desirous to give and in- 
culcate obedience to the civil courts in all 
civil matters, instruct the presbytery 
of Auchterarder to >flfer no further resis- 
tance to the claims of Mr. Young, or 
the patron, to the emoluments of the bene- 
fice : And whereas the principle of Non- 
Intrusion is one coeval to the Reformed 
Church of Scotland, and forms an integral 
part of its constitution, embodied in its 
standards, and declared in various acts of 
Assembly, resolve that this principle can- 
not be abandoned, and that no presentee 
shall be forced upon any parish contrary 
to the will of the congregation : And 
whereas, by the decision referred to, it 
appears, that when this principle is carried 
into effect, the legal sustentation of the 
ministry may be thereby suspended, and 
bein^ deeply* impressed with the unhappy 
consequences which must arise from any 
collision between the civil and ecclesiasti- 
cal authorities, and holding it to be their 
duty to use every means in their power, 
not involving any dereliction of the prin- 
ciples and fundamental laws of their con- 
stitution, to prevent such unfortunate re- 
sults, do therefore appoint a committee, 
for the purpose of considering in what 
way the privileges of the National Esta- 
blishment, and the harmony between 



A. D. 1839.] 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



405 



Church and State, may remain unim- 
paired, with instructions to confer with 
the Government of the country, if they 
shall see cause." 

The purport and amount of this mo- 
tion is manifest, It was the duty of the 
Church to obey the civil court in civil 
matters, when the decision of the highest 
tribunal had been given ; and this was 
done by abandoning all claim to the 
temporalities of Auchterarder. It was 
equally the duty of the Church to main- 
tain inviolate her own great principle, 
that no pastor be intruded upon an un- 
willing congregation, because it is found- 
ed on the Word of God, and embodied 
in her own standards, and because no 
sentence of a civil court, and no combi- 
nation of external circumstances, could 
ever release her from the necessity of 
maintaining inviolate her allegiance to 
Christ, and her own constitutional prin- 
ciples. It was also the duty of the 
Church to adopt the best means in her 
power for obtaining the adjustment of 
the differences that had taken place, that 
harmony might be restored between the 
civil and the ecclesiastical authorities ; 
and for securing this important object, a 
committee was appointed to make due 
application to the legislature. To term 
the conduct of the Assembly rebellion, 
as has been done, betrays either the mar- 
vellous strength of prejudices, or a not 
less marvellous obliquity of judgment, if, 
indeed, in many cases it may not rather 
arise from the vindictive wrath of defeat- 
ed foes and baffled antagonists. It should 
ever be remembered, that the State gave 
its sanction to the Church, with the full 
knowledge that she held the very princi- 
ples which she is now maintaining ; and 
that, by embodying the Confession of 
Faith in the Revolution Settlement, the 
State actually became bound to protect 
the Church of Scotland in asserting the 
sole Headship of Christ, and her own 
spiritual independence, which flows from 
that divine source ; so that, in defend- 
ing these principles, instead of rebel- 
ling against the law of the land, she 
is defending it against lawless aggres- 
sion. 

Thus terminated for a time the Auch- 
terarder case in its more public aspect ; 
but not thus terminated the collision be- 



tween the Church and the subordinate 
civil courts. The case of the parish of 
Lethendy was the next in which these 
co-ordinate judicatories came into hostile 
contact, and in which the conduct of the 
Court of Session was still more glaringly 
unconstitutional than it had been in the 
case of Auchterarder, though evidently 
arising out of the erroneous decision 
therein given. The minister of Lethendy 
had become aged and infirm, and a peti- 
tion was presented in 1835 to the patron, 
the Crown, ihat Mr. Clark might be ap- 
pointed assistant and successor. No pre- 
sentation was issued, as in the case of a 
vacancy, but a consent to the induction 
of Mr. Clark by the presbytery was 
given by a sign manual. The presby- 
tery of Dunkeld took the ordinary steps 
towards the ordination ; but a majority 
of the male heads of families, communi- 
cants, expressed their disapproval of Mr. 
Clark, and he was accordingly rejected. 
The case came before the Assembly of 
1836, and the sentence of the presbytery 
was affirmed. In March, 1837, abou 
two months after the death of the aged 
minister, Mr. Clark raised a civil action 
against the presbytery, but did not bring 
it into Court till November of that year. 
When the actual vacancy occurred, the 
crown, admitting the validity of the pre- 
vious veto, issued a presentation in fa- 
vour of Mr. Kessen ; the presbytery fol- 
lowed the usual course, and a call being 
signed by the people, both presentation 
and call w r ere regularly sustained, and 
nothing remained but the ordination and 
induction according to the laws of the 
Church. By this time the Court of Ses- 
sion had given its decision in the Auch- 
terarder case ; and Mr. Clark, availing 
himself of the manifest encroachment 
thereby made on the jurisdiction of the 
Church, applied to the court for an inter- 
dict prohibiting the presbytery from pro- 
ceeding to ordain Mr. Kessen. This was 
readily granted ; and the presbytery refer- 
red the matter to the Assembly of 1838. 
The case was referred by the Assembly to 
the Commission with full powers, and the 
Commission, on the 30th of May, pro- 
nounced this deliverance : — " Find that 
admission to the pastoral charge is entirely 
an ecclesiastical act, subject to the exclu- 
sive jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical 
courts ; and ordain the presbytery to pro- 



406 HISTORY OF THE CH 

ceed without delay to the induction of 
Mr. Kessen, upon the call in his favour, 
according to the rules of the Church." 
After the Commission rose, Mr. Clark 
applied for a new interdict, in a more 
ample form, forbidding the presbytery of 
Dunkeld to settle Mr. Kessen in respect 
of the call, or on any ground whatever, 
and this also was immediately granted. 
The subject was again referred to the 
Commission, which met in August the 
same year ; and the Commission prompt- 
ly and almost unanimously renewed their 
directions to the presbytery to disregard 
the interdict as illegal, being in a matter 
purely spiritual, and to proceed to settle 
Mr. Kessen, naming the day of ordina- 
tion. On the 13th of September, ac- 
cordingly, Mr. Kessen was ordained, 
upon the call of the people, to the pasto- 
ral charge of the parish of Lethendy, 
without reference to the civil emoluments 
of the benefice, and leaving these at the 
disposal of the civil courts. Mr. Clark 
immediately presented a petition and 
complaint to the Court of Session, calling 
on them to punish the members of pres- 
bytery for acting in obedience to the com- 
mand of the church judicatories, whom 
by their ordination vows they were 
bound to obey, but in disregard of the 
mandate of a civil court, to which they 
were not subordinate. The court de- 
cided in favour of the applicant, found 
the presbytery guilty of the breach of 
an interdict which their lordships had no 
power to grant, and ordered those minis- 
ters whom they chose to regard as de- 
linquents, to be summoned to their tri- 
bunal. 

The members of presbytery obeyed 
the summons. On the 14th of June, 
1839, a transaction took place such as 
had not been beheld in Scotland for 
nearly two centuries. A civil court, in 
the exercise of merely secular power, 
called to its bar a court of Christ, be- 
cause of its having exercised a purely 
spiritual power, the right to do which no 
civil court could either give or take away. 
A few of the most distinguished minis- 
ters of the Church accompanied their 
brethren to the bar of the civil court, not 
to brave the civil authority, but to give 
the comfort of their presence to those 
who were called to endure the persecu- 
tion of censure and reproach in the 



URCH OF SCOTLAND. [CHAP. X, 

cause of the Redeemer's Headship. The 
Lord President, as the organ of the 
Court, " in the most earnest and emphatic 
terms," pronounced upon the servants of 
the Lord Jesus " the solemn censure of 
the Court," assuring them that it was 
with considerable difficulty that so leni- 
ent a measure had been adopted ; that 
should any similar case again occur, the 
punishment of imprisonment would be 
inflicted, and its duration would depend 
entirely upon the " heinousness of the 
offence committed." This was unques- 
tionably persecution begun in the " leni- 
ent" form of censure, rebuke, and threat- 
ening; increased by the heavy expenses, 
tantamount to the infliction of fines, which 
the presbytery were compelled to pay, and 
aggravated by the prospect of heavier 
punishment, should the Church retain its 
integrity, and abide by its sacred princi- 
ples, which it could not abandon without 
violating its allegiance to its Divine 
King. 

There was in this conduct of the 
Court of Session a very marked increase 
of its aggressions upon the spiritual ju- 
risdiction of the Church. The decision 
in the Auchterarder case merely repelled 
the objection urged by the Church against 
the jurisdiction of civil courts in spiritual 
matters, and found that the courch courts 
had acted illegally in rejecting a presen- 
tee on the ground of the disapproval of 
the congregation, but issued no order foi 
the presbytery to proceed ; and the affir- 
mation of this sentence by the House of 
Lords gave no additional efficacy to that 
decision. The whole amount of this 
ratified civil sentence was simply this: 
that by giving effect to the dissent of the 
people, the Church had forfeited her le- 
gal claims to the fruits of the benefice of 
Auchterarder, and in every similar case 
might incur a similar loss. But in the 
case of Lethendy the civil court not only 
sustained the claim of the rejected pre- 
sentee, from whom the crown had with- 
drawn the presentation by giving it to 
another, but also proceeded to interdict 
the spiritual court from the discharge of 
a purely spiritual function, ordination, in 
which, owing to the peculiar directions 
of the Commission, no civil interests 
were involved ; and inflicted censures 
and threatenings upon that sp ritual 
court, because it disregarded such inter 



A. D. 1838.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



407 



diets as no civil court had ever before 
presumed to grant, and which it was in 
no respect warranted to do by the judg- 
ment which' the House of Lords had pro- 
nounced. 

The combined cases of the parish of 
Marnoch and the presbytery of Strath- 
bogie next rise to view, exhibiting the 
full nature and extent of the contest into 
which the Church of Scotland has been 
forced, the danger to which she is ex- 
posed, and the disastrous consequences 
which may ensue to the best interests, mo- 
ral and religious, of the entire com- 
munity. 

The minister of the parish of Mar- 
noch had become so enfeebled by the in- 
firmities of age as to be unable to preach, 
and employed Mr. John Edwards, a 
preacher, to be his assistant. This per- 
son continued to act in that capacity for 
three years, during which time he ren- 
dered himself so much an object of dis- 
like among the people, that the aged 
minister was obliged to remove him from 
being assistant, in compliance with the 
general feeling of the parish. When 
the incumbent died, a presentation was 
issued by the trustees of the Earl of Fife, 
the patron, in favour of the same Mr. 
John Edwards, and laid before the pres- 
bytery of Strathbogie, on the 27th of 
September 1837. Mr. Edwards was ap- 
pointed to preach, as usual, in the parish 
of Marnoch, and a day was appointed 
for moderating in the call. On that day 
the call was signed by proxies for the pa- 
tron and for three non-resident heritors, 
but by one only of the heads of families 
on the roll of communicants, namely, 
Peter Taylor, innkeeper, Aberchirder. 
At the same time dissents were recorded 
by one resident heritor, the six elders 
composing the kirk-session, and by two 
hundred and fifty-four heads of families, 
in all two hundred and sixty-one, out of 
a roll of three hundred. It must have 
been manifest to every person, that the 
settlement of Mr. Edwards in a parish 
where he had previously officiated for 
three years, and yet could get but one 
man, an innkeeper, to sign his call, could 
not possibly be for edification; that 
though there had been no Presbyterian 
principle forbidding the intrusion of a 
pastor uoon an unwilling congregation, 



the dictates of reason and natural feeling 
would have called for his rejection ; and 
that if he had possessed the very slight- 
est regard for the peace and welfare of 
the parish, he would himself have given 
back the presentation. But he was tho- 
roughly imbued with the principles of 
Moderatism, and that explains his con- 
duct. The agent of the patrons protest- 
ed against the dissent of the people being 
received, alleging the illegality of the 
Veto Act ; and the presbytery appointed 
a day on which charges of canvassing 
and caballing might be brought forward 
against the people. The people, con- 
scious of their integrity, came prepared 
to repel these charges. The patrons now 
abandoned the cause, and would willing- 
ly have recalled the presentation, but the 
presentee was determined to establish the 
civil right, of which he now held himself 
to be in possession, regardless alike of 
the feelings of both patron and people. 
Another attempt was made by the pres- 
bytery and the presentee to browbeat the 
people, and when this failed, the whole 
matter was referred to the synod of 
Moray. 

The synod met on the 24th of April 
1838, and almost unanimously decided, 
that the conduct of the presbytery of 
Strathbogie had " been incompetent and 
illegal," and directed them to meet and 
find the presentee disqualified, according 
to the laws of the Church, and to inti- 
mate this sentence to all parties concerned. 
The presbytery met, but refused to obey 
this sentence : and the parishioners ap- 
pealed to the General Assembly. The 
case then came to the Assembly of May 
1838, wdiere the proceedings of the pres- 
bytery were reversed without a vote, and 
they were directed to reject the presentee, 
and to give intimation to the parties con- 
cerned, in terms of the regulations of the 
Assembly relative to the calling of minis- 
ters. The advocate of the presbytery 
defended them by pleading, that they 
merely wished to have the authority of 
the Assembly for rejecting Mr. Edwards, 
that if they should be dragged into a civil 
court, they might have its powerful sup- 
port. Their subsequent actions fully 
proved the insincerity of this plea. But 
the majority of the presbytery of Strath- 
bogie held the principles of Moderatism 
and this explains their conduct. 



408 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. X. 



Another presentation was issued by the 
patrons in favour of Mr. David Henry, 
the presbytery having so far obeyed the 
instructions of the supreme ecclesiastical 
judicatory as now to reject Mr. Edwards. 
Upon this Mr. Edwards applied to the 
Court of Sessions, encouraged by the re- 
cent encroachments of that court, praying 
that Mr. Henry should be interdicted from 
presenting himself to the presbytery, and 
that the presbytery should be interdicted 
from taking any steps towards his induc- 
tion, as injurious to the rights and privi- 
Jeges which Mr. Edwards had acquired 
by the previous presentation. This was 
granted on the 30th June 1838 ; and on 
the same day Mr. Edwards raised in the 
same court an action of declarator against 
the presbytery of Strathbogie, the heritors 
of the parish, &c, craving that it should 
be found and declared to the same effect 
with regard to this case as had been done 
by the court in the analogous case of 
Auchterarder. This also was granted, 
and these documents were laid before the 
presbytery of Strathbogie at their meeting 
in July. Mr. Henry's /presentation was 
lodged at the same time ; and the whole 
matter was delayed till next meeting. 
The presbytery met again on the 17th of 
July, when it was moved, " That the 
Court of Session having authority in 
matters relating to the induction of minis- 
ters, and having interdicted all proceed- 
ings on the part of the presbytery in this 
case ; and it being the duty of the pres- 
bytery to submit to their authority regu- 
larly interposed, the presbytery do delay 
procedure until the matters in dispute be 
legally determined " This vote was op- 
posed, but carried by a majority of six to 
four, the actual state of the presbytery 
being seven of the Moderate and four of 
the Evangelical party. This decision 
was carried by appeal to the Synod, which 
condemned the procedure of the presby- 
tery, but referred the case to the next 
General Assembly. 

The Assembly of 1839 was so much 
occupied in the important discussions 
which arose out of the recent adverse 
decision of the House of Lords in the 
Auchterarder case, that they could not 
enter upon the consideration of that of 
Marnoch, but remitted it to the Commis- 
sion, " with power to determine in the 
present reference, and any other reference, 



or any appeal or complaint, in regard to 
future proceedings in the settlement of the 
parish of Marnoch ; enjoining the pres- 
bytery of Strathbogie, in the event of any 
change of circumstance, to report the 
matter to the Commission, who shall have 
power to determine thereon." The Com- 
mission accordingly took up the case, 
immediately after the rising of the As- 
sembly, and " highly disapproved of the 
conduct of the presbytery of Strathbogie, 
in resolving, contrary to the principles of 
the Church, and the resolution of the 
General Assembly 1838, 'that the Court 
of Session have authority in matters relat- 
ing to the induction of ministers, and that 
it was the duty of the presbytery to sub- 
mit to their authority ;' and in respect to 
their having come to such resolution, the 
Commission deemed it necessary to pro- 
hibit the said presbytery from taking any 
steps towards the admission of Mr. Ed- 
wards before the next General Assembly, 
in any event, as they shall be answerable." 

Elated, apparently, by the decision of 
the House of Lords, in the Auchterarder 
case, Mr. Edwards applied again to the 
Court of Session for another declarator, 
containing the very conclusion from 
which that court had at first shrunk in 
the case referred to. That conclusion 
was granted on the 13th of June 1839, 
finding, " That the presbytery of Strath- 
bogie are still bound and astricted to make 
trial of the qualifications of the pursuer, 
Mr. Edwards, and, if found qualified, to 
receive and admit him as minister of the 
parish of Marnoch." This decision was 
made known to the presbytery, and its 
Moderate majority immediately resolved 
to disregard the injunctions of the superior 
church courts, to which they had sworn 
obedience, and to obey the mere opinion 
of the Court of Session, to which they 
owed no obedience, nor even deference, 
in spiritual matters. They requested a 
pro re nata or special meeting to be called, 
for the purpose of taking this decree into 
consideration. The meeting was called, 
but so close upon the meeting of the Com- 
mission, that they could not have it in 
their power to execute any adverse de- 
cision before that court could intercept 
their procedure. Enraged at this cautious 
conduct of their moderator, who most 
providentially was on the Evangelical 
side, they broke up the meeting, and 



A. D. 1839.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



409 



would not look at the deliverance of the 
Commission, which the moderator, Mr. 
Dewar, had procured and laid on the 
table. This very disgraceful conduct of 
the majority was brought before the Com- 
mission at its meeting in November, when 
the deliverances of the Assembly and of 
the Commission were ordered to be trans- 
mitted to the presbytery, that they might 
not be able to plead ignorance of their 
duty ; and they were ordered to take 
them into consideration at their ordinary 
meeting on the 4th of December, and to 
appear, personally or by a legal agent, at 
a meeting of the Commission to be held 
on the 1 1th of the same month. 

The presbytery of Strathbogie met on 
the 4th of December, the above mentioned 
documents were laid before them, the pa- 
rishioners of Marnoch appeared by their 
agent, and requested to be heard in a 
statement of their objections to the settle- 
ment of Mr. Edwards. The seven Mo- 
derate ministers of Strathbogie refused to 
hear the parishioners, or to record their 
refusal, so as to admit of an appeal being 
taken, refusing also to receive the appeal 
then offered, — overbore their better bre- 
thren in the most violent and outrageous 
manner, — -and resolved " to act in opposi- 
tion to the prohibition served upon them 
by order of the Commission, and in obe- 
dience to the decree of the Court of Ses- 
sion ; and further, resolved to sustain the 
call [of one] in favour of the Rev. John 
Edwards, and to proceed in the settlement 
of the said Mr. Edwards, as presentee to 
the church and parish of Marnoch, and 
appointed his trials in common form."* 
This motion was proposed by Mr. Allar- 
dyce, and being carried by the majority 
of seven, they next resolved, as if in 
mockery, to report the whole matter to 
the Commission. 

The Commission met on the 11th of 
December, and the startling nature of the 
case brought together a greater number 
of ministers from all parts of the country 
than had ever been known to meet in 
Commission before. A long and anxious 
deliberation ensued; the parties were 
heard by their counsel ; and before pro- 
ceeding to determine on the course to be 
pursued, the counsel for the seven Strath- 
bogie brethren was repeatedly asked, 

* This is copied from their own statement in one of 
their interdicts. 

52 



whether his clients would abstain from 
further disobedience to the commands of 
their superior church judicatories, or 
whether they were determined to persist 
in the settlement of Mr. Edwards. He 
answered that he was not empowered to 
alter or modify the statements made in the 
report ; whence it was evident that they 
were determined to proceed, and intrude 
Edwards into the parish of Marnoch, 
contrary to the direct injunctions of the 
Assembly and Commission, — contrary to 
the fundamental principles of the Church, 
— and contrary to the great doctrine of 
the sole Sovereignty and Headship of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. To avert the perpe- 
tration of this complicated tissue of des- 
potism and sin, the Commission was com- 
pelled to suspend the seven delinquents 
from the office of the ministry till the 
meeting of Assembly, unless reponed on 
declaring that they would abstain from 
intruding Mr. Edwards upon the people 
of Marnoch, Mr. Edwards being also 
prohibited from making further applica- 
tion till next meeting of Assembly. This 
motion was proposed by the Rev. Dr. 
Candlish, in a speech of extraordinary 
eloquence, and carried by a majority of 
one hundred and seven, the numbers be- 
ing one hundred and twenty-one to four- 
teen. In consequence of this sentence of 
the Commission, the seven Moderate and 
Intrusionist ministers of Strathbogie ceas- 
ed to be capable of sitting in church 
courts, or performing validly any judicial 
or ministerial function : the four Evan- 
gelical ministers became the only legal 
presbytery ; and directions were given to 
them, and to a committee, to provide a 
supply of stated ministerial services in the 
parishes of the suspended ministers. The 
suspended ministers immediately applied 
to the Court of Session for a suspension 
of this spiritual censure, and for an inter- 
dict, to prevent the sentence from being 
intimated in their respective parishes, and 
also to prevent any other minister from 
preaching in these parishes. This was 
asking rather more than the court was yc 
prepared to grant; but on the 18th of 
December an interdict was granted, pro- 
hibiting the sentence from being intimated 
in the churches, churchyards, or school 
houses of the respective parishes, and 
also prohibiting all ministers from preach- 
ing in the above specified places. To this 



410 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. X. 



interdict obedience was given, so far as 
regarded the prohibition of using the 
churches, churchyards, or school-houses, 
these being civil matters, over which the 
Court of Session has control ; but the 
sentence was intimated in the open air, or 
in other convenient places, and ministers 
preached in these parishes wherever the 
people could assemble to hear the gospel. 

Such was the state of matters at the 
conclusion of the year 1839 ; and it was 
now becoming apparent to the public, that 
such a state of matters could not long con- 
tinue, without endangering the very ex- 
istence of the Church, and the peace and 
welfare of the nation. Great exertions 
had been made to blind, prejudice, and 
mislead the public respecting the cause 
and nature of the contest. The cry of 
" rebellion" was loudly raised against the 
Church, by some who ought to have 
known that, instead of rebelling, she was 
opposing a revolutionary violation of the 
constitution ; and by many who knew 
nothing of the matter, but who hated the 
Church, and were glad of any opportunity 
to calumniate and assail her. The Vo- 
luntaries, who had been defeated in argu- 
ment, gazed on with eager delight, seeing 
the Court of Session so energetically en- 
gaged in attempting to give a practical 
confirmation of their main assertion, 
" that an Established Church forfeited its 
spiritual independence." Political anta- 
gonists swelled the crowd of false wit- 
nesses, and re-echoed the insensate charge 
of rebellion ; but never one of tnem spe- 
cified the law which had been broken, or 
the act of rebellion which had been com- 
mitted, and the penalty which had been 
incurred. In this time of peril and re- 
proach God did not desert the Church, 
nor withdraw his presence from her. On 
the 23d of July 1839, a very remarkable 
manifestation of the Holy Spirit's agency 
took place at Kilsyth, causing a revival 
of vital religion such as had not been 
witnessed in Scotland for nearlya century. 
Nor was it confined to Kilsyth. At Dun- 
dee, Perth, Blairgowrie, Ancrum, Jed- 
burgh, Kelso, throughout the presbytery 
of Tain in Ross-shire, in Sutherlandshire, 
and in various other parts of Scotland, a 
similar awakening took place ; many 
sinners were converted and reclaimed 
from their evil ways, and cold and back- 
sliding believers were quickened and 



urged forward in their Christian course, 
with renewed zeal and faithfulness. The 
Church was refreshed and re-invigorated. 
Many whose hearts had begun to droop, 
were encouraged, and constrained to de- 
clare their belief, that God had visited his 
people ; and that though cast into the fur- 
nace, the Church of Scotland could not 
be destroyed, for God was with her there ; 
and the shout of her Divine King was 
again heard in the heart of the Scottish 
Zion. The bush was burning, but un- 
consumed, for the Lord was in it. 

[1840.] The year 1840 opened in the 
midst of these scenes of trouble and of 
encouragement. In a spirit of calm re- 
solution, the Church went forward in her 
sacred course; and in a spirit of furious 
hostility, her enemies rushed onwards to 
the assault. The Court of Session pro 
nounced a judgment professing to suspend 
the sentence of suspension, and conse- 
quently to restore the seven ministers to 
the exercise of their spiritual functions ; 
the partial interdict which they had 
granted was rendered perpetual ; and the 
prohibition was extended to entire par- 
ishes of the suspended seven, so that no 
minister of the Church of Scotland was 
permitted to molest the seven by preach- 
ing the gospel, even in the open air, in 
these parishes. This interdict could not 
be obeyed without direct disobedience to 
the commands of Christ, to preach the 
gospel to every creature under heaven ; 
and the Church therefore acted on the 
Divine principle, that it was right to obey 
God rather than man. And it must be 
gratefully recorded, that the Divine Head 
of the Church honoured the preaching 
of those ministers who were sent to dis- 
charge the duties of the ministry in the 
parishes of the suspended ministers, with 
a very remarkable degree of spiritual 
influence. The attention of the crowded 
audiences who waited on their ministry 
in barns, or temporary erections, or the 
open air, was deep, solemn, and often ac- 
companied with profound emotion, and 
with gushing tears. The light of the 
gospel broke in upon a district which had 
long been overshadowed with the mid- 
night darkness of extreme Moderatism ; 
and the people rejoiced in the holy and 
heavenly radiance which shone around 
them. Many ministers returned from 
Strathbogie, praising God for the manifest 



A. D. 1842.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



411 



spiritual influence which they had both 
marked and felt, accompanying the 
preaching of the gospel in that district, 
and counting all the perils of the Church, 
and all their own perils from broken in- 
terdicts, more than compensated by Avhat 
they had witnessed and enjoyed. They 
felt that the cause was unquestionably the 
cause of Christ, for they felt that His 
presence had been with them. 

At the same time it deserves to be pe- 
culiarly remarked, that the seven sus- 
pended ministers did not venture to com- 
plain to the Court of Session of the 
breach of interdict which had been ob- 
tained in absence. Had they done so, its 
validity would have been regularly tried ; 
when there are strong reasons for believ- 
ing that it would have been found incom- 
petent for any civil court to grant such an 
interdict. But it was a safer policy for 
them to leave the point untried, raising, 
meanwhile, the clamorous outcry, '• Obey 
the law," which they dared not thus test 
if it were a law. 

In the meantime the committee which 
had been appointed to confer with the 
legislature, were exerting themselves to 
the utmost in the discharge of their im- 
portant duty. Negociations were opened 
and carried on with government and with 
the most influential statesmen in both of 
the political parties in parliament. These 
exertions were supported by petitions from 
the people of Scotland, signed by no less 
than two hundred and sixty thousand 
names of Scotland's best and most religious 
sons, praying for protection to the Church 
of their fathers, and to their own sacred 
rights and privileges. The government 
at length declined to interfere, being ap- 
prehensive, probably, that to help the 
Church of Scotland might offend those 
of their supporters who were adherents 
of the Voluntary principle. The subject 
was then taken up by the Earl of Aber- 
deen, who had previously held intercourse 
with the Assembly's committee, both in 
interviews and by letters. Sanguine 
hopes were entertained by many that a 
bill would be introduced by that noble- 
man, if not such as could be wished, at 
least such as would secure the spiritual 
independence of the Church against the 
invasion of the Court of Session, and 
protect the people from the intrusion of 
unacceptable ministers. His lordship 



terminated his diplomatic labours, during 
which he had succeeded in deceiving 
many, with the production of a bill which 
wouid have ratified every aggression made 
by the civil courts, set aside the principle 
that no pastor may be intruded into a par- 
ish contrary to the will of the congrega- 
tion, and left all the proceedings of the 
church courts subject to the review of the 
Court of Session.* 

The Assembly of 1840 had very im- 
portant duties to discharge, and it, under 
the guidance of its Divine Head, dis- 
charged them well. The proceedings of 
the Commission in the case of the sus- 
pended seven Strathbogie ministers were 
affirmed by a majority of eighty-four. 
Those men were next declared liable to 
high censure for their conduct ; but a 
committee was appointed to confer with 
them before proceeclingto express censure, 
with a view to recall them to some sense 
of their duty, if that might yet be possible. 
They justified their conduct, and refused 
to make any submission. It was then 
moved, that the sentence of suspension 
should be continued ; that they should 
be cited to appear before the Commission 
in August ; and that if then they still 
continued to refuse submission to the su- 
perior church courts, a libel, or legal in- 
dictment, should be served upon them, 
and the Commission should proceed till 
the case was ripe for the judgment of the 
next Assembly. This motion was car- 
ried by a majority of sixty four, — the num- 
bers being one hundred and sixty-six to 
one hundred and two. The great lenien- 
cy and forbearance of this procedure will 
be at once manifest, when it is contrasted 
with the conduct of the Moderate party 
during the administration of Principal 
Robertson, when ministers were instantly 
deposed upon declining to intrude unwor- 
thy and unacceptable presentees upon 
reluctant congregations. Lord Aber- 
deen's bill came next under consideration, 
and was rejected by a majority of eighty- 
seven, — the numbers being two hundred 
and twenty-one to one hundred and thir- 
ty-four. This large majority rendered it 
abundantly evident that the Church of 

* In April 1840, the Assembly's Committee published 
a statement of two different methods by which a pa- 
cific adjustment misrht be effected —the one founded 
on the veto, the other on the direct call ; and in ii very 
short time three hundred and eighty ministers, and 
two thousand two hundred and thirty-three elders 
publicly declared their satisfaction with either. 



412 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. X. 



Scotland would not consent to become 
again subject to Erastian domination, 
either through Moderate management, or 
in dread of civil pains and penalties, or 
misled by the delusions of diplomatic 
craft. At the same time the peril to the 
existence of the Establishment was in- 
creasing. The speeches of Dr. Cook 
and other Moderate leaders, their reasons 
of dissent against the decision of the As- 
sembly, and the countenance given to the 
suspended seven, all tended to render ap- 
parent the strong probability that, ere 
long, the entire Moderate party would 
throw aside the mask they had so long 
worn, and declare themselves the avowed 
supporters of Court of Session sove- 
reignty, however incompatible with the 
sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ 
An attempt was made by them to encour- 
age Lord Aberdeen to press his bill 
through the legislature, by procuring as 
many signatures as possible to a decla- 
ration of satisfaction with its principles 
and its provisions. Only two hundred 
and sixty names of ministers were ob- 
tained ; and, with the exception of about 
a dozen, these names were not such as to 
shed lustre or confer strength upon any 
cause. His Lordship withdrew his bill. 
Another attempt was made by the defeat- 
ed Moderates to unite their party by a 
bond of fraternal co-operation, in the 
great endeavour to recover their power to 
perpetrate intrusions, and to stifle the 
voice of Evangelism. But it, too, failed, 
for success was uncertain ; and many 
Moderates who would have rejoiced in the 
recovered ascendency of their party, w r ere 
not prepared to unite in a scheme which 
might involve personal and pecuniary 
considerations. It gave occasion, how- 
ever, to an Engagement among the faith- 
ful defenders of religious liberty and 
evangelical truth, signed on the 1 1th of 
August 1840, by which a close approach 
was made to the sacred National Cove- 
nant of earlier, purer, and more devoted 
times, and which may yet lead to the re- 
newal of that but half-forgotten, and, as 
many think, still binding Covenant be- 
tween the deathless moral and religious 
being of the nation and the King Eternal. 

When the Commission met in August, 
it appeared that, instead of submitting, 
the suspended Strathbogie ministers had 
continued to preach, baptize, and dispense 



the sacraments, in defiance of the sentence 
of the General Assembly ; that on the 
8th of June they had applied to the Court 
of Session for an interdict against this re- 
newed suspension, and against the preach- 
ing of any minister sent to officiate in 
their parishes ; and that they had caused 
copies of that interdict to be served on 
ministers on the Sabbath-day, and on el- 
ders while assisting at the communion, 
and bearing the vessels of the sanctuary. 
All these fearful acts of desecration were 
notorious, and nothing remained but to 
prepare a libel, or formal accusation, 
against them. The motion to that effect 
was carried by a majority of one hundred 
and twenty-five, — the numbers being one 
hundred and ninety-one to sixty-six. The 
accusation was framed with great judg- 
ment and propriety, resting the main 
charge, not upon contumacy and insub- 
ordination, — though in the minds of 
many that would have been enough, — 
but upon their asking and receiving from 
a civil court power to discharge the most 
sacred offices, when that power had been 
taken away by a spiritual court, by which 
alone it can be either given or taken 
away. This was evidently receiving 
from the civil magistrate the keys of doc- 
trine and discipline, which these men had 
sworn that the Church alone possesses, 
when they subscribed the Confession of 
Faith; consequently it involved the so- 
lemn and awful charge of denying the 
great doctrine of the Redeemer's sole 
Sovereignty, and desecrating the ordinan- 
ces of His Church by administering them 
on the authority of the civil magistrate 
alone. It was evident, that if the civil 
court could remove the sentence of a spir- 
itual court, and give authority to dispense 
spiritual ordinances, then it must itself 
possess all possible spiritual power, or 
rather, then spiritual power had no exis- 
tence, and the Christian Church was but 
an empty name. 

At the meeting of the Commission in 
November, the Strathbogie case was re- 
sumed, and the relevancy of the libel 
against the seven suspended ministers was 
sustained by a vote of ninety-one to fif- 
teen ; that against Mr. Edwards by a 
vote of seventy-five to two. Unmoved by 
this almost unanimous expression of con- 
demnation, these men held on their course. 
Mr. Edwards had been taken on trials 



a. d. mh] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



413 



by the suspended seven, on the 19th day 
of February, and found qualified. He 
then applied to them to proceed with his 
settlement. They hesitated and delayed, 
as rather reluctant to take the final step. 
It may be that they had misunderstood the 
law all along, even in that particular 
point on which they rested their cause. 
They had argued often that they were 
" bound and astricted to take the presen- 
tee on trials ; but the clause in the act 
1592 says, " bound and astricted to re- 
ceive and admit whatsoever qualified 
minister," — leaving the whole matter of 
taking on trials, and determining as to 
qualifications, completely within the pow- 
er of the Church, and not touching the 
spiritual act of ordination at all, which 
in another part of the same enactment is 
expressly said to " belong to the privilege 
that God has given to the spiritual office- 
bearers in the Kirk." They had, how- 
ever, pronounced Mr. Edwards qualified, 
and they were now by their own act 
bound to proceed to his settlement. On 
the 2d of September he again applied to 
his "even friends ; and when they still 
hesitated, he caused a notorial protest 
to be served on them, holding them liable 
for damages. He then raised in the 
Court of Session an action against the 
entire presbytery of Strathbogie, both the 
suspended and the remaining members, 
concluding to have them decerned to ad- 
mit him, and failing to do so, to have 
them found liable for damages to the 
amount of £10,000, and £1000 additional 
for expenses. When the case was heard 
in the court, the suspended seven declared 
their willingness to admit Mr. Edwards, 
if required ; — thus consenting to that 
court's pronouncing the order for admis- 
sion sought by Mr. Edwards. The mi- 
nority, the true presbytery, gave in defen- 
ces, disputing the jurisdiction of the court. 
But the court, while the question of their 
own power to grant such an order at all 
was still under discussion in the defences 
offered by the presbytery, actually gave, 
on the 18th of December 1840, to those 
men who had been suspended from their 
spiritual office, an order to perform a spi- 
ritual function, and that simply on the 
ground of the consent of the seven, which 
could never confer on the Court of Ses- 
sion a jurisdiction which did not belong 
to it by the constitution of the empire. 



And certain of their Lordships of Session 
did not hesitate to declare, that they held 
it competent for that court to issue an or- 
der compelling a minister to grant admis- 
sion to the Lord's Table. In this man- 
ner did the Court of Session advance, 
step by step, from their false position in 
the Auchterarder case, when they repelled 
the objection urged by the ecclesiastical 
courts against their assumption of juris- 
diction in ecclesiastical matters till now; 
that they asserted jurisdiction in every ec- 
clesiastical matter, however sacred, virtual- 
ly putting an end to all distinction between 
things civil and things sacred : annihila- 
ting, so far as they were able, ail spirit- 
ual jurisdiction; assuming the "power 
of the keys," contrary to the express lan- 
guage of the Confession of Faith, and 
the act of parliament by which it was 
made the law of the land. No parallel 
violation of law is to be found in the 
history of the Scottish Church and nation, 
except the oath of supremacy in 1661, 
when Charles II. caused himself to be 
acknowledged supreme governor in all 
causes, civil and ecclesiastical. 

[1841.] The seventh year of Evan- 
gelical ascendency was about to com- 
mence its round, every thing indicating 
that the struggle between the Church 
and the world was rapidly approaching 
to a crisis. With fierce eagerness the 
supporters of secular power strove to 
throw in fresh elements of discord and 
of danger, while the faithful defenders 
of religious liberty and truth went calm- 
ly and steadily forward in the discharge 
of the sacred duties which they owed to 
the Divine Head of the Church, regard- 
ing neither the threats nor the reproaches 
which they were called to encounter in 
His cause. 

On the 4th of January 1841, the sus- 
pended ministers of Strathbogie met, re- 
ceived a report of the proceedings in the 
case of Mr. Edwards, resolved to pro- 
ceed with his induction, and appointed 
the 21st of the same month to be the day 
on which that deed should be committed 
A heavy fall of snow on the 20th had 
rendered the roads almost impassable ; 
but the intense interest felt by the whole 
adjacent country induced great numbers 
to crow T d to the Church of Marnoch, to 
the amount of probably not less than two 
thousand. The suspended ministers also 



414 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. X, 



reached -he spot, accompanied by Mr. 
Edwards. One of the elders of Mar- 
noch asked them for what purpose, and 
by what authority, they had come. Their 
moderator, with* hesitation, answered, 
that they appeared as the presbytery of 
Strathbogie, a part of the National 
Church, assembled in the name of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. The vast audience 
shuddered to hear a statement so directly 
contrary to truth, asserted in connection 
with the Redeemer's name. Mr. Dun- 
can, the legal agent for the parishioners, 
produced his mandate, and being refused 
the right of protest in the usual form, 
protested in the hands of a notary public. 
The protest was read aloud, narrating 
the tyrannical treatment which the pa- 
rishioners of Marnoch had endured, de- 
claring their readiness to prove objections 
against the life and doctrine of Mr. Ed- 
wards before any lawful presbytery, dis- 
claiming the jurisdiction of the suspended 
seven, and protesting against the right 
of Edwards to intrude himself upon 
them. This being done, the parishioners 
arose, took their Bibles in their hands, 
and left the temple of their fathers, dese- 
crated by the presence of these traffick- 
ers in religious matters ; aged men and 
women, vigorous manhood, and opening 
youth, all, all alike arose, and slowly, 
silently, and mournfully, many of them 
in tears, passed outwards into the open 
snowy waste, banished, certainly by no 
court of Christ, from His Father's house 
of prayer. Only one parishioner of 
Marnoch remained, being unable to ex- 
tricate himself from the agitated crowd 
of people from neighbouring parishes, 
who had come to witness the appalling 
scene. Some confusion then followed, 
these strangers not being able to repress 
their indignation at the outrage which 
they beheld their countrymen enduring. 
This was soon restrained by the presence 
of a magistrate ; the confined parishioner 
of Marnoch obtained release and joined 
his fellow-sufferers, and the dread scene 
went on. The usual questions were put 
to Edwards which are put to probation- 
ers at the time of their ordination, such 
as the vow of obedience to superior 
church courts, — which at that moment 
both they who imposed and he who took 
were violating ; the declaration that he 
had used no undue methods, either by 



himself or others, m procuring that 
call, — he having no call but that signed 
by Peter Taylor, and having used meth- 
ods subversive of the constitution of the 
National Church ; — and to this most so- 
lemn question, " Are not zeal for the ho- 
nour of God, love to Jesus Christ, and 
desire of saving souls, yoi.r great mo- 
tives and chief inducements to enter into 
the office of the holy ministry, and not 
worldly designs and interests ? — he an- 
swered audibly, Yes ; while at the same 
moments the decreets of the Court of Ses- 
sion, all obtained on the sole ground of 
" worldly designs and interests," were 
lying high-piled before them \ At the 
fearful response the vast crowd heaved 
one long-drawn and deep gasp of awe 
and horror — what crime they regarded 
that answer as involving, need not be 
named. The dreadful vows were ut- 
tered ; the act of ordination was profane- 
ly imitated by the authority, not of the 
Head of the Church, but of a subordi- 
nate civil court; and the perpetrators 
walked away from the scene amidst the 
hisses of the people, — Edwards in fear, 
though not in danger, crouching between 
policemen, without one to welcome him, 
even as stipend-lifter, — " a minister with- 
out a parishioner, a man without a 
friend." 

Such was the atrocious deed done at 
Marnoch on the 21st of January 1841, 
— a deed to which the annals of the 
Church of Scotland can furnish no paral- 
lel. For in all the violent settlements 
effected by the Moderates of former times 
there was still the authority of the Church, 
a competent authority and the rightful 
one, though in all such cases wrongfully 
employed, involving the abuse, but not 
the denial of Christ's sole sovereignty • 
but the Marnoch crime was committed 
by men suspended from their spiritual 
functions, and by the authority of the 
civil court alone, as if in scorn, certainly 
in violation, of every feeling of humanity, 
every admitted principle in the constitu- 
tion of Church and State, every recorded 
example in the sacred Scriptures, and 
every idea that can be conceived respect 
ing the nature of the sole Sovereignty and 
Headship of the Divine Redeemer over 
his spiritual kingdom. 

The sensation caused throughout Scot- 
land by this renewal of the Moderate poli- 



A. D. 1841.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



415 



cy of other days, cannot be described. 
Many even of the Church's opponents 
began to be convinced that Moderate and 
Erastian policy must be essentially 
wrong, when they saw the hideous re- 
sults to which it so directly led. Some 
even of the Moderates, v ecoiled with 
alarm from the thought of lending their 
sanction to such a deed. But the recoil 
was temporary, and they soon returned 
to the prosecution of their destructive 
course. The presentees to Lethendy and 
Auchterarder seemed to regret that they 
had been so far outdone by the intruder 
of Marnoch. New actions were raised 
in the Court of Session ; and on the 4th 
of March, that court found that the pres- 
bytery of Dunkeld were still bound to 
take Mr. Clark on trials, this conclusion 
being urged expressly with a view to- 
wards ulterior proceedings to <£ reduce 
the admission of Mr. Kessen," who had 
already been ordained. And on the fol- 
lowing day, 5th March, an action of 
damages was granted against the presby- 
tery of Auchterarder, at the instance of 
the Earl of Kinnoull and Mr. Young, 
for £5000 to his lordship, £10,000 to the 
presentee, and £1000 for expenses. The 
court has sustained the relevancy of this 
action for imposing damages on the mem- 
bers of a spiritual court, which, even by 
the statute law of the land, is so consti- 
tuted, that every one of its members, in 
the very act of being admitted to his 
office in it, is imperatively required, as a 
condition of holding office, to vow to sub- 
mit himself to his superior judicatories, 
and that for no offence but that of obe- 
dience to the injunctions of these very 
judicatories. This judgment of the 
Court of Session is under appeal. 

At the meeting of the Commission in 
March, the indictments against the sus- 
pended seven of Strathbogie and Mr. Ed- 
wards were found proven, and the cases 
were referred to the General Assembly 
for judgment. A motion was made by 
Dr. Candlish, expressive of sympathy 
with the parishoners of Marnoch, and ad- 
miration of their behaviour in such try- 
ing circumstances. This was carried 
by a vote of seventy-two to one, the one 
being Dr. Bryce, even the person who 
seconded the motion not having sufficient 
effrontery to vote for it. 

On the 6th of May, the Duke of Ar- 



gyle laid before the House of Lords, " a 
bill entitled an Act to regulate the exer- 
cise of Church Patronage in Scotland." 
The peculiar point of this bill was, that 
it secured the great principle, " that no 
pastor be intruded into a parish contrary 
to the will of the congregation," not per- 
haps in the best possible way, but so that 
under its provisions no Marnoch atrocity 
could again be perpetrated. It is not ne- 
cessary to do more than allude to the lan- 
guage of misrepresentation and virulence 
which certain noble lords disgrace them- 
selves by uttering against the Church of 
Scotland ; but it deserves to be stated, 
that Lord Chancellor Cottenham, on a 
subsequent day, declared, that the sole 
subject of appeal in the Auchterarder 
case was whether the presbytery were 
bound to take the presentee on trials, not- 
withstanding the veto of the communi- 
cants ; that this was the whole extent of 
the decision ; and declined to give an 
opinion as to what had since taken place, 
thereby certainly giving no countenance 
to the unprecedented proceedings of the 
Court of Session. 

The General Assembly of 1841 will 
ever be regarded as one of the most me- 
morable among those to which the reader 
of Church history directs his special at- 
tention. The time to record its trans- 
actions fully has not yet come ; but when 
it comes, the historian will delight to 
dwell upon the fearless and faithful bear- 
ing, the calm and Christian fortitude, the 
lofty and commanding eloquence, and the 
clear majestic energy of sacred principle 
which characterised the gifted men who 
met and bore back the sacrilegious ag- 
gressions of civil power upon the spirit- 
ual kingdom of the Divine Redeemer. 
Nor will the names of Chalmers, and 
Gordon, and Cunningham, and Cand- 
lish, and Dunlop, be then held unmeet to 
rank with those of Knox, and Melville, 
and Henderson, and Gillespie, and War- 
riston. But let it even now be recorded, 
that amidst all the efforts that were made 
to intimidate, or rouse to unseemly 
warmth, the defenders of the Church, — 
amidst all the fierce threatenings and 
malignant reproaches by which they 
were incessantly assailed, — they remained 
unmoved, calm, solemn, resolved, like 
men who knew the might of their adver- 
saries, but feared it not, knowing that the 



416 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[Chap. x. 



Lord God Almighty reigneth, and put- 
ting their trust in Him, — contending 
earnestly for the faith once delivered to 
the saints, but wielding the weapons of 
no carnal warfare, — conscious of the 
perils they had to encounter, yet careful 
for nothing, but in every thing by prayer 
and supplication making their requests 
known to God, — and going forward in 
their Master's service, strong in the Lord 
and in the power of his might. " Sure- 
ly," was the solemn thought of many an 
awe-struck spectator, " surely the pre- 
sence of God is here." 

The main acts of this Assembly may 
be very briefly stated. Mr. Wright, 
minister of Bothwick, was deposed for 
heresy, by a majority of one hundred 
and ten. A motion declaring patronage 
to be a grievance, injurious to the in- 
terests of religion, the main source of the 
difficulties in which the Church is in- 
volved, and that its abolition is neces- 
sary to place the appointment of ministers 
on a right and permanent basis, was 
made by Mr. Cunningham, and, after a 
long and able debate, was lost by the 
narrow majority of six. The unprece- 
dented strength of the anti-patronage 
party proved clearly, that the mind of 
the Church was taking the right direc- 
tion to obtain security against the corrupt- 
ing influence of secular interference in 
things spiritual, and secular aggression, 
by aiming at the abolition of the hostile 
element. And though not yet successful, 
the hour of victory cannot now be distant, 
several of those who opposed the motion 
having declared, that if the efforts then 
in progress for securing the efficacy of 
the Non-Intrusion principle should fail, 
they would unite with those who sought 
redress by an abolition of patronage. A 
motion approving of the Duke of Argyle's 
bill was carried by a majority of one 
hundred and twenty-five, A motion to 
depose the seven suspended ministers of 
Strathbogie was carried by a majority of 
ninety-seven, and they were deposed ac- 
cordingly.* The settlement of Mr. Ed- 

* It must be noted, that when the motion for deposi- 
tion w.as carried, Dr. Cook, as the leader of his party, 
read a declaration and protest against this decision, in 
which he and (hose adhering to him declared that they 
" could not cease to regard these men as still ministers, 
just as if the proceedings against them had never been 
instituted ;" adding, that " although in the present case 
thev did not submit to the judgment of the General 
Assembly, they would endeavour faithfully to discharge 
the duties which, as office-bearers in the Established 
Church, they were bound to perform." A copy of this 



wards was declared null and void, and 
the four remanent members of the pres- 
bytery of Strathbogie were instructed to 
proceed to the induction of Mr. Henry as 
minister of Marnoch. On the motion of 
Mr. Dunlop, an overture restoring to the 
people their right of electing elders was 
ordered to be transmitted to presbyteries, 
previous to its being enacted into a stand- 
ing law. This most important measure 
had been under discussion since 1834, as 
essential to the restoration of the Church 
to a state of purity and efficiency, and 
was now carried by a majority of eighty- 
nine, completing the reformation of the 
Church from the abuses of Moderatisn;. 
Directions were also given to proceed by 
libel against refractory probationers when 
applying to civil courts for suspension of 
the decisions of ecclesiastical courts, with 
express reference to the cases of Auch- 
terarder, Lethendy, and Marnoch. It 
may be mentioned also, that the deposed 
seven applied to the Court of Session for 
an interdict to prohibit the Assembly from 
passing and intimating the sentence of 
deposition, obtained it, and attempted to 
serve it, after the sentence had been pro- 
nounced, when it could be of no possible 
avail, except it were for the sole purpose 
of offering an insult to the supreme ec- 
clesiastical court, even while its proceed- 
ings were sanctioned by the lord high 
commissioner, her majesty's representa- 
tive. Perhaps it was fitting, that those 
who had done their utmost to violate the 

protest appeared next day in the public newspapers, 
containing an additional clause, declaring that the pro- 
testers meant to hold communion with the deposed 
seven. The document had been ordered to lie on the 
table till next day. before being taken into consideration, 
to allow time for cool reflection to moderate the heat 
of the defeated party. The Assembly then refused to 
receive such a protest and declaration, the constitution- 
al procedure bein?, for members, when they could not 
conscientiously concur, to express a dissent from, but 
not a protest and declaration against, a decision of the 
supreme court It was noticed also, that the paper 
actually on the table did not contain the schismatic 
clause which appeared in the newspapers, Dr. Cook 
admitting that it did not, and saying that steps had 
been taken to correct the published error; adding, 
"that it would be a matter of deep lamentation to him 
if any thing should occur which would lead him to 
brins these sad evils upon the Church, the prospect of 
which filled him with dismay." From this pacific ter- 
mination of a procedure which had threatened an im- 
mediate schism, hopes beoran to be entertained that the 
Moderates were at length about to consent to a cessa- 
tion of hostilities, and "to allow a time of quiet, till a 
final adjustment of the perilous contest miirht be ob- 
tained. These hopes were soon dispelled, and ample 
reason given to believe, that the pacific change made 
on the protest had been merely a stratagem, intended 
to gain time till their schemes should be matured and 
their full strength mustered, that they mieht then re- 
sume the conflict, and render it a war of extermination. 
(See the published Report of the Assembly's Proceed- 
ings.) 



A. D. 1842.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



417 



British constitution should insult at once 
the most venerable institution in the em- 
pire and the representative of the sove- 
reign. 

It is difficult to say whether astonish- 
ment or fury predominated among - the 
defeated Moderates. They had all along 
vainly imagined that their Evangelical op- 
ponents would act as they would have done 
themselves, and that when brought to the 
closing shock of the encounter, they 
would waver and recoil. They could 
scarcely yet believe that their seven 
champions, or rather victims, were indeed 
deposed. But recovering a little from 
their stunning amazement, they set them- 
selves to counteract the moral influence 
of the Assembly's procedure by every 
artifice which the vindictive feelings of 
defeated despotism could devise. Meet- 
ings were held to express sympathy with 
the deposed seven. At these "sym- 
pathy meetings" were seen collected Epis- 
copalians, Voluntaries, and men of no re- 
ligious profession at all, banded together 
in strange alliance against the Church of 
Scotland in her defence of the Re- 
deemer's crown. In each and all of 
them language full of distorted perver- 
sions and exaggerated mis-statements was 
vehemently employed ; till, in concen- 
trated bitterness, the leading enemy of 
the Church had the hardihood to declare 
in his place in the House of Lords, that 
the Strathbogie delinquents had been de- 
posed " simply and exclusively for their 
obedience to the law of the land." Let 
the direct truth be stated, and deliberate- 
ly considered. In the indictment against 
these men there were nine distinct 
charges involving the violation of their 
ordination vow t s, their desecration of 
divine ordinances, and their overt acts 
subversive of the constitution and laws 
of the Church, and directly opposed to 
the great and sacred principle of Christ's 
Sovereignty and Headship, — each and 
all purely ecclesiastical offences, arising 
out of their own spontaneous movements, 
and not one of which the law had ordered 
them to commit. They of their own 
accord applied to the Court of Session to 
know whether, in the opinion of that 
secular court, they ought to do certain 
ecclesiastical deeds ; they received but an 
opinion, and no order exposing them to 
penalties should they disobey ; and the 
53 



very essence of their guilt consisted 
in their voluntary application to the 
civil court, to which in such matters the 
constitution of the empire had declared 
that they were not subordinate, after they 
had received the most explicit instruc- 
tions and commands of the supreme ec- 
clesiastical court, which they had solemn- 
ly vowed to obey. This is the truth; 
and future times will know what term to 
apply to those who have dared to assert 
the contrary. 

On the 9th of June, an interdict was 
granted by the Court of Session, prohibit- 
ing the presbytery of Auchterarder from 
proceeding to the settlement of a minister 
in the pastoral charge of that parish, on 
such maintenance as might be secured 
to him by the parishioners ; as if to say 
that in the opinion of that secular court, 
the usurpation of patronage must be 
maintained, though at the expense of 
thereby suppressing the preaching of the 
gospel and the pastoral cure of souls. 

Gathering courage from the prospect 
of an early political change, which they 
expected to be likely to strengthen their 
cause, the defeated Moderates began to 
adopt a more perilous course of procedure 
than any on which they had previously 
ventured. Some of their leading men 
went as a deputation to London ; and, 
while there^ published what they termed 
" A Statement for the Presbytery of 
Strathbogie, and for the Minority of the 
late General Assembly." The leading 
principle of this statement was the weak 
and common fallacy so often refuted, and 
leading to such pernicious consequences, 
that when the civil court pronounces any 
matter to be within its jurisdiction, it is 
within its jurisdiction, however sacred in 
its own nature it may be, and that eccle- 
siastical courts are immediately bound to 
submit to every such encroachment, and 
to obey every decision founded upon it, 
— a theory which ends in the most com- 
plete and perfect Erastianism. In the 
conclusion of this new Moderate mani- 
festo, its fabricators suggested, that in 
order to secure their ultimate triumph, 
the law-officers of the crown should be 
instructed to conduct at the public charge 
all such, prosecutions and actions at law 
as might arise out of disputed settlements, 
similar to that of Marnoch ; complacently 
adding, that with such an arrangement 



418 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. X. 



they "would have much reason to be 
satisfied." Doubtless they would ; so 
that if they could neither match their 
faithful brethren in argument, nor over- 
awe them by threats, they might at last 
wear them out by expensive suits at law 
and ruinous fines, their own personal 
comforts and pecuniary resources re- 
maining the while untouched. Further 
to hasten on the crisis, they resolved to 
hold ministerial intercourse with the de- 
posed, contrary to their own declaration 
at the recent Assembly, when giving 
their reasons of dissent from its sentence 
of deposition. And in this they pro- 
ceeded so far as to assist these laymen, 
as they unquestionably were after they 
had been deposed, in the desecration of 
the sacrament of the Lord's supper. 
This, they well knew, was an act which 
the Church of Scotland could not avoid 
regarding as a heinous sin, and which 
therefore she could not permit to pass un- 
punished, without participating in its 
guilt. They had recorded their dissent ; 
they were at perfect liberty still to declare 
and to maintain their sentiments ; and 
there rested upon them no peculiar obli- 
gation to desecrate the ordinances of reli- 
gion in those seven parishes of Strath- 
bogie, which at the Assembly they had, 
as a party and by the mouth of their 
leader, disclaimed the intention of doing; 
but they hoped to involve their opponents 
m the necessity of deposing so great a 
number for having committed this new 
crime, as to give them some plausible 
ground for raising the loud outcry of 
tyranny and oppression, with a view to 
induce the civil power to arm and hasten 
to the rescue. How strongly is this tor- 
tuous, worldly, and cruel policy con- 
trasted with the simplicity of the gospel, 
and the mild and much-enduring spirit 
of Christianity ! 

Such was the new aspect of affairs 
when the commission met on the 1 1th of 
August. The conduct of the Moderate 
party had brought on the long-expected 
crisis ; and it was now manifest, that un- 
less they should retrace their steps, or 
the Church should at last prove unfaith- 
ful to her principles, a great and irre- 
parable schism was at hand. But the 
Divine Head of the Church did not with- 
draw His presence from her in this 
momentous hour. A report was read, 



containing an authentic account of what 
had taken place in the district of Strath- 
bogie, and naming the ministers who had 
assisted the deposed men to desecrate the 
sacrament. Then a motion was made, 
that while conference should be held with 
these men, with the view of reclaiming 
them, information should be given to the 
several presbyteries having jurisdiction 
over the ministers named in the report, 
that they might institute disciplinary pro- 
ceedings, and proceed in the matter ac- 
cording to the laws of the Church. And 
to avert, if still possible, the danger and 
the sin of schism, a committee was ap- 
pointed to address to the said brethren a 
solemn remonstrance and warning, show- 
ing the guilt of their conduct, and ap- 
pealing to all their better principles and 
feelings, not thus to persevere in rending 
asunder the venerable and blood-bought 
Church of their fathers. This motion 
was carried by a majority of sixty to thir- 
teen. But all the attempts of the Evan- 
gelical majority to avert a schism and 
procure a pacific arrangement were in 
vain. Dr. Cook and Mr. Robertson, the ac- 
knowledged leaders of their party, gave in 
reasons of dissent, the conclusion of which 
was as follows : " Because the resolution 
now sanctioned puts an end to all hope 
of devising any measure by which the 
members of the Church might be united, 
and imposes upon us, and upon all who 
agree with us in the opinion which we 
have repeatedly expressed as to our pre- 
sent distressing condition, to take such 
steps as may appear most effectual for 
ascertaining from competent authority, 
whether we who now dissent, and they 
who concur with us, or they who continue 
to set at naught the law of the land and the 
decisions of the supreme courts in what 
we esteem a civil right, are to be held by 
the legislature of the country as consti- 
tuting the Established Church, and as 
entitled to the privileges and endowments 
conferred by statute upon the ministers 
of that Church." 

The plain meaning of this is suffi- 
ciently obvious. Moderatism now threw 
off all disguise, and openly avowed its 
intention to apply to the legislature to 
have itself declared the Church of Scot- 
land, and having the sole right to the 
privileges and endowments of that 
Church, to the exclusion of Evangelism, 



A. D. 1841.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



419 



and of every minister who continued to 
hold that, in the words of the Confession 
of Faith, which is the law of the land, 
" There is no other Head of the Church 
but the Lord Jesus Christ," — that, " As 
King and Head of His Church, He hath 
therein appointed a government in the 
hand of church-officers, distinct from the 
civil magistrate," — and that " The civil 
magistrate may not assume to himself the 
administration of the Word and sacra- 
ments, or the power of the keys." 

There was manifestly no further use 
for argument; that was at an end. The 
appeal was to be made to the legislature, 
to the country, and to God. To the 
legislature it was necessary to show how 
many congregations they would deprive 
of their faithful and beloved pastors, if 
they should comply with this Moderate 
request. An extraordinary meeting of 
Commission was accordingly held on the 
25th of August, when a series of resolu- 
tions were proposed, promptly and de- 
cisively encountering the threatened dan- 
ger, reasserting the sacred principles of 
the Church, enumerating the aggressions 
which had been made by the civil courts 
on her constitutional spiritual jurisdiction, 
declaring a calm and settled determina- 
tion to maintain unimpaired those hal- 
lowed rights and privileges which are 
derived from the Divine Redeemer alone, 
or to perish in their defence ; yet, in the 
forgiving spirit of Christianity, offering a 
conference with the erring brethren, if 
even now they might be reclaimed from 
their guilty and disastrous career. These 
resolutions were opposed by one member, 
who could not find any person to second 
his motion, then passed in probably the 
largest meeting of Commission ever 
known, and one dissentient voice was 
recorded. A meeting was held on the 
same evening in the West Church, ex- 
pressly limited to those who approved of 
the conduct of the Church, and were 
willing to encounter every hazard in her 
defence. This was the greatest meeting 
which had been held in Scotland since 
the ever-memorable day on which the 
National Covenant was signed in the 
Grayfriars' church-yard. From south 
to north, from east to west, the best and 
holiest office-bearers of the Church of 
Scotland, elders and ministers, came 
forth, drawn by no urgent call from any 



central source, but aroused by the im- 
minent danger of our Scottish Zion, and 
eager to take their position on the high 
places of the field, and to peril all that 
the heart holds dearest, and even life 
itself if necessary, in defence of religious 
liberty, and of the Redeemer's glorious 
crown. The area of the church was 
crowded by about twelve hundred minis- 
ters and elders, and the double galleries 
of that huge fabric were densely filled 
with one compact continuous mass of 
Scotland's dauntless God-fearing men 
and prayerful pious matrons. One heart 
but seemed to throb within, one spirit to 
inspire, the whole vast multitude, — the 
heart that, fearing God, can have no other 
fear, — the spirit that, worshipping God, 
can bow before him alone. 

The Moderator of the late General 
Assembly, the venerable Dr. Gordon, 
was chosen to preside. In a solemn 
spirit-stirring tone did that distinguished 
man declare his firm adherence to the 
great principles for which the Church of 
Scotland is contending, and his settled 
determination to maintain them at all 
hazards, and whatever the consequences 
might be. Brilliant and powerful as had 
often been the eloquence of Dr. Candlish, 
on that great night he far outshone him- 
self, the hearts of three thousand auditors 
heaving - , trembling- and glowing beneath 
the might of his living and burning 
words. A deputation from the Irish 
Presbyterian Church was present, eager 
to tell that a million of Erin's warm- 
hearted children were ready to take their 
stand beside their Scottish brethren, 
should it again be necessary to spread 
abroad the dreadless and unconquered 
old blue banner on the free winds of 
heaven. And not a few of those strong- 
minded, enterprising men, of Scottish 
birth and blood, who had long been set- 
tled in England's wealthier regions, were 
also there, anxious to testify that their 
warmest love and dearest hopes were 
with their country still, and that they 
held it still their highest duty and most 
precious privilege to rally round the 
venerable and beloved Church of their 
fathers in her hour of peril. Yet eve- 
in the midst of the strong excitemen 
caused by such a scene, the prevailing- 
spirit was deep, grave, and solemnly reli- 
gious ; and when at the close of the pro- 



420 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. X. 



ceedings, the 122d psalm was given out 
to be sung, ail with one spontaneous im- 
pulse arose, and from three thousand 
tongues at once poured forth in thunder- 
ous melody the sublime anthem of prayer 
and praise to God. 

A series of resolutions, suited to the 
emergency, and instinct with the calm 
deliberate courage of Christian faith, 
having been proposed to this great meet- 
ing, received its warm and unanimous 
approval. They bore, " That this alarm- 
ing crisis was to be regarded as a solemn 
call for prayerful deliberation, in an 
humble dependence on Almighty God 
for strength and wisdom to meet and en- 
dure the trial ; that the great principles 
of ' the freedom of the Church from secu- 
lar control in the exercise of the spiritual 
government and discipline committed to 
her by her Divine Head,' and 'that no 
pastor shall be intruded on a congrega- 
tion contrary to the will of the people,' 
cannot be abandoned, and must, at what- 
ever hazard, and in the midst of whatever 
troubles, be steadfastly maintained ; that 
the fundamental principle avowed bv 
those who seek to have themselves recog- 
nized as exclusively constituting the Es- 
tablished Church of Scotland, would be 
subversive of the government appointed 
by the Lord Jesus in His Church, would 
sanction such desolating settlements as 
that of Marnoch, and cannot be submitted 
to by those holding the principles set 
forth in the preceding resolution ; that 
even should those who hold these princi- 
ples be thrust out from the Establishment, 
they might still, adhering to the people, 
and the people to them, and all co-operat- 
ing in one common cause and supported 
by one common fund, be the Church of 
the nation, so that the danger with which 
the Presbyterian Church is threatened 
may be calmly contemplated and fear- 
lessly met, while at the same time, with 
firm unshrinking front, and in well-com- 
pacted union, and in reliance upon Divine 
aid, every effort must be made to avert so 
great a calamity, and to add yet another 
triumph in this land to the cause of 
Christ's crown and kingdom ; and that 
this meeting resolve to co-operate in the 
formation of committees, local and gene- 
ral, for the purpose of securing complete 
harmony of knowledge and feeling, unity 
}f exertion, and concentration of energy, 



in warding off impending dangers, and 
endeavouring to effect a happy and a 
peaceful issue out of all the troubles by 
which the Church of Scotland is now 
surrounded, the ministers and elders pre- 
sent declaring their resolution to stand by 
each other and by the Church in the main- 
tenance of these principles, to which they 
again avow their determined adherence, 
| praying Almighty God that He would give 
them strength to maintain them to the end." 

The Church of Scotland thus calmly, 
firmly, and decisively took her ground, 
declared her principles, and committed 
herself to the protection of her only Head 
and Kin^. looking to Him alone for 
strength to meet the conflict, fortitude 
under the trial, and a peaceful victory in 
His own all-wise and gracious time. 
Princes and people alike were constrained 
to hear her solemn declaration and her 
dignified appeal. And it became inevita- 
ble that the question must be asked at the 
legislature and the whole community, 
and must gravely and deliberately be 
answered by both, whether the National 
Church was to be composed of the ad- 
herents of a system which had thrust out 
a third of the population, protected heresy 
and immorality, opposed Christian mis- 
sions, and prohibited the communion of 
believers, — a system which would still 
surrender every thing sacred and spiritual 
to the control of the secular powers, and 
would deliberately perpetrate atrocities 
like that of Marnock : or whether it 
should be composed of those who hold, 
teach, and maintain the principles com- 
mitted to the Church by her only Head 
and King, as contained in the Scriptures, 
and embodied in the Standards, and en- 
forced in the government and discipline 
of that true Presbyterian Church which 
takes for its rule the Word of God alone; 
which was planted in our land by the 
firm hand of our great reformers, and 
watered by the blood of our martyred 
fathers ; which was ratified by the Re- 
volution Settlement ; whose secured in- 
tegrity is the very basis of the Union, 
and the safeguard of the British constitu- 
tion ; whose noble characteristic it has 
ever been, to give education to the young, 
and to preach the gospel to the poor ; 
and whose glorious distinction among all 
Christian Churches it has been, and still 
is, to suffer in defence of the Divine Re- 



A. D. 1843.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



421 



deemer's mediatorial crown. And though 
there were some preliminary stages 
through which the conflict had to pass, 
before that momentous question could be 
so cleared from all extraneous, or merely 
concomitant matter, that it might be put 
directly and alone, in a manner becom- 
ing its great and solemn importance ; 
yet it was not doubtful to discerning 
minds, that the progress of events was 
rapidly reducing the controversy to its 
primary elements, and hastening to pro- 
duce a crisis, not merely in the history 
of the Church of Scotland, but in the re- 
ligious history of the world. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Introductory Remarks— Progress of the Controversy — 
The Liberum Arbitrium— The Culsalmond Case — The 
Middle Party— Meeting of the Assembly — Outline of 
its Proceedings — Remarks on the Position thus final- 
ly Assumed by the Church— The Commission of Au- 
gust — Second Decision in the Auchterarder Case — 
The Convocation — Sir James Graham's Letter — 
Reply of the Commission — The Stewarton Case — 
Deputations sent through Scotland, or Preparations 
begun for a Disruption— Discussions in the House of 
Commons — Proceedings of the Civil Courts and the 
Moderate Party — Continued Preparations — State of 
Affairs at the Meeting of the Assembly — The disrup- 
tion — The Free Assembly — Its Proceedings — The 
Proceedings of the Erastianized Assembly — Lord 
Aberdeeirs Bill — Progress of the Free Church — 
Bicentenary Commemoration of the Westminster 
Assembly — Concluding Remarks. 

The proceedings of the Church of 
Scotland in the General Assembly of 
1842. may be regarded as having fully 
developed, so far as that depended on the 
Church, all the leading principles of her 
constitution, involved in the late struggle, 
as exhibited in her Standards. These 
had all been, at different times, fairly and 
earnestly stated and defended by the evan- 
gelical and reforming party ; but some 
of them had not received the due sanc- 
tion of a majority, so that they remained 
in comparative abeyance, many being 
afraid to bring them prominently and au- 
thoritatively forward, lest the hostility of 
opponents should be increased both in ex- 
tent and degree. But the course of events 
gradually led even the most cautious to 
perceive, that all temporising expedients 
were and must be in vain ; and that the 
time was at length come for the Church 
of Scotland openly to declare all her 
principles, and to take the ground on 
which she was willing to encounter every 



peril, and to triumph in the strength of 
her Divine Head, or to perish gloriously 
in his sacred cause. It seems expedient, 
! therefore, to trace briefly the outline of 
j the most important of those events which 
i in a manner hedged in the path of the 
! Church, leaving her but one course of 
| procedure — to go forward — unless she 
| were prepared to abandon all her most 
sacred and cherished principles, and to 
become the degraded slave of civil courts. 
! The extraordinary meeting of Com- 
! mission, held on the 25th of August 
1841, in consequence of the declaration 
of the Moderate party, that they meant to 
take steps for ascertaining whether they 
or the majority were to be regarded as 
constituting the Established Church, — 
led, as has been related, to the adoption 
of a series of resolutions, in which the 
leading principles of the Church were 
plainly stated, and her determination to 
maintain them at all hazards solemnly 
declared. So far the warfare of argu- 
ment seemed to be at an end ; for both 
parties had declared their principles and 
determinations ; and it seemed only to re- 
main for the Legislature to decide to 
which of them it meant to give its sanc- 
tion and support. This, however, was 
rather a delicate matter. The new ad- 
ministration had scarcely assumed their 
offices, and it would have been a very 
rash course for them suddenly to have 
adopted the views of the minority, at the 
hazard, if not with the certainty, of eject- 
ing the majority of the Church, thereby 
ensuring its speedy overthrow. There 
was instituted also, about the same time, 
a series of negotiations, conducted chiefly 
through the medium of Sir George Sin- 
clair, with the General Assembly's Non- 
Intrusion Committee. These negotia- 
tions have been since published ; and 
they show sufficiently, that the object of 
Government was to induce the Church 
to accept Lord Aberdeen's bill, formerly 
rejected, and again produced, with the 
insertion of a clause prepared by Sir 
George Sinclair, the effect of which 
seemed to be, to enable the Church courts, 
in the exercise of their discretionary 
liberty of judgment, to reject a presentee 
if they should be of opinion that the ob 
jections and reasons against his settle- 
ment, entertained by the parishioners, 
were so strong, or entertained by such a 



422 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. XI 



proportion of them, as to preclude the 
prospect of his ministrations proving 
useful to that particular congregation. 
This discretionary liberty of the Church 
courts received the designation of a 
Liberum Arbitrium, and a long, tedious, 
and intricate course of diplomatic man- 
agement was pursued by statesmen and 
lawyers, with the view, apparently, of 
deluding the Non-Intrusion Committee 
into the belief that it would indeed enable 
the Church to give effect to her own fun- 
damental principle in each specific case, 
although not by means of a general law. 
But at length it appeared that the con- 
ventional term, mutually employed by 
both the Government and the Church, 
was understood by each party in a man- 
ner essentially different from that in 
which it was understood by the other. 
The Church understood it to secure to 
the presbyteries the power of refusing to 
intrude any presentee into a parish con- 
trary to the will of the people, merely in 
consequence of their declared unwilling- 
ness to receive him as their pastor. The 
Government understood it to mean the 
pronouncing of a judgment upon the ob- 
jections or reasons stated by the people 
against the presentee, with liberty to the 
presbytery to give effect to these objec- 
tions or reasons, by adopting them as 
their own, and thereby giving them judi- 
cial validity, but that the absolute fact of 
the people's continued opposition was not 
to form itself the ground of the presby- 
tery's decision. In reality, a settlement 
of the controversy, on a ground so am- 
biguous, would have been equally dis- 
graceful to the Church and insulting to 
the people; it would have destroyed one 
of her fundamental principles, and le- 
galised possible intrusion. No sooner 
was that clearly seen, in spite of the 
misty illusions of diplomatic craft, than 
the Non-Intrusion Committee declared 
against any such mode of settlement, ex- 
pressing their views in such plain terms, 
that the Secretary of State for the Home 
Department (Sir James Graham) found 
it impossible to evade returning a direct 
answer, which he did in language of an 
ungracious, if not insulting character ; 
and all further negotiations between Go- 
vernment and the Church on that basis 
terminated. 

During these negotiations the country 



was repeatedly thrown into a state of 
great agitation and alarm, lest the Church 
should be induced to consent to an un- 
satisfactory measure. This alarm was 
industriously increased by the periodical 
press favourable to the Moderate party, 
for the purpose, apparently, of sowing 
distrust between the Church and the 
people, — confidently asserting that the 
Non-Intrusionists were willing to abandon 
all their principles, and to accept any set- 
tlement which might secure to them their 
emoluments, let the issue with regard to 
the rights of the people be what it might. 
Never, perhaps, was the Church of Scot- 
land in greater peril than during the 
course of these diplomatic transactions; 
and for a t i m 3 it seemed as if she was 
fairly ensnared by the tortuous policy of 
weak expediency-framing friends and 
wily statesmen. And when these mazy 
entanglements were rent asunder, and 
she was again placed on the free and 
open path of rectitude, her deliverance 
was regarded by wise and pious men, as 
nothing less than the signal interposition 
of Divine Providence, guided by the un- 
erring and gracious hand of her Eternal 
King. 

While these diplomatic proceedings 
were in progress, various other events 
took place, which must be briefly stated. 
Two different papers were drawn up by 
the Non-Intrusion Committee, and pre- 
sented to Government, containing in very 
clear and explicit language, a statement 
of the leading principles of the Church 
of Scotland involved in the present con- 
test, a summary of the facts which had 
occurred during its course, and a view of 
the various methods by means of which 
these principles might be most easily and 
efficiently realized. In the opinion of 
unprejudiced men, these two papers, the 
" Memorial" and the " Statement," ought 
to have enabled the Government fully to 
understand the matter, and might have 
convinced them that they would best dis- 
charge their own duty, and promote the 
peace and welfare of the empire, by pass- 
ing a legislative enactment, securing to 
the Church the free exercise of those 
great constitutional principles which she 
had declared to be essential to her very 
existence. As if to counteract the effect 
which these documents might produce, 
i the Moderate party also drew up a " Me- 



A. D. 1842.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



423 



mo rial," addressed to her Majesty's Go- 
vernment, prepared, it appears, by a 
Committee appointed by that party in 
August. This Memorial may be re- 
garded as one of the most important 
documents produced during the whole 
course of the controversy. It contains a J 
statement of the principles held by the 
Moderate party, in their own language, ! 
and set forth by their own authority; and 
the most decided opponent of Moderatism 
could not possibly wish for better mate- 
rials on which to proceed in condemning j 
that system as essentially Erastian and : 
unscriptural, and also, by irresistible 
logical inference, unchristian, and lead- j 
ing, as even Sir George Sinclair per- j 
ceived, to infidelity. There is no reason 
to suppose that those by whom the Me- j 
morial was prepared and subscribed were | 
fully aware of its true character, and of 
the conclusions to which it inevitably led; 
but while this consideration may exonerate } 
them from moral guilt, at the expense of j 
their intellectual capacity, it the more ! 
strongly proves the baleful character of 
Moderatism itself, which both involves J 
such consequences, and blinds and dead- 
ens its adherents. 

The hostile attitude assumed by the j 
Moderates was rendered more determined, 
partly by the fact, that several of their 
leading men had not merely preached in 
the pulpits still held by the deposed 
Strathbogie Seven, but had also assisted j 
at the pretended dispensation of the Sacra- ! 
ment of the Lord's Supper, conducted by j 
men wh^ were no longer ministers of the 
gospel ; and partly by a new act of un- 1 
constitutional violence committed by 
another northern presbytery. Proceed- j 
ings had been instituted against the minis- 
ters who had held communion with the 
deposed seven, in the presbyteries to 
which they respectively belonged : but in 
consequence of protests and appeals, all 
these cases were referred to the next 
General Assembly. The new cause of 
collision arose out of the proceedings of 
the Presbytery of Garioch, in the case 
of a presentation to the parish of Culsal- 
mond. The main facts of the case were 
as follows : — 

The Rev. Ferdinand Ellis, minister of 
Culsalmond parish, in the Presbytery of 
Garioch, had, it appears, been laid aside 
from his official duties for several years, 



these duties being discharged in the in- 
terim by the Rev. William Middleton, as 
an ordained assistant. The patron at 
length issued a presentation in favour of 
Mr. Middleton, which was sustained by 
the presbytery in the usual form. On 
the 28th of October 1841, the presbytery 
met at Culsalmond to moderate in the 
call. It then appeared that there was a 
majority of male heads of families com- 
municants dissenting from the settlement 
of Mr. Middleton as their pastor. The 
majority of the presbytery (seven to five) 
refused to sustain this dissent as a reason 
to stop procedure according to the stand- 
ing directions of the General Assembly, 
and determined to proceed with appointing 
a day for the settlement, as if no dissents 
had been offered, defending this course by 
the assertion that the Veto Act was illegal. 
The people, by their law-agent, then of- 
fered special objections against the settle- 
ment, but the majority refused to receive 
these objections. The minority of the 
presbytery complained, and protested 
against this conduct, appealing to the 
synod ; as did also the people, in due 
form. But the majority, setting all usual 
forms at defiance, refused to receive these 
complaints and appeals, and determined 
to proceed to the settlement on an ap- 
pointed day, contrary to a special act of 
Assembly passed in 1732, prohibiting 
presbyteries from completing a settlement 
when an appeal has been taken. On the 
11th of November 1841, the presbytery 
again met, and, contrary to all legal and 
ordinary procedure, and in the midst of 
great confusion, caused by their own ar- 
bitrary and oppressive conduct, went 
through the form of inducting Mr. Mid- 
dleton, not in the church, but in a private 
room in the manse. The Commission 
of the General Assembly, upon a petition 
from the parishioners, cited the parties 
I complained against to answer before the 
| supreme Church courts ; and in the 
! meantime prohibited Mr. Middleton from 
I officiating in the parish, and appointed 
j the minority of the Presbytery of Garioch 
to provide for the administration of sacred 
I ordinances in the parish of Culsalmond. 
I Mr. Middleton, and the majority of the 
| presbytery, applied to the Court of Session 
to suspend the proceedings of the Com- 
! mission, — to interdict the intimation or 
I execution of its deliverance. — and to in- 



424 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. XI. 



terdict also the minority of the presbytery 
from obeying 1 the directions of the Com- 
mission. This interdict was refused by 
the Lord Ordinary (Lord Ivory) ; but, 
being carried before the First Division 
of the Court of Session, was granted as 
craved, on the 10th of March 1842. In 
this case the warfare of actions certainly 
carried both the Moderate party and the 
civil courts beyond their former hostile 
positions. The Moderate majority of the 
Garioch Presbytery, contrary even to the 
usual and declared course of that party, 
refused to receive special objections 
against the presentee ; and refused also 
to stay procedure, in consequence of ap- 
peals to superior Church courts, contrary 
to all former usage, as well as to express 
act of Assembly. The civil courts, on 
their part, reviewed and interdicted a sen- 
tence of the Church court, when no civil 
interest was directly involved, but when 
a superior ecclesiastical court was inter- 
posing to check the disorderly conduct 
of a subordinate court in a matter unde- 
niably spiritual. 

It has been stated that the Non-Intru- 
sion Committee ceased to hold intercourse 
with Government, upon discovering the 
essentially different interpretations put by 
them and those with whom they had been 
corresponding, respecting the meaning 
of that phrase, the Liberitm Arbitriivm, or 
free discretionary power of presbyteries, 
which had been proposed as the basis of 
a settlement. But there was a small mi- 
nority of that committee who still con- 
tinued to think that a settlement might, 
after all, be framed upon that ambiguous 
phrase, if not such as the Church ought 
to ask, yet such as she might submit to, 
without absolute dereliction of principle, 
since, as they reasoned, it was impossible 
that any thing more satisfactory could be 
obtained. Immediately some of the most 
active of that small minority began a 
course of private negotiations, partly with 
the most timid and undecided of those 
ministers who had generally acted along 
with the Non-Intrusionists chiefly on the 
ground of expediency, and partly with 
the least violent of the Moderates. Ru- 
mours began to arise of the formation of 
a middle party, which was to unite the 
most cautious and temperate of the other 
two, thereby weakening both, and assum- 
ing a new, or at least an intermediate po- 



sition made up of compromises and con- 
cessions, on which a settlement might 
possibly be effected. At the meeting of 
the Synod of Glasgow and Ayr, in April, 
a declaration was laid before that court 
by Dr. Leishman, subscribed, as was 
said, by forty ministers, expressing their 
anxiety for a settlement, and giving it as 
their opinion, that they could conscien- 
tiously submit to Lord Aberdeen's bill, 
with the insertion of Sir George Sinclair's 
clause, if that were passed into a law. 
This was the first public divulgement of 
the course of policy intended to be 
pursued by the middle party ; as it was 
then stated that they had entered into 
communication with Sir. James Graham, 
and entertained sanguine expectations 
that a settlement not absolutely intolera- 
ble might yet be obtained. It further 
appeared, from a speech of Dr. M'Cul- 
loch of Kelso, that while he had joined 
the middle patty, and was willing to aid 
them with all his influence, he enter- 
tained such opinions as would have per- 
mitted him to submit to the entire sacri- 
fice of the Non-Intrusion principle itself. 
This might have pleased the Moderates, 
but must have galled many of the forty, 
who sincerely detested intrusion, but had 
been drawn, by their love of peace, into 
what thus threatened to become an aban- 
donment of principle. Still the report 
was most industriously propagated, that 
the middle party was increasing with 
prodigious rapidity, and would very soon 
form a majority of the entire Church of 
Scotland. The real weakness of the 
party, however, even numerically, was 
so far discovered at the meeting of the 
Synod of Mid-Lothian, early in May, 
when Dr. Simpson, the acknowledged 
framer and leader of the party, could ob- 
tain, even with the aid of the Moderates 
in the synod, but a small minority to sup- 
port his views. They continued, never- 
theless, to boast loudly of their secret 
strength, and of the favourable manner 
in which their overtures were met by 
Government. It may be added, that Sir 
James Graham seems to have imagined 
that he had now a prospect of reintro- 
ducing the lately abandoned measure ; as 
he induced Mr. Campbell of Monzie to 
postpone a bill identical with that for- 
merly brought forward by the Duke of 
Argyle, expressing his hope, arising out 



A. D. 1842.J 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



425 



of recent movements in Scotland, that 
Government might be able to introduce, a 
measure by which the dissensions of the 
Scottish Church, might be satisfactorily 
adjusted. Yet, even in this compara- 
tively pacificatory declaration, the Home- 
Secretary stated the principles on which 
alone Government could frame a meas- 
ure, and these principles were essentially 
those of Lord Aberdeen's bill, in which 
the first and fundamental proposition, 
governing of course all the rest, was the j 
determination to maintain what was j 
termed " the civil rights of patrons." 
This might have opened the eyes of the 
middle party, had they been either able 
or willing to see any thing but their own j 
preconceived wishes and impressions. 

There had been several other minor, 
though not unimportant, events and indi- 
cations during the course of these public 
and prominent occurrences. Men of un- 1 
blemished character had been tried as j 
implicated in what was called the Cul- j 
salmon d riot, and honorably aco A uitted by 
a jury of their countrymen. A military 
detachment had been marched into the 
district of Strathbogie, without the slight- 
est apparent reason, but merely to sup- 
port the intrusion of a probationer into 
the parish of Glass, by means of the men 
who had been deposed from the ministe- 
rial office. And several glaringly ar- j 
bitrary instances of despotic patronage 
had been perpetrated by the Home Sec- 
retary, accompanied with language indi- 
cating an insolent contempt for the feel- 
ings and the petitions of the people. 

Such is a brief outline of the chief 
events which preceded the meeting of 
the Generv Assembly, and such the 
general state of affairs when it met on 
19th of May 1842, It seems impossible | 
for a thoughtful mind to contemplate 
these mazy and complicated movements, 
without perceiving that they were all 
guided by an invisible but an Almighty 
hand. How many phases had the con- 
flict assumed within the course of one 
short year! Encouraged, apparently, 
by the prospect of a change of Govern- 
ment, and the formation of an adminis- 
tration more favourable to their views, 
the Moderate party had cast cfT their 
previous reserve, and declared their in- 
tention to take such steps as must inevita- 
Dly cause a schism in the Church. 
54 



Thence arose the great West Kirk meet 
ing, and the noble resolutions passed 
there, which stirred the heart of the king 
dom. Next came the period of diploma- 
tic craft, in the negotiations respecting 
the Liberium Arbiirium, — a mode of 
settlement which was very early, in the 
course of this struggle, forced upon the 
consideration of the Church ; and which 
had never been entertained but with ex- 
treme reluctance, and with the utmost 
danger of the sacrifice of principle. 
When both the Church and the people 
were in this state of stunned and helpless 
alarm, and there seemed no way of es- 
cape from a disastrous and dishonourable 
compromise, on a sudden, in answer 
doubtless to the deep-breathed prayers of 
thousands, these lowering clouds parted 
asunder, the dangers vanished, and, re- 
suming her sacred principles, she stood 
again prepared fearlessly to act or suffer 
in their defence. The lawless deed of 
Culsalmond, — the military seizure of 
Strathbogie, — and the haughty and con 
turnelious despotism of the Home Secre 
tary, all doubtless intended to terrify hei 
into submission, produced a very eliffer 
ent result ; rousing the courage of the 
faithful ministers to higher daring, con- 
straining the undecided to perceive that 
there was now no alternative but the 
utter abandonment, or the resolute asser- 
tion of principle, and even imparting a 
noble fortitude to many who had hitherto 
stood timidly aloof from the conflict. 
Last of all came the feeble muster of the 
wavering middle-men, few of whom had 
ever truly belonged to the reforming ma- 
jority, and of these few, none had ever 
borne a prominent part in the arduous 
struggle. This middle movement came 
in time to call off the timid and the hesi- 
tating, together with some who could 
better suffer for truth and purity than 
contend in their defence ; but too late to 
influence those of more penetrating 
minds, capacious judgments, and calmly 
resolute hearts. It scarcely thinned the 
defenders of the Church ; and it left no 
weak and assailable points in their faith- 
ful and united band. Surely in all this 
the overruling power and wisdom of the 
Redeemer was most graciously apparent ! 
It was not by man's prudence, but by 
God's foreknowledge, that all had been 
so wonderfully ordered ; and in the full 



426 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. XL 



and solemn perception that this had been 
the case, the members of the General 
Assembly met to deliberate, in the name, 
and by the authority of the Divine Head 
and King of the Church, on matters of 
the most momentous importance to His 
spiritual kingdom. 

Her Majesty's Government had ap- 
pointed the Marquis of Bute to hold the 
office of Lord High Commissioner. This 
nobleman had previously distinguished 
himself in promoting the cause of Church 
extension ; and his unblemished charac- 
ter secured to him the respect of the en- 
tire Church. The opening of the As- 
sembly was conducted with more than 
ordinary pomp ; but the minds of men 
were too much engrossed by the deeply 
important nature of the matters soon to 
come under deliberation, to permit them 
to give more than a passing glance to the 
gorgeous pageant as it swept along. It 
was felt by all, that upon the proceedings 
of this Assembly might, or rather must, 
depend the present fate of the Church of 
Scotland ; and friends and foes were 
wrought up to an almost equally intense 
pitch of excitement, in eager anticipation 
of the result. 

After sermon by the Rev. Dr. Gor- 
don, Moderator of the preceding Assem- 
bly, the Assembly was regularly consti- 
tuted in St. Andrew's Church ; and Dr. 
Welsh, Professor of Church History in 
the University of Edinburgh, was unani- 
mously chosen to be moderator, and as- 
sumed the chair accordingly. Dr. Cook 
of St. Andrews, as the recognised leader 
of his party, then formally renewed his 
and their protest against the ministers of 
chapels of ease, or quoad sacra parishes, 
being regarded as constitutional members 
of Assemb y. This was immediately 
met by Mr. Dunlop, who declared, on the 
part of the majority, their firm resolution 
to maintain these men in all the due 
powers and privileges of ministers of the 
Church of Scotland. This incident, 
slight apparently in itself, gave some in- 
dication of the probable course of proce- 
dure likely to be followed by the two con- 
tend ing parties, each seeming to be de- 
termined to maintain every inch of the 
position formerly occupied. After the 
reading of the Queen's letter, and the re- 
spective addresses of the lord high com- 
missioner and the moderator, a still more 



important discussion ai.se. Conflicting 
commissions for different parties to sit as 
members of Assembly, from the Presby- 
tery of Strathbogie, were produced, the 
one from the pretended presbytery, con- 
stituted by the seven deposed ministers, 
in favour of two ministers and an elder 
of their own number, the other from the 
real presbytery, consisting of the four 
ministers, not deposed, and their elders, 
being the only parties recognised by the 
Church as the true Presbytery of Strath- 
bogie. Mr. Dunlop moved, that the 
commission from the four be sustained, 
and that from the deposed seven be not 
received. This gave rise to a sharp dis- 
cussion, in the course of which Dr. 
Cook moved, that, in present circumstan- 
ces, the commission in favour of the re- 
presentatives of the four be not sustained. 
The vote was taken and Mr. Dunlop's 
motion was carried by 215 to 85, a very 
large majority, in probably the fullest 
Assembly ever known on the first day 
of its meeting. This was a very im- 
portant vote. It clearly indicated the 
overwhelming strength of the Evangeli- 
cal majority, and the weakness of their 
opponents. It tended, accordingly, to 
give a tone of calm confidence to the ma- 
jority ; while it equally discouraged and 
irritated the Moderate party, by showing 
the certainty of their utter discomfiture. 

A considerable part of Friday, the 20th 
of May, was occupied, as usual, in devo- 
tional exercises ; and it was remarked 
by many, that the prayers of the various 
members who were called upon, were 
characterised throughout by a remarka- 
ble degree of fervency, and earnestness 
of spirit and manner. Mr. Dunlop then 
read a report from the joint-committee of 
the Five Schema., of the Church, regard- 
ing the collections, congregational and 
individual, contributed during the past 
year to these schemes. From this gen- 
eral report it appeared, that in the sums 
collected for these schemes, there had 
been a decided increase, not only in the 
aggregate, but in each particular scheme, 
and in some of them to a large amount. 
It appeared, further, that the period 
during which these collections had been 
obtained, had been only ten months, ow- 
ing to an alteration in the time of making 
up the accounts ; and that, when the 
whole sums raised by collections and in- 



A. D. 1842.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



427 



dividual subscriptions for all the public 
measures of the Church were united, in- 
cluding those for defence of the litiga- 
tions in which the Church had been in- 
volved, the sum total was about £30,000, 
being an increase beyond the amount of 
the preceding year of nearly £8000. This 
was a result greatly more propitious than 
had been anticipated, on many accounts. 
The year had been one of great com- 
mercial and mercantile depression, throw- 
ing many thousands into absolute destitu- 
tion, and exhausting the resources of the 
charitable in their support. In such a 
state of national distress, it would not 
have been surprising if the funds raised 
for religious and missionary purposes 
had also suffered a temporary depression. 
It had also been perpetually reiterated by 
the Moderate party and their newspaper 
advocates, that the dissensions within the 
Church had completely paralyzed all her ( 
exertions, destroyed her general useful- 
ness, and rendered her utterly inefficient, 
as a national institution, for promoting 
the advancement of Christianity at home 
and abroad. The very diffusion of such 
gloomy assertions and predictions tended 
to their own realization ; and it must be 
confessed, that the religious contributions ! 
of several congregations, where the min- 
ister was one of the Moderate party, had 
sunk down to about one-fourth of their 
former amount. This was, perhaps, more 
deplorable than surprising ; for Moder- 
atism had never shown itself friendly to 
missionary exertions ; and though carried 
into a temporary support of these schemes 
by the strength of public, opinion, was 
willing to discover some pretence for 
abandoning them.* Yet it is very de- 
plorable when men, bearing the charac- 
ter of ministers of the gospel, avail them- 

* "The contributions of the 145 ministers, w;ho, on 

that occasion, voted in the majority, 

amount to .£4023 9 8 

while those nf the 62 in the minority are no 

more than . . 409 4 S 

Of the 145, only 10 made so contribution for any of the 
schemes ; and a number of these were either new 
churches or newly settled ; whereas there were no 
fewer than 22 out of the 62. that is more than one-third, 
who contributed nothing at all. And this, be it ob- 
served, is not accidental. The same result has been 
repeatedly brought out before. Then of the quoad sa- 
cra and parliamentary church ministers, on the same 
vote. 

The 36 who voted with the majority 

contributed . . . £413 9 2 

The 5 with the minority, only . 5 15 0 

So that the 36 quoad sacra ministers contribute more to 
the missionary schemes of the church than the whole 
of the 62 clerical representatives of the Moderate party 
put together."— Scottish Guardia?i, June 13, 1842. 



seives of a pretext, arising out of a con 
troversy with their brethren, to abandon 
the great interests of the Redeemer's 
kingdom. But, in spite of such defec- 
tions, and of the predictions and asser- 
tions of unscrupulous partizans, the re- 
sult has proved that pity for perishing 
souls, and zeal for the advancement of 
God's glory, in the progress of the gos- 
pel all over the world, were not dimin- 
ished, or rather were largely increased in 
the hearts of the people of Scotland; and 
that the existing controversy, painful and 
alarming as it was, had, instead of weak- 
ening, greatly strengthened their reli- 
gious feelings, and stimulated their exer- 
tions. The state of the Church, in this 
point of view, furnished also a startling 
contrast to that of the nation. The diffi- 
culty of conducting the public business 
of the empire, with an increasing expen- 
diture, and a diminishing revenue, net 
adequate to meet the public necessities, 
had been the direct cause of the retire- 
ment of one administration, and the ac- 
cession of another ; and even the new 
Government, in all its fresh strength, 
staggered and reeled in the endeavour to 
frame, and carry into effect, a measure 
by which it hoped to rescue the nation 
from its oppressed and sinking condition. 
In this very period of legislative convul- 
sion, financial difficulty, and wide-spread 
national poverty, the Church was seen 
presenting to the service of God the gifts 
of a treasury more amply filled than it 
had ever previously been, with the free- 
will offerings of the people ; and, at the 
same time emerging out of that debt in 
which she had been involved by€he ex- 
pensive litigations carried on in defence 
of her spiritual independence, and her 
people's religious liberties. Surely this 
was another signal manifestation that the 
rich blessing of God was descending 
upon her exertions in His service ; and 
a great reason for her to thank Him, and 
take courage, and go forward undis- 
mayed. Such, unquestionably, was the 
general feeling of the Assembly, as was 
manifest, not merely by the remarks of 
the speakers, but also, and particularly, 
in the grateful tone of the subsequent de- 
votions. 

The forenoon of Saturday, the 21st, 
was signalized by a very spirit-stirring 
incident. It has been mentioned that, on 



428 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. XI. 



the first day of the Assembly, a paper 
was laid on the table by the commission- 
ers from the real Presbytery of Strath- 
bogie, which was understood to be an in- 
terdict granted by the civil court, prohi- 
biting them from taking their seats as 
members. This paper the Assembly 
would not read till it should have decided, 
according to its own principles, respecting 
these conflicting commissions. On Sat- 
urday, the commissioners from Stratbbo- 
gie were requested to state to the house, 
under what circumstances of a peculiar 
nature they came to take their seats. 
Major Ludovick Stewart, the elder for 
Strathbogie, a war-worn, yet stately ve- 
teran, arose, holding in one hand the 
Court of Session's interdict, and in the 
other his Bible. He stated that he did 
not regard lightly the interdict of a civil 
court, for he had long been accustomed 
to strict discipline ; but that he held that 
there were circumstances in which a per- 
son might be placed, when it would be 
criminal to obey the interdict of any 
earthly court. " I hold in my hands," 
said the venerable officer, " an authority 
in this holy Book, which does not pro- 
hibit me from standing forth in support of 
the principles of the Church of Scotland. 
So long as I am able, I will serve my 
God as faithfully as I have served my 
country; but there is nothing in this 
Book which commands me to obey such 
an interdict, and I will not obey anything 
which implies criminality to the Church 
of Scotland." It is impossible to describe 
the thrilling effect produced by this short 
solemn speech, — the depth of feeling 
which* held the Assembly in silent, un- 
breathing fixedness of attention, — and the 
looks of intense sympathy and admiration 
with which all eyes regarded one whose 
earnest words and dignified aspect realized 
to every imagination the bodily presence 
of some martyred warrior of the covenant. 
Dr. Candlish, in a short but very im- 
pressive speech, pointed out the un- 
paralleled character of this unconstitu- 
tional interference on the part of the Court 
of Session, with the powers and privileges 
of the Assembly; and then moved a reso- 
lution, expressive of deep and entire sym- 
pathy with those members who had been 
so violently obstructed, in discharge of 
their public duty, by the civil courts ; the 
determination of the Assembly to support 



and encourage them by every means in 
its power ; and a solemn protest against 
the attempt thus made, for the first time, 
on the part of any civil tribunal, to inter- 
fere with the constitution of the supreme 
courts of this Church, declaring such in- 
terference to be wholly unconstitutional, 
and such as the Assembly cannot recog- 
nise, when pronounced in a matter wholly 
ecclesiastical, and placed under the exclu- 
sive jurisdiction of this supreme ecclesias- 
tical judicatory. Dr. Cook moved that 
this resolution be not adopted. The vote 
was taken, and Dr. Candlish's motion 
was carried by a majority of 97 ; the vote 
being 173 to 76. 

Several other important events took 
place on the same day. Dr. Candlish, as 
convener of the Committee for Corres- 
pondence with Foreign Churches, pro- 
duced two letters, one of them from 
the Commission, the other from the As- 
sembly of the Church in Canada, and a 
third from the General Assembly of the 
Presbyterian Church in the United States 
of America. This last letter was pub- 
licly read. Tt expressed, in clear and 
emphatic terms, their sympathy with the 
Church of Scotland in her present trou- 
bles, — their conviction that the Lord 
would not forsake her when engaged in 
defending his own cause, — and their 
earnest hope and prayer that the Church 
might soon be, by God's blessing, de- 
livered from her difficulties and dangers. 
It was moved and agreed to, that the 
Committee should prepare suitable an- 
swers to these interesting letters. 

Reports were then given in from the 
Committee on the Commission record, 
and from the Special Commission ap- 
pointed by the preceding Assembly, to 
attend to the state of religious affairs in 
the district of Strathbogie, and in other 
similar matters. These reports necessari- 
ly brought under the notice of the As- 
sembly the conduct of those ministers of 
the Moderate party who had assisted the 
deposed seven of Strathbogie in the pre- 
tended dispensation of the sacrament. It 
was moved that these ministers should be 
cited to appear at the bar of the Assembly 
on Thursday, to answer the charge 
brought against them; and no opposition 
being made, they were cited accordingly 
Warrant was also granted for citing wit- 
nesses to prove, if necessary, the facts of 



A. D. 1842.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



429 



the case. Several other accused parties 
were cited to appear on specified days. 

In the evening, a motion was made by 
Mr. Cunningham, and seconded by Mr. 
Hetherington, to rescind that part of the 
Act of Assembly 1799, which prohibited 
all ministers of the Church of Scotland 
from permitting to preach in their pulpits, 
or holding ministerial communion with 
persons not qualified to receive a presen- 
tation. That act, as is well known, was 
passed by the Moderate party for the very 
purpose of preventing Mr. Simeon of 
Cambridge, Rowland Hill, and other 
evangelical ministers of the Church of 
England, from being permitted to preach 
in any pulpit of the Established Church 
of Scotland. It had the effect of cutting 
the Church off from communion with 
every other Church, and thereby it vir- 
tually denied the doctrine of a " Church 
universal," rejected the " communion of 
saints," and disclaimed the brotherly af- 
fection infused into all true members of 
the household of faith by the presence 
and energy of the Holy Spirit. It was 
thus equally sectarian and sinful in spirit 
and tendency, and was one of the most dis- 
graceful and unchristian of the many 
guilty deeds done by Moderatism, in the 
name of the Church of Scotland. So 
much, however, was this felt to be its 
character, that no person spoke in its de- 
fence, at least directly ; though some 
appeared very apprehensive that the re- 
scinding of it might lead to a dangerous 
laxity in the admission of men to minis- 
terial commuhion who were not sound in 
the faith. Though this danger could not 
be regarded as very great, seeing the re- 
peal of that act would only restore the 
Church of Scotland to the position in 
which she had been placed and left by 
the Covenanters themselves, yet a c L y - 
tionary clause was added for the satisfac- 
tion of the scrupulous. This was one of 
the most truly Christian decisions of this 
Assembly, and one, also, of very happy 
omen, and in most perfect accordance with 
the almost universal sympathy expressed 
by Christian Churches with the Church 
of Scotland in her struggles and her suf- 
ferings ; contrasting, at the same time, 
strongly with the bigotry and intolerance 
of a party in the Church of England. It 
gave no dubious indication, that whatever 
worldly politicians might imagine, the 



Church of Scotland occupied, at that mo- 
ment, the noblest and most important po- 
sition of any institution, civil or ecclesias- 
tical, in the world, — that, while they were 
vainly striving to circumscribe and fetter 
and confine her, she was snapping asun- 
der their feeble bands, overpassing their 
jealousy besieging lines, and both awa- 
kening and responding to the sympathet- 
ic feelings of all living Christendom. 

On Monday, May 23, the. report of the 
Committee for classing returns to over- 
tures was then given in ; and, as it ap- 
peared that a majority of the presbyteries 
had approved of the overture on the 
Eldership, Mr. Dunlop moved that the 
Assembly pass it accordingly into a stand- 
ing law of the Church. This was done ; 
and it was also ordered to be recorded in 
the books of the kirk-session in every 
parish throughout the kingdom. Thus 
another very important reform was com- 
pleted, and the sincerity of the Church, in 
her advocacy of the religious rights of the 
people, placed beyond suspicion. It had 
long been the practice of the Moderate 
party to introduce into the eldership men 
who favoured their views of church poli- 
cy, however unfit for that office ; and 
when the Church began her course 
of self-reformation, the opposition of these 
elders formed one of the most difficult ob- 
stacles to her endeavours, their votes re- 
peatedly giving the preponderance to the 
Moderate side, when it would otherwise 
have been defeated. It is now the law 
of the Church, that the elders are to be 
elected by the whole male communicants 
of the congregation ; and by the judicious 
use of this religious right, the people may 
prevent the possibility of Moderatism ever 
regaining the ascendency in Church 
courts. 

The next subject which came before 
u.^ Assembly, was that of Patronage. It 
appeared that overtures had been trans- 
mitted from 12 synods, 24 presbyteries, 
and 38 parishes, besides several others 
from associations and kirk-sessions, all 
praying for the abolition of patronage. 
Mr. Cunningham then proposed the fol- 
lowing motion: — "That the General 
Assembly having considered the over- 
tures anent patronage, resolve and declare, 
that patronage is a grievance, has been 
attended with much injury to the cause 
of true religion in the Church and king- 



430 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. X 



dom, is the main cause of the difficulties 
in which the Church is at present in- 
volved, and that it ought to be abolished." 
In a speech of very great clearness and 
argumentative power, Mr. Cunningham 
explained, defended, and enforced this mo- 
mentous question. He showed the essential 
distinction between the Church of Christ 
and any wordly institution, proving irre- 
sistibly, that having received its origin, 
laws and organization, from Christ alone, 
no merely secular power could have 
any right to interfere with the appoint- 
ment of its office-bearers ; that in regu- 
lating that matter, recourse must be had 
to the Word of God alone, from which it 
was plainly manifest, that presbyteries and 
Christian congregations had each a duty 
divinely assigned to them, while no men- 
tion was made of any function to be exer- 
cised by any third and worldly party j 
that every attempt to defend patronage 
must be based upon some secular consi- 
deration, and must involve the grievous 
error of setting aside or superseding the 
great rule, that in every thing pertaining 
to Christ's House, direction must be 
sought and taken from Him alone. 
Availing himself of these primary princi- 
ples, he met and refuted the leading argu- 
ments generally used by the defenders 
of Patronage, whether viewed as arising 
out of the donation given by an indi- 
vidual, or the endowments granted by a 
State ; for in either or both of these sup- 
positions, the real question to be deter- 
mined" was, not whether it were natural 
and reasonable for the donor to retain the 
power of appointing a pastor who should 
enjoy me fruits of the endowment, but, in 
what manner ought the ministers of 
Christian churches to be appointed, so as 
may be most accordant with the will of 
Christ, and most conducive to the spirit- 
ual welfare of the people. He prov ^ 
clearly, that to determine the question of 
patronage on the ground of any endow- 
ment granted by the State or an individual, 
or on account of any civil qualification, 
was most decidedly Erastian, and must 
introduce a hostile and destructive element 
into the very heart of the Church. To- 
wards the conclusion of his unanswerable 
speech, Mr. Cunningham briefly alluded 
to the perfidious Act of Queen Anne, and 
to the baneful effects produced by that act, 
both in former times and at present, and 



most earnestly called upon the Church 
not to hesitate, from any weak or unman- 
ly fear of consequences, from demanding 
the abolition of patronage, by which pro- 
cedure, while boldly and fully following 
out the principles of the Word of God, 
she would also secure her best earthly 
support — the confidence of the free-heart- 
ed and religious people of Scotland. 

A counter motion was made by the 
Procurator : — " That the Assembly hav- 
ing considered the overtures and petitions, 
find it inexpedient, in present circum- 
stances, to adopt the overtures." A long 
and very animated discussion followed, 
during the course of which several rather 
peculiar indications respecting the state 
of parties and the progress of opinion ap- 
peared. It became evident that the Pro- 
curator's motion was framed by the new 
middle party, and that the Moderates had 
refrained from proposing a motion of their 
own, in the hope that by supporting that 
of the middle party, they might have the 
best prospect of success in their attempt 
to defeat the anti-patronage movement. 
The vote was at length taken, and the 
motion for the abolition of patronage car^ 
ried by a majority of 69, in the fullest 
house ever known, the numbers being — 
for abolition, 216 ; inexpedient in present 
circumstances, 147; total, 363. In the 
year 1841, a similar motion was lost by 
6; and although the Moderates so far 
compromised their own views in order to 
effect a junction with the middle party, as 
to move that it was inexpedient to apply 
for the abolition of patronage in present 
circumstances, which implied that it might 
be expedient in other circumstances, yet 
both combined sustained a complete de- 
feat, and the Church of Scotland resumed 
her ancient and constitutional opposition 
t r the great unscriptural and unpresby- 
terian grievance of secular patronage. 
The announcement of the decision was re- 
ceived with' loud and long applause by 
the anxious and crowded spectators, and 
with warm mutual congratulations, and 
silent breathings of grateful thanks to 
God, by the faithful majority whose votes 
had secured the welcome victory. 

On Tuesday, May 24, the Assembly 
proceeded to the main business of tha 
important day, the consideration of an 
overture, signed by about 150 members of 
Assembly, for a " Declaration against the 



A. D. 1842.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



431 



unconstitutional encroachments of the civil 
courts." This singularly clear and power- 
ful document, prepared by Mr. Dunlop, 
was read at full length by the clerk of 
the Assembly, amid the silent and deep 
attention of the whole house. Dr. Chal- 
mers then moved that it be adopted as the 
resolution of the Assembly, which was 
seconded by Dr. Gordon. Dr. Cook, in- 
stead of meeting it with a direct negative, 
• . . . 

moved a series of resolutions of a different, 

but not directly opposite, character. The 
speech of Dr. Chalmers was characterized 
by all the lofty and fervid eloquence of 
that great man. He did not, indeed, at- 
tempt to follow, explain, and enforce the 
various leading topics of the Declaration ; 
but taking up the subject in that point of 
view most suited to command the atten- 
tion of a patriotic and enlightened states- 
man, he first removed the seeming diffi- 
culties of arriving at a right understand- 
ing of the essential elements of the ques- 
tion, which have been produced by mis- 
representing it as little more than the 
personal wranglings of individuals and 
parties in the Church, instead of regard- 
ing it as a great constitutional question 
concerning the respective jurisdictions of 
two separate and distinct co-ordinate 
courts, each supreme and independent in 
its own province. He then drew atten- 
tion to the formidable consequences which 
must inevitably follow, should the Legis- 
lature permit the civil court to persevere, in 
its encroachments upon the constitutional 
jurisdiction of the Church, — issuing in- 
terdicts in spiritual matters which religion 
and conscience were constrained to disre- 
gard, — uttering threats of pains and pen- 
alties which it could not inflict without 
committing the sin of persecution, — and, 
by assuming that the possession of su- 
perior might was equivalent to right, 
actually employing the argument of phy- 
sical force, an argument which had 
already been assumed, and might ere 
long, after the example of the civil court, 
be directed with terrific power, by men 
who have the strength of millions of the 
lawless and the ungodly on their side, 
against all the institutions of the empire. 
Such an argument, so powerfully brought 
forward by such a man, might well have 
caused statesmen to pause and ponder, if 
they had heart to feel, and intellect to 
understand it, — if they had not been un- 



der the spell of a blinding and deadly 
infatuation. 

The resolutions and the speech of Dr. 
Cook were alike weak and evasive, not 
touching, not even approaching, the 
essence of the subject. He proposed the 
rescinding of the Veto Act, and the an- 
nulling of all the penal or judicial pro- 
ceedings founded on it ; asserted that the 
doctrines of Christ's Headship, and the 
distinct government of the Church, might 
be held with such diversities of opinion, 
and various modes of application, as to 
afford no cause of irreconcilable disagree- 
ment between parties entertaining widely 
different views ; advised that all agitation 
should cease, and ministers should confine 
themselves chiefly to their pastoral duties ; 
and asserted, that under the existing laws 
of the Church, there was already suffi- 
cient security against the settlement of 
unqualified and unsuitable ministers. 
Such were the resolutions moved by Dr. 
Cook ; and his speech was a mere ex- 
planation of them, exhibiting in its pro- 
gress, not only strange feebleness of 
reasoning, but deplorable want of pre- 
cision in the statement of principles, 
which in their loose and vague indefinite- 
ness might mean any thing or nothing, 
and could lead to no fixed course of 
thought and action. Nor did he even 
touch upon the encroachments of the civil 
court, either to condemn or to approve 
them, nor explain in what manner his 
motion could rescue the Church from 
future similar invasions, — unless it were 
to be inferred, that principles so very 
laxly held might be abandoned when- 
ever they should be assailed. 

The speech of Mr. Dunlop was a full 
and complete commentary on the whole 
of the Declaration, leaving nothing to be 
desired for its explanation and defence ; 
but as both that able document and speech 
have been put in the possession of entire 
Christendom, it cannot be necessary to 
insert here even the briefest outline of 
them. 

Mr. Robertson of Ellon, as usual, 
came nearer the heart of the question 
•than any other speaker on the Moderate 
side ; but still he rather dealt with points 
and specialties than attempted to grapple 
with great principles. One of his minute 
criticisms on the Act 1592, respecting the 
presbyteries being bound and astricted to 



432 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. XI. 



receive and admit qualified ministers, was 
answered by Dr. Lee, who proved that 
this expression could not mean persons 
already ordained, because out of 46 pre- 
sentations granted by the king himself 
within a year after the passing of that 
Act, 27 were in favour of persons not 
ordained. He made also a very important 
admission, by stating, that he regarded 
the interdict granted by the Court of 
Session, against the preaching of the 
gospel, by ministers appointed by the 
Church, within the seven parishes of 
Strathbogie, as an incompetent act on the 
part of the civil court. This admission — 
although subsequently Mr. Robertson was 
very anxious to limit and qualify it — was 
gladly welcomed by the majority, as in- 
dicating the existence of some ground on 
which both parties might yet accordantly 
meet. After some further discussion, and 
some able speeches by Dr. Buchanan of 
Glasgow, Mr. Gray of Perth, and others, 
the vote was taken, and the motion of 
Dr. Chalmers carried by a majority of 
131, — the numbers being 241 to 110. 

The adoption of this Claim of Rights 
and Declaration against the encroach- 
ments of the civil courts, as the resolu- 
tion of the General Assembly, was one 
of the most important and momentous 
steps ever taken by the Church of Scot- 
land. It put an end for ever to all the 
ambiguities which had hitherto sur- 
rounded her position, and obscured her 
great principles ; it placed in the most 
clear and prominent point of view the 
rights secured to her by the laws and 
constitution of the empire, rendering also 
distinctly apparent every aggression made 
by the civil courts upon these rights j and 
while it declared her firm and unalterable 
determination to maintain and defend all 
the rights, privileges, and principles 
essential to a Church of Christ, and 
secured to her by many legislative enact- 
ments, at whatever hazard, it necessarily 
assumed a position which even statesmen 
must regard with respect, and mi^ht well 
hesitate directly to assail, assured that it 
must call forth the smpathy and the ad- 
miration of all truly religious men, and 
that it could not possibly be overthrown 
without the imminent danger, if not the 
absolute certainty, of plunging the king- 
dom into the dire horrors of a wild, far- 
spreaiing revolutionary convulsion. 



j It may be remarked, that the greater 
part of the debate upon this great subject 
was not peculiarly animated. This arose 
j partly from the fact, that Dr. Cook's mo- 
; tion, instead of directly opposing that of 
Dr. Chalmers, took up what may be 
termed a parallel position, so that the 
. different speakers were not necessarily 
j brought into collision, being at liberty to 
advocate their own peculiar views with 
little reference to those of the other party, 
consequently the discussion moved slowly 
forward on parallel lines, till it came to 
j a pause rather than a conclusion. Yet 
several curious manifestations of opinion 
appeared during the debate, some of 
which have been already noticed, though 
perhaps the most remarkable were the 
explanations of spiritual independence 
and non-intrusion given by Dr. Cook and 
his friends. From these it appeared that, 
by " the spiritual independence of the 
Church," the Moderate party understand, 
the liberty enjoyed by private individuals 
to withdraw from the Church and be- 
come Dissenters if dissatisfied with it ; 
and by " non-intrusion" they understand, 
that when an unacceptable minister is 
settled in a parish, the parishioners ought 
not to be thrust forcibly into the church, 
and compelled to hear the minister aga inst 
their will. Something similar had pre- 
viously been hinted in controversial pam- 
phlets ; but the honour of seeing the 
principles of Moderatism on these points 
revealed to the light of open day, was re- 
served for the General Assembly of 
1842. 

On Thursday, May 26, there was 
brought before the Assembly the case of 
those ministers who were reported by the 
Special Commission as having held com- 
munion with the deposed seven of Strath- 
bogie, by receiving the elements of the 
Lord's Supper at their hands. These 
were, the Rev. James Robertson, minister 
at Ellon ; Rev. James Grant, at Leith ; 
Rev. John Cook, at Haddington ; Rev. 
Robert Stirling, at Galston ; Rev. Charles 
Hope, at Lamington ; Rev. John Wilson, 
at Walston ; Rev. James Bryce, late at 
Calcutta ; Rev. Alexander Cushny, at 
Rayne ; Rev. Thomas Hill, at Logiepert; 
Rev.George Peters, at Kemnay ; and Rev. 
William Mearns. missionary at Glenrin- 
nes — eleven in all. When they took their 
station at the bar TV Cook read a protes* 



A. D. 1842.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



433 



in his own name and m that of those who 
should adhere to him, against the compe- 
tency of the General Assembly to enter- 
tain a motion for regarding as a ground 
of ecclesiastical censure the charge pre- 
ferred against the ministers at the bar ; 
declaring themselves bound, whatever 
judgment the Assembly may pronounce, 
to act as circumstances might require, in 
accordance with their convictions of duty. 
The accused brethren were then asked if 
they had any statements to make to the 
Assembly. They produced a written do- 
cument, which proved to be a protest, the 
general purport of which was : — a com- 
plaint of the irregular and summary na- 
ture of the proceedings against them ; an 
admission of the truth of the matters of 
fact with which they were charged, but a 
denial that these implied any thing culpa- 
ble ; the assertion that the sentence of de- 
position passed against the seven late min- 
isters of Strathbogie was an excess of ju- 
risdiction, and therefore incompetent, and 
null and void ; and a declaration that they 
regarded their conduct as not involving 
matter of judicial procedure or ecclesias- 
tical censure. Being then asked if they 
had any further statements to make, they 
answered, that if the protest should be 
recorded in the journals of the Assembly, 
they had nothing more to say. Thus, 
contrary to all expectation, terminated 
their defence. 

Dr. Candlish then, in a speech of sur- 
passing acuteness of thought, logical pre- 
cision, and solemn, unimpassioned, yet 
impressive eloquence, proceeded to state 
the real and essential character of the 
offence committed by the accused parties. 
He disentangled their conduct alike from 
the sophistical defences of friends, and the 
exaggerated accusations of adversaries, 
placing it, when analyzed to its very ele- 
ments, in the clear dry light of severely 
simple truth, there to be viewed and 
judged by itself alone. He proved that 
it was not of the same nature as the 
off-nce for which the seven had been de- j 
posed, and that it could not become so, 
till they should violate a sentence of the 
Assembly, pronounced immediately and 
directly against themselves, and should! 
also call in the civil authority to interfere 
with the disc pline of the Church, and to 
stay the censures duly pronounced against 
tfo&m. He further reasoned, that although j 
55 



j their conduct might imply a desecration 
of the sacrament, yet it was only by infer- 
ence and construction, arguing, that as 
even civil courts did not now condemn a 
man for constructive treason, so it would 
not become an ecclesiastical court to pass 
the severest censure on what was essen- 
tially a constructive crime. Thus reduced 
( to its simplest elemental form, the offence 
committed by these brethren was shown 
to be one against the authority of the 
supreme court of the Church, that is, the 
offence of contumacy, connected with the 
encouragement of schismatic and divisive 
courses, and as such deserving direct and 
summary censure. Dr. Candlish also 
refuted several of the ordinary argjments 
used in defence of the conduct of these 
ministers, and particularly their own as- 
sertion, that they regarded the sentence 
of deposition as null and void ; showing 
that they could not rationally or conscien- 
tiously assume that as not done, wtiich 
they well knew had been done, but that 
it was their duty, both in reason and con- 
science, to view it as an existent reality, 
and then to determine what their course 
of procedure ought to be. He concluded 
his exceedingly able and luminous speech, 
by moving that the Assembly find the 
conduct of the accused ministers censur- 
able, that a committee be appointed to 
deal with them, and to report on Monday, 
on which day they be cited to appear at 
the bar. To this motion the Moderate 
party, sheltering themselves under the 
protestation given in by Dr. Cook, made 
no opposition, and it was agreed to with- 
out a. vote. 

The proceedings of the Assembly on 
Friday, May 27, embraced some matters 
of considerable importance, and were 
characterized by faithful adherence to 
principle. The case of Mr. Wilson, 
minister of Stranraer, was brought for- 
ward. This person was charged with 
fraud and swindling, and had applied for, 
and obtained an interdict prohibiting the 
Presbytery from proceeding with his trial, 
on various grounds, one of which was, 
that the presbytery was vitiated by the 
presence of a quoad sacra minister. The 
Assembly found Mr. Wilson liable to the 
highest censure of the Church for apply- 
ing to the civil court to impede the course 
of discipline, appointed a committee to 
deal with him, and to report on Monday, 



434 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP XL 



and summoned him to appear on that day. 
A similar course of procedure was adopted 
in the case of Mr. Clark, formerly pre- 
sentee to Lethendy, and residing, under 
the authority of the Court of Session, in 
the manse thereof, who was charged with 
the crimes of drunkenness, obscenity, and 
profane swearing. He too had obtained 
an interdict against the Presbytery of 
Dunkeld, as vitiated by the presence in it 
of quoad sacra ministers ; and for this 
offence he was deprived of his license, 
without further probation. In the course 
of the discussion upon this case, it was 
stated, that the First Division of the Court 
of Session had that very day, by an ap- 
parent majority of one (the real numbers 
being two to two, but the Lord Ordinary, 
Ivory, not being entitled in the circum- 
stances to vote), affirmed the interdict pro- 
hibiting the commissioners from the true 
Presbytery of Strathbogie from sitting as 
members of Assembly, thereby assuming 
the power of interfering with the consti- 
tution of the supreme ecclesiastical court 
of the Church of Scotland ; and some 
very important remarks were made on 
this subject by Mr. A. E. Monteith. 
Another interdict was treated in the same 
manner, in the case of Mr. Livingston of 
Cambusnethan, who had been convicted 
of theft, and had sought to prevent the 
pronouncing of judgment, by obtaining 
an interdict because of quoad sacra minis- 
ters. The sentence of deposition was 
pronounced by the Assembly on the spot, 
disregarding and condemning the inter- 
dict. The Assembly also rescinded and 
declared void the pretended settlement of 
Mr. Duguid in the parish of Glass, by 
the deposed ministers of Strathbogie, pro- 
nouncing him no minister of the Gospel, 
and depriving him of his license for his 
schismatic proceedings. The Culsal- 
mond case next occupied the attention of 
the Assembly. Its nature has been 
already stated, and need not be here re- 
peated. Dr. Cook moved, that the settle- 
ment of Mr. Middleton be not disturbed. 
Mr. Dunlop moved, that the complaint 
against it be sustained, that the settlement 
be rescinded, and Mr. Middleton found to 
have disqualified himself by his conduct; 
and as to the rest, reserve consideration 
of the conduct of the majority of the 
presbytery, and of Mr. Middleton, till a 
subsequent day. Professor Alexander 



moved, to reduce the settlement, on ac- 
count of the irregularities of the proce- 
dure, and to send the case back to the 
presbytery to take the special objections. 
The motions of Mr. Dunlop and Profes- 
sor Alexander were put against each 
other, and Mr. Dunlop's carried by 214 
to 8. Dr. Cook then allowed Mr. Dun- 
lop's motion to pass without another di- 
vision, and next day gave in reasons of 
dissent, signed by himself and about 60 
other members, which served to indicate 
the relative proportions of middle-men 
and decided Moderates. 

The decisions of this day gave practi- 
cal proof of the Church of Scotland's 
determination not to permit her constitu- 
tion to be violated, and her discipline pre- 
vented by the interference of the civil 
courts ; and it was a matter of no slight 
moment to perceive what kind of men 
most readily applied for, and received the 
Court of Session's illegal protection, — 
men accused of swindling, theft, drunk- 
enness, and other gross immoralities. 
The judgment of public opinion cannot 
fail sooner or later, to ratify the emphatic 
language of a member of Assembly, that 
" Church courts discharge their whole 
duty regarding such interdicts, by despi- 
sing them and trampling them under their 
feet." 

On Saturday, May 28, the report of 
the Non-Intrusion Committee, appointed 
by last Assembly, was read by Dr. Gor- 
don. After narrating the various nego- 
tiations which have been already stated, 
the report explicitly condemned any set- 
tlement, upon the basis of what had been 
termed the Liberum Arbitrium, being 
fully convinced that it would prove to be 
of the most undesirable nature, and would 
neither contain what the Church regard- 
ed as indispensable to the maintenance 
of her fundamental principles, nor afford 
due protection to the rights of the people. 
Dr. Candlish moved, that the report be 
approved of generally, and that a special 
commission be appointed, with reference 
to the present difficulties of the Church, 
instructing them to have respect to the 
several deliverances of this Assembly on 
the state of the affairs of the Church, and 
to be guided in all their proceedings and 
deliberations by the spirit of these deliver- 
ances ; the understanding being, that the 
deliverances to be thus kept in view are, 



A. D. 1842.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



435 



— the declaration that patronage is an evil 
and ought to be abolished, the assertion 
of the Church's spiritual independence, 
as stated in the Declaration and Claim of 
Rights, and the approval of the principles 
laid down in the report of the Non-Intru- 
sion Committee, namely, that the Duke 
of Argyle's bill is the very least that can 
be • accepted, and the express condemna- 
tion of any measure founded on the Lib- 
erum Arbitrium. In the discussion that 
followed the proposal of this motion, Dr. 
Leishman spoke respecting the move- 
ment of the middle party ; and laboured 
to delend their proceedings, but succeeded 
in proving nothing more than that he and 
the 40 were still enveloped in the misty 
delusions, and held fast in the snares from 
which the Non-Intrusion Committee had 
been providentially delivered. Dr. Lau- 
rie talked imposingly of the strength 
of the middle party, affirming that the* 40 
were now increased to 400 ; and that he 
regarded the rise of such a party as an 
answer to prayer for a peaceful settlement. 
Mr. Mackenzie, an elder from Inverness, 
reminded him, that men were not to take 
their own convictions and impressions for 
answers to prayer, the test of which was, 
accordance with the word of God. After 
some further discussion, Dr. Candlish re- 
plied in a singularly brilliant and effec- 
tive speech, varying from pointed retort, 
and half playful irony, till it rose towards 
the conclusion into a strain of lofty, indig- 
nant, and commanding eloquence, when 
he condemned the mean and paltry con- 
duct of statesmen in balancing words and 
clauses, and higgling about the very low- 
est terms to which conscience might be 
screwed into uneasy submission ; instead 
of dealing with the subject like a great 
question of principle, affecting the inte- 
rests of generations yet unborn, and in- 
volving the liberties of the Church, and 
the constitution of the State. 

Dr. Leishman prudently abstained from 
exhibiting the weakness of the middle 
party by a division ; the motion was car- 
ried without a vote ; and thus the great 
principle of anti-patronage and spiritual 
independence were made the rules by 
which all the future contendings of the 
Church must be guided. 

The petition of the parishioners of 
Rhynie, praying for permission to erect 
a place of worship within the boundaries 



of the adjoining parish, Auchendoir, 
brought before the notice of the Assembly 
a case of remarkable persecuting oppres- 
sion. It appeared that they had been lit- 
erally hunted out of their own parish by 
the Duke of Richmond, its sole proprietor, 
or feudal superior, and not allowed a foot 
of ground on which to build a church at 
their own expense, the parish church be- 
ing wrongfully withheld by Mr. Allar- 
dyce, notwithstanding his deposition. 
Pitying their persecuted condition, Mr. 
Leith Lumsden offered them a site for a 
church on his property, provided the As- 
sembly would grant permission, which 
was necessary, on account of its being 
beyond the proper ecclesiastical bounds 
of the parish. The prayer of the petition 
was granted by a majority of 152 to 60 ; 
and the thanks of the Assembly tendered 
to Mr. Lumsden for his Christian benevo- 
lence.* In the course of the discussion, 
Mr. Robertson of Ellon so far disgraced 
his own manly intellect, as to employ one 
of the quibbling arguments generally 
used only by the weaker men of his par- 
ty, — asking why other ministers had not 
been appointed to the seven parishes of 
Strathbogiey.according to the jus devolu- 
tion, if the previous ministers had really 
been deposed % The answer was easy 
and conclusive ; the interdicts of the civil 
courts could prevent the exercise of the 
civil right of patronage jure devoluto, 
though they could not prevent the forma- 
tion of the pastoral tie ; and, as the whole 
subject was still under undecided discus- 
sion, it was not deemed expedient, unne- 
cessarily, to embarrass final arrangements 
by any precipitate forgone conclusion. 
Mr. Robertson shrunk back from the 
topic with evident symptoms of regret that 
he had touched it. The Assembly then 
renewed their resolutions of last year, in 
favour of an inquiry into the state of the 
poor : and in following out the recom- 
mendation in the queen's letter in behoof 

* On the morning of the 13(h of June, the people of 
Rhynie assembled in great numbers, before day-break 
at the site granted for the intended church, resolved t > 
erect it before an interdict which had been threatened 
by the other heritors could be procured. Timber had 
already been prepared, and stone hewn in the adjacent 
mountains. Carts, labourers, masons, and carpenters 
plied the work with active hands and willing minds. 
Under their vigorous exertions the work. rose like an 
exhalation;" and ere the evening closed, a large, well 
executed, and commodious structure w^as nearly ready 
for the purposes of public worship. Those who think 
to crush the people of Scotland, may judge of the ener- 
gy and resolution they have to encounter by the fact, 

Of A CHUCH BUILT IN A DAY 



436 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. XL 



of the labouring classes in distress, re- 
solved to invite the co-operation of all par- 
ties, and took steps for the formation of a 
Central Committee, to be composed of per- 
sons of all denominations, at whose dispo- 
sal all the funds raised by contributions 
and collections throughout the Church 
and kingdom should be placed ; and then 
concluded the business of the week, by 
hearingthe report on Sabbath Observance. 

One incident which very impressively 
indicates the state of mind both of the As- 
sembly and of the public, must here be 
mentioned. Intimation had been given 
that on Sabbath evening a meeting of the 
Assembly for prayer would be held in 
the place of worship at that time occupied 
by the Assembly, with particular refer- 
ence to the perilous state of the Church ; 
and a dense mass of people crowded the 
house at the appointed hour, leaving 
merely the space usually allotted to the 
members. The seats on the sides com- 
monly occupied by the Evangelical ma- 
jority were soon completely filled ; but 
for a considerable time those on the Mod- 
erate side remained empty, till the assem- 
bling people, seeing that none of that par- 
ty were likely to appear, took possession 
of them. So far as was observed, not a 
single Moderate minister, with the excep- 
tion, if it be one, of Dr. Lee, came to join 
with his brethren in supplicating God to 
rescue the Church from distress and dan- 
ger, which might surely have been con- 
scientiously done in general terms, without 
specific reference to any peculiar mode of 
deliverance. The devotional services 
were conducted successively by three ven- 
erated fathers of the Church; and noth- 
ing could exceed the solemn, earnest rev- 
erential awe by which the whole vast 
congregation seemed to be pervaded and 
impressed. " God has not forsaken his 
people ; his presence is among us here !" 
was the silent but deep conviction of many 
a grateful and adoring heart, especially 
when the tremulous tones of the voice of 
prayer told the strong emotions of the 
supplicating and believing soul from 
which it rose to heaven. And when the 
sacred duties closed, men returned to their 
abodes refreshed, encouraged, and in- 
wardly thanking God for what they had 
felt, vitnessed, and enjoyed. 

Monday, the 30th day of May, was the 
last day of the Assembly's ordinary du- 



ration ; and, as there was still a large 
amount of business to be done, the House 
met at the early hour of ten. The first 
subject of importance which was taken 
up, was the report of the committee which 
had been appointed to confer with the 
ministers who had held communion with 
the late ministers of Strathbogie. The 
report was produced, and the accused 
parties appeared at the bar. When asked 
if they had any thing further to say, they 
produced a paper, which proved to be a 
protest, bearing, that in thus appearing in 
obedience to their citation, they were not 
to be held as departing from their former 
protestation, but on account of their re- 
spect for the venerable court, and their 
desire to promote the peace of the church. 
Dr. Makellar, then, in a very calm and 
temperate speech, moved, that the minis- 
ters at the bar be suspended from the ex- 
ercise of their judicial functions, as mem- 
bers of presbyteries, and all other judica- 
tories of the Church, until after the first 
Wednesday of March 1843. Mr. Mon- 
teith, advocate, disapproved of this sen- 
tence, on the ground of its not being one 
of greater severity, and, in his opinion, 
not adequate to the grave nature of the 
offence. Professor Alexander regarded 
it as too severe; but, while he disapproved 
of the proceedings of the majority, had 
no sympathy with those who talked of 
driving them out of the Church, being 
fully persuaded, that " except they re- 
mained in the ship, it could not be saved." 
Dr. Chandlish defended the proposed sen- 
tence, and explained the reasons of its 
leniency, and of its peculiar character. 
The motion was then agreed to without a 
vote ; and the accused ministers having 
reserved their right to take instruments 
and crave extracts, if they should require 
to do so, left the bar, and soon afterwards 
the Assembly, in whose proceedings 
those who were members did not attempt 
to take any further share, thus directly 
obeying the sentence. 

This sentence met with probably less 
general approbation than any other pro- 
nounced by the Assembly, partly on ac- 
count of its extreme leniency, and partly 
from want of being very accurately under- 
stood. It was very lenient, but not to 
such a degree as to involve any compro- 
mise of firmness or of principle ; and it 
met the direct nature of the offence, as 



A- D. 1842.1 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



437 



that came before the Assembly for judg- 
ment. For it must be observed, that the 
direct charge against them was one of 
disregard to the authority of the superior 
Church courts, which being contumacy, 
required to be disposed of in a summary 
manner, and which according to the prin- 
ciples of the Evangelical majority, did 
not necessarily infer deposition, unless it 
involved also some heinous sin, in which 
case the course of procedure must have 
been by way of libel. If the direct 
charge had been, that they had desecra- 
ted the sacraments, they might have been 
liable to deposition, but they must have 
been regularly tried by libel ; and 
though, perhaps, their conduct was 
thought by very many to have actually 
involved that grave charge, yet, as that 
did not necessarily appear in the accusa- 
tion brought against them, it was not le- 
gitimately before the Assembly, and could 
not have been founded on, without, at 
the very least, an apparent irregularity 
of procedure. Some people found fault 
with the sentence on another ground ; 
arguing that, if the Assembly could sus- 
pend ministers from the exercise of their 
judicial functions without interfering 
with the ministerial, why had not this 
been done at first in the case of the 
Strathbogie seven, who were at once sus- 
pended by the Commission from all their 
functions. To this there is a very easy 
and sufficient answer. Thi^suspension 
of the Strathbogie seven was not penal, 
but preventive, — it was. not intended as 
punishment for a crime already commit- 
ted, but to prevent them from committing 
a crime which they had declared their 
intention to commit, and which could not 
be prevented otherwise than by taking 
away their power to do it. For it must 
be remembered, that the Strathbogie 
seven had declared their intention to or- 
dain Mr. Edwards ; and as ordination is 
not a judicial but a ministerial act, and 
may be, and often has been, performed 
by a competent number of ministers, 
though not met as a presbytery, the sus- 
pension of their judicial functions would 
not have prevented them from being in a 
capacity to perform validly the act of or- 
dination. In short, it is fully believed, 
that the more the sentence is examined, 
calmly and impartially, the more will its 
judicious nature become evident ; and it 



is no slight merit, that, while its very 
leniency rendered its violation wholly in 
excusable, it placed the Moderate party 
in such a position, that they must either 
appear to all men the wilful disturbers of 
the public peace, or must thenceforth be 
silent respecting their boasted determina- 
tion to make common cause with the 
Strathbogie seven. 

Mr. Wilson of Stranraer was then ci- 
ted, and as he adhered to the interdict, 
was deposed. 

On the application of the parties inte- 
rested, clauses were sanctioned in the 
constitution of new churches, for the pur- 
pose of securing the property, in the 
event of a schism in the Establishment, to 
those who should adhere to the princi- 
ples of non-intrusion and spiritual inde- 
pendence, as maintained by the present 
majority. 

The regulations on calls were re-trans- 
mitted, with an alteration which would 
admit of the call being brought into ef- 
fective operation. Those parts of the re- 
gulations which related to special objec- 
tions were left out ; and the substance of 
them was embodied in a separate decla- 
ratory act ; by passing which unanimous- 
ly, the Assembly declared to be wrong, 
in ecclesiastical law, one of the principal 
points on which the Court of Session 
had decided the Culsalmond case. 

The four home missionary objects 
were included under one committee, to 
be called the Home Mission Committee. 

The revised " Claim of Rights" was 
formally and finally adopted by the As- 
sembly. 

A committee was appointed to con- 
duct the correspondence with foreign 
churches ; those namely of Holland, 
Switzerland, Prussia, Hungary, the Pro- 
testant Church of Fiance, the Walclen- 
sian Church, and the Presbyterian 
Churches in America, Ireland, and Eng- 
land, the Wesleyan and Calvinistic Me- 
thodists, and other orthodox Presbyterian 
Dissenters. 

The Assembly then passed a declara- 
tion of the Church of Scotland's deter- 
mination to maintain the principles cm 
which the ministers of quoad sacra pa 
rishes had been admitted to the enjoy- 
ment of all the rights and privileges pos- 
sessed by the other ministers of the 
Church. This, considering the fierce 



438 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. [CHAP. XI 



and continued hostility shown to the ad- 
mission of these ministers into Church 
courts, and the many interdicts granted 
by the Court of Session on that ground, 
was a peculiarly important declaration, 
but one which it was evident might 
greatly increase the intensity of the con- 
test of jurisdiction. 

A resolution was passed recommend- 
ing concert in prayer. 

A motion was passed enjoining pres- 
byteries to be careful in examining stu- 
dents and licentiates in their knowledge 
of the standards, history, and constitution 
of the Church. 

Certain alterations in the form of pro- 
cess were agreed to, the most important 
of which was, that all ministers charged 
with heresies or immoral offences should 
be suspended from the exercise of their 
ministerial functions, from the period of 
their being libelled to the termination of 
their case. This was strenuously op- 
posed by the Moderates, but carried with- 
out a vote. An overture was passed, and 
directed to be transmitted to presbyteries, 
the object of which was to prohibit the 
conjunction of professorships with minis- 
terial charges, even within university 
towns, and thereby to put an end to every 
kind and degree of pluralities. Lastly, 
a day of fasting and humiliation was ap- 
pointed to be observed on Thursday the 
2 1st of July; and instructions were given 
that a pastoral address should be prepared 
to be read from all the pulpits in the 
Church. 

With these solemn acts the Assembly 
closed its deliberations. 

The moderator presented to the Lord 
High Commissioner the Claim of Rights, 
with an address to the Q,ueen, request- 
ing him to present them to her Majesty ; 
and also an address in favour of the abo- 
lition of patronage, requesting him to 
present it likewise to the Queen. His 
Grace replied that he would have the ho- 
nour of presenting the address and 
Olaim of Rights to her Majesty, and also 
of presenting the anti-patronage address ; 
but wished it to be distinctly understood, 
that in doing so he expressed no appro- 
bation of it. The Marquis of Breadal- 
bane, who had signed a petition for the 
repeal of Queen Anne's Act, was re- 
quested to p-esent the anti-patronage pe- 



tition to the House of Lords, and Mr. 
Fox Maule to the House of Commons. 

The moderator then addressed the 
house, in a speech remarkable for its 
eloquence of language, and solemn ele- 
vation of thought ; and having conclu 
ded, he dissolved the Assembly in the 
name of the divine Head and King of 
the Church, the Lord Jesus Christ. Then 
turning to the Lord High Commissioner, 
he preferred to him the thanks of the 
Assembly, and expressed their united 
prayers for his Grace's best welfare. 
His Grace having also gone through the 
form of dissolving the Assembly, the mod- 
erator prayed ; and after a portion of 
Scripture had been read, and the conclu- 
sion of the 122d Psalm had been sung, 
the apostolic benediction was pronounced, 
and the important Assembly of 1842 was 
closed. 

It is impossible to reflect upon the pro- 
ceedings of the General Assembly of 
1842, without coming to the conclusion, 
that it marked an era of vast importance 
in the history of the Church of Scotland. 
It became evident to every reflecting per- 
son, that from it would be dated either the 
overthrow of the Presbyterian Church 
in this kingdom, or her Third Refor- 
mation. There remained no longer any 
obscurity respecting her principles, nor 
any retreat from her position. States- 
men and rijpn of the world might indeed 
regard her with increased hostility, but 
they could no longer affect to misunder- 
stand her demands. They might still 
view her as weak and unable to resist 
their political power, but they could not 
continue to misrepresent the contest as 
merely one between two rival parties in 
her own communion, nor pretend that 
her own internal disunion, and the bal- 
ance of conflicting parties within her, 
were the reasons why they refused to 
take her claims and complaints into con- 
sideration. In several respects, also, her 
own position was greatly improved. The 
first vote of the Assembly, on the day of 
its meeting, respecting the commissions 
from Strathbogie, indicated the strength 
and determination of the majority, dis- 
pirited the Moderate party, and gave 
both calmness and decision to all its sub* 
sequent procedure, — the calmness of con- 



A. D. 1842.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



439 



scious strength, the decision of sound 
principle held in fearless integrity. The 
rescinding of the sectarian act of 1799 
restored the Church of Scotland to Chris- 
tian communion with other orthodox 
Christian Churches, and harmonized 
completely with the deep interest felt in 
her present struggles by all the religious- 
minded people of Protestant Christen- 
dom ; and with the presence in the As- 
sembly both of the deputations from 
England and Ireland, and also with that 
of pious and intelligent ministers from 
Prussia and Switzerland, who witnessed 
the proceedings with the most intense at- 
tention and delight. 

By resolving to apply for the abolition 
of patronage, as in itself a grievance and 
the main cause of her present troubles, 
the Church not only dispelled the illu- 
sions in which her reforming move- 
ments had been so long involveu, taking 
once more the old and well-known 
ground of other days, on which she 
might with confidence expect the high- 
hearted and faithful of the land to rally 
in her defence ; but also, although almost 
incidentally, broke and dispersed the 
threatened confederacy of a middle party, 
uniting at the same time, more firmly 
than ever, the reforming majority. By 
«he Declaration and Claim of Rights, 
.he great principles in defence of which 
the contest had been waged, were brought 
forward in the most definite and promi- 
nent manner, clearly proved to be not a 
temporary conflict of parties, but the old 
and great struggle between the Church 
and the w r orld, and the whole subject was 
suitably prepared to be laid before the 
Legislature, and displayed to the uni- 
verse. And by the firm determination 
shown to suppress internal insurrection, 
by punishing, mildly yet unhesitatingly, 
those who held communion with deposed 
men, — who applied to the civil courts for 
interdicts to stay the course of ecclesiasti- 
cal discipline, — or who entered into cen- 
surable private engagements with patrons; 
and also by her declared resolution to 
maintain the rights of quoad sacra minis- 
ters at all hazards, the Church proved 
that she was in earnest, and must conquer 
or perish. By occupying, distinctly and 
decidedly, these three positions, the 
Church came directly and immediately 
into contact with the three great worldly 



powers in the kingdom — the aristocracy, 
on the ground of anti-patronage ; the 
legislature, through the Claim of Rights ; 
and the courts of civil law, in defence of 
the quoad sacra ministers. These are 
formidable antagonists ; but the Moderate 
party were thoroughly discomfited ; the 
danger of disunion threatened by the 
middle-men disappeared ; and the position 
was taken which the religious people of 
Scotland can understand, and have al- 
ways shown themselves ready to defend. 

And what did all this portend 1 Peace ? 
Not so, but rather the preparation for a 
desperate and conclusive struggle. Like 
an army preparing to decide the war by 
a pitched engagement, the Church of 
Scotland, in the Assembly of 1842, ad- 
vanced beyond the thickets, cleared the 
battle ground, called in the skirmishers, 
seized on the strengths of the position, 
and took her stand arrayed beneath the 
sacred banner of the divine Captain of 
her salvation, ready in his name, and 
under his command, to fight the good 
fight of faith, " strong in the Lord and in 
the power of his might." 

The effect of the proceedings of the 
Assembly upon the mind and feelings of 
the entire empire was sudden and great. 
Before its meeting, all parties and classes 
of men had looked forward to it with 
various anticipations, but all expecting 
that it would inevitably bring the contest 
nearly to a close. For some time after 
it rose, its proceedings formed almost the 
sole topic of discussion in every circle, 
and in every periodical publication. By 
some, the whole conduct of the Church 
was vehemently condemned ; by others, 
not less warmly applauded. Politicians 
in general, of every name and shade, 
were loud and violent in their censure ; 
while, on the other hand, all persons and 
denominations of distinguished piety and 
spirituality of mind, expressed great ad- 
miration of the faithfulness, zeal, and in- 
trepidity displayed by the Church of 
Scotland in such a time of anxieties and 
perils. The only religious bodies that 
indicated disapproval were those tinctured 
with Erastianism, — such as Episcopa- 
lians, Moderates, and Middle-men. This 
was to be expected, because they could 
not sympathize with the fundamental 
principles of the Church of Scotland, es- 



440 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. XI. 



pecially in the article of spiritual inde- 
pendence, if indeed they understood what 
that great principle really meant. In 
the higher regions of the political world, 
the feeling appeared to be that of stern 
and unappeaseable indignation. That a 
Church should dare to tell statesmen that 
she regarded herself as altogether inde- 
pendent of their control, while acting in 
her own province, and deciding upon 
spiritual matters, was, in their estimation, 
a degree of presumption not to be en- 
dured, and they took the earliest oppor- 
tunity of displaying their determined 
hostility to such a lofty and unpardonable 
claim. 

The first opportunity that presented 
itself was on the 15th of June, the day to 
which the second reading of Campbell 
of Monzie's bill had been postponed at 
the request of the Government itself. On 
that day, instead of permitting the discus- 
sion respecting that measure to proceed, 
as had been expected, the Speaker directed 
the attention of the house to an objection 
in point of form, stating, that since the 
bill affected crown patronages, it could 
not be discussed without involving a 
breach of the royal prerogative, unless 
the permission of the crown were first 
obtained. No such objection had been 
urged against the previous bills of Lord 
Aberdeen, or the Duke of Argyle, al- 
though these equally affected crown pa- 
tronages ; nor had Monzie's bill been 
prevented on that ground at its first read- 
ing ; but the ministry probably expected 
that they would thus display their decided 
disapprobation of the Church of Scot- 
land's claims, and awe her into submis- 
sion by their haughty and contemptuous 
treatment. If so, they only proved how 
little they understood both the principles 
which they thus scornfully rejected, and 
the men with whom they had to deal. 
A still stronger and more grave accusa- 
tion might be brought against them, as 
statesmen. Was it prudent, was it con- 
sistent with sound constitutional policy, 
thus summarily to crush a bill brought 
forward for the redress of grievances, and 
the vindication of the rights and privi- 
leges of an important body of British 
subjects, by the mere assertion of the 
royal prerogative ? No person who fully 
understands and values the true princi- 
ples of British liberty will ever attempt to 



! vindicate such conduct; and no friend of 

' the British monarchy will ever regard it 
as an example to be followed, but rather 

1 as a dangerous error to be carefully 

! shunned. 

This conduct of the ministry was fol- 

j lowed by various effects which thfy could 
scarcely have contemplated. Many peo- 
ple, not peculiarly friendly to the Church, 

! exclaimed against it as a mean evasion, 
by which Government contrived to avoid 
a discussion which they dared not openly 
meet. It was evident that the Church 
was ready to lay her claims before the 
public, and earnestly courted the fullest 

I possible discussion ; and the counterpart 
idea was scarcely less evident, that this 
was exactly what her opponents were 
anxious to prevent. Her character for 
conscious honesty of purpose, was ele- 
vated, while that of the ministry suffered 
a corresponding depression. But the 
Church was not to be so easily baffled, 
and reduced to silence. If Government 
had resolved to turn a deaf ear to her ap- 

! plication, she could address the kingdom. 
It was accordingly arranged, that on the 
first week of July, simultaneous meetings 

1 should be held throughout the whole of 
Scotland, for the purpose of stating, ex- 
plaining and advocating the principles 

| declared and defended, and the proceed- 

1 ings followed by the recent General A3- 

1 sernbly. These meetings were very 

' numerously attended : and the clear, able, 

' and eloquent addresses of so many emi- 
nent men contributed greatly to dispel 
ignorance and prejudice, called forth in 

! almost every instance the most enthusias- 
tic expressions of approbation, and tended 
greatly to prepare the public mind for 
the important events that were soon to 
follow. In a great number of places as- 
sociations were formed for the defence of 
the Church, and for the purpose of pro- 

! rnoting the circulation of the necessary 
information, that Scotland might be made 

: aware of the position of imminent pei il in 
which her venerated and beloved Church 
had been placed by treacherous factions 
within her own pale, and by the hostility 
of the civil powers. 

About the same time, the General As- 
sembly of the Presbyterian Church in 
Ireland met at Belfast ; and on the 8th 
of July a deputation of the General As- 

, sembly of the Church of Scotland ad 



A. D. 1842.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



441 



dressed the Irish Assembly, and received 
from that body the most encouraging re- 
ception, and the warmest assurance of 
aid in the struggle for the defence of great 
and sacred principles in which she was 
engaged. 

A new case of great importance was 
brought before the Court of Session on 
;he 28th day of June. This was the 
Stewarton case, the nature of which it is 
necessary briefly to state. In conse- 
quence of the act of Assembly 1839, ad- 
mitting the Associate Synod of the Seces- 
sion into connection and full communion 
with the Church of Scotland, a congre- 
gation of that body, who had their place 
of worship in the village of Stewarton, 
Ayrshire, applied to the presbytery of 
Irvine, within whose bounds the village 
is situated, to be so received and admitted. 
The presbytery complied with this re- 
quest ; and Mr. Clelland, the minister of 
that congregation, having signed the 
Confession of Faith, his name was added 
to the roll, and he took his place in the 
presbytery. Subsequently the presby- 
tery were interdicted from assigning a 
territorial district to the pastoral superin- 
tendence of Mr. Clelland, at the instance 
of William Cunninghame, Esq. of Lain- 
shaw, and other proprietors. This inter- 
dict was granted in March 1840, and ren- 
dered perpetual on the 15th June same 
year. Tne presbytery, after having re- 
ceived the authoritative sanction of the 
synod of Glasgow and Ayr, and the 
Commission of Assembly, proceeded to 
point out a territorial district quoad spir- 
itualist, within which the minister of the 
Stewarton congregation should exercise 
his sacred functions, expressly declaring, 
at the same time, that no civil right be- 
longing to any party should be held to be 
affected in any degree by that arrange- 
ment. The case assumed a somewhat 
new form shortly afterwards. Mr. Clel- 
land having demitted his charge, a call 
was given by the congregation to another 
person to be his successor. The heritors 
immediately applied for a special inter- 
dict to prevent the induction of another 
minister into the vacant charge, which 
was granted on the 17th of March 1841. 
By another change of circumstances the 
case assumed a new, and still more sim- 
ple and unsecular aspect. A portion of 
the original congregation had opposed 
5C 



the union with the Establishment, and 
raised an action to claim the right of 
property in the place of worship. In this 
action they were successful ; and about 
the same time the person in whose favour 
the call had been given died. There was 
now a congregation without either min* 
ister or place of worship, so that the case 
was completely denuded of every vestige 
of personal rights or civil property, and 
it might have been expected that the case 
before the civil court had of itself termi- 
nated. But when the presbytery were 
about to moderate in a call to a minister 
to the congregation alone, without place 
of worship or civil interests of any kind 
being even by possibility involved, they 
were again met by the interdict of the 
civil court, prohibiting the appointment 
of " any minister to the new parish pro- 
posed to be erected ;" and also prohibit- 
ing the presbytery from receiving into 
their number "any minister or elder, in 
respect to their alleged election or nomi- 
nation to their respective offices in the 
said new parish." 

Such were the main facts of the Stew- 
arton case, when it was fully brought be- 
fore the Court of Session. It will be evi- 
dent to every one, that by the singular 
process of events it had been stripped of 
all that could even seem to involve a civil 
right, in the ordinary sense of that term, 
since it could affect neither person nor 
property. The question, therefore, ap- 
peared, in the simplest possible form, — 
" Had civil courts the power to prevent 
the Church of Scotland from extending 
the means of spiritual instruction to the 
community as necessity required, by 
forming or receiving congregations, or- 
daining ministers and other office-bear- 
ers, and giving to them the full possession 
of all the spiritual functions which in 
every true Presbyterian Church ordina- 
tion has always been held to convey ?" 
This, it must be evident, was an abso- 
lutely vital question ; and upon its de- 
cision alone, even had there been no 
other cause of collision between the civil 
and ecclesiastical courts, must have de- 
pended the fate of the Church of Scotland. 
For if it be in the power of hostile heri- 
tors and civil courts to prevent the spirit- 
ual growth of the Church, while the 
population is rapidly increasing, they 
L may, within the course of a single gen- 



442 



HISTORY Or THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. XI 



eration, reduce it to the condition of being 
the Church of a minority, and may then 
safely abolish it altogether, if so inclined. 
And still more, if the civil courts have 
the power of laying an arrest on the pro- 
gress of any Christian Church, they 
must also be viewed as having the power 
to stop the progress of the Redeemer's 
kingdom ; or at least, the power of ren- 
dering such Church no longer truly 
Christian, by taking from it the liberty 
of obeying Christ by extending his king- 
dom. To this the Church of Scotland 
could not submit, without ceasing to be a 
Church of Christ ; consequently it was 
evident, that an adverse decision of this 
vital question would bring before her the 
alternative, whether to yield up her 
Christian character, or to abandon, if re- 
dress could not be obtained, the civil ad- 
vantages and emoluments of an Estab- 
lished Church, — an alternative which, 
by any sincere Christian, must always 
and at once be regarded as no alternative 
at all. 

The pleadings before the Court of this 
important case began on the 2 1st of June, 
and closed on the 28th of the same month. 
Immediately upon the close of the plead- 
ings by the counsel for the presbytery, 
the Lord President drew the attention of 
the Court to that part of the plea by the 
defenders in which they declined the 
jurisdiction of the civil court in spiritual 
matters ; expressing his opinion that if it 
were construed as the language seemed 
to imply, it might be regarded as sedi- 
tious, and it might be necessary to com- 
mit the parties using it to immediate im- 
prisonment! It seemed as if the spirit 
of James VI. had taken possession of the 
presiding judges, and were about to re- 
enact the persecution of Black, and 
Welsh, and Melville. But the threaten- 
ing storm abated ; permission was grant- 
ed to explain the language of the plea ; 
and in the course of a few days an ex- 1 
planation was produced and accepted, \ 
which, while expressed in more cautious ; 
and guarded terms, contained a declina- 
ture of the jurisdiction of the civil court j 
in spiritual matters, as distinct and ex- 
plicit as before. The result of this dis- 
cussion was so far favourable to the 
Church; for the explanation being 
allowed to be entered on the record, the 
plea of independence in spiritual matters j 



was thereby secured in that case, let the 
ultimate decision be what it might. It 
was of advantage also, as incidentally 
vindicating the Church from the calum- 
nious accusation, that, by pleading at all, 
she admitted the jurisdiction of the civil 
courts, and then refused to obey it, when 
an adverse decision was given. Yet 
strange as it may appear, although the 
Court of Session was undeniably baffled 
by the respectful firmness of the counsel 
for the Church, the Moderate party had 
the effrontery loudly to proclaim, that the 
Church had at last abandoned the plea 
of spiritual independence. It certainly 
required no little hardihood to make such 
an assertion in the face of printed records, 
to which any person might have access ; 
yet it was made, for habit is very power- 
ful. The final decision of the Stewarton 
case Was then postponed, with the view, 
avowedly, of securing to it time for full 
deliberation. 

On the 19th of July the Court of Ses- 
sion decided another element of the 
Auchterarder case. It will be remem- 
bered that, when the House of Lords 
affirmed the decision of the Court of Ses- 
sion, the Church yielded to that decision 
to the extent specified in the act 1592, 
leaving to the patron "the haill fruits of 
the benefice." But as the act of parlia- 
ment respecting the Widows' Fund as- 
signed all vacant stipends to that fund, 
the point was litigated whether the sti- 
pend of Auchterarder should belong to 
the Widows' Fund or to the Earl of 
Kinnoul. The decision of the Court of 
Session, the whole Judges being present, 
was in favour of the patron against the 
claim of the Widows' Fund, by a ma- 
jority of eight to five. The First Di- 
vision gave the expenses to the pursuers. 
This decision, however contrary to the 
plain meaning of an act of Parliament, 
had an apparent tendency to clear the 
question between the conflicting jurisdic- 
tions, and to diminish the subjects of liti- 
gation. For the patron's action of dama- 
ges ought in equity to be regarded as 
having lost its ground, since the Court 
had decided that the presentation secured 
the fruits of the benefice, so that the veto 
of the congregation could inflict no dam- 
age upon what are termed " the patrimo- 
nial rights of the patron," or upon the 
presentee, who might at any time be put 



A. D. 1842.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



443 



in possession of them. It had also an- 
other effect. It rendered the question of 
jurisdiction as simple and essential as in 
the Stewarton case ; since, if any further 
steps were to be taken against the 
Church, it could only be for the purpose 
of attempting, by civil coercion, to com- 
pel her to perform the spiritual act of or- 
dination, even when separated from the 
usual civil consequences, these having 
been already disposed of according to the 
patron's claim. 

A great number of interdicts were 
granted on the same day, at the instance 
of the deposed Strathbogie seven — some 
on claims which they preferred, others 
against members sent to the Assembly 
from the true Presbytery of Strathbogie 
to the recent Assembly, — with the con- 
currence of her Majesty's advocate, pray- 
ing the Court " to inflict such punish- 
ment, by imprisonment, fine, or otherwise, 
as might be considered necessary and 
proper." Also at the instance of other 
ministers who had been deposed by the 
late Assembly, on account of attempting 
to stop the course of justice when accu- 
sed of flagrant crimes, by seeking and 
obtaining interdicts on the ground of the 
presence in Church courts of quoad sacra 
ministers, although no decision had yet 
been given by the civil court on that 
question. Interdicts were also granted 
against the Special Commission appoint- 
ed to take charge of the religious inter- 
ests of Strathbogie, Culsalmond, and 
other places in similar circumstances. 
And petions and complaints were ap- 
plied for and subsequently granted against 
those who were engaged in ordaining 
Mr. Henry to the new Church at Mar- 
noch, and Mr. Arthur at Stewarton, al- 
though no civil interests were involved 
in either of these cases. Such proceed- 
ings served very clearly to indicate the 
determination of the opponents of the 
Church to force on a speedy crisis ; and 
they formed a very intelligible comment 
on what was meant by some members of 
the Legislature when they spoke of " al- 
lowing the law to take its course." 

One strange and almost incredible 
case of civil interference in spiritual 
matters deserves to be particularly noted. 
On Sabbath the 7th of August, the sa- 
crament of the Lord's Supper was dis- 
pensed at Stranraer by the deposed minis- 



ter to about twenty or thirty people ; and 
on the same by two of the ministers of 
the presbytery, in the church of the Re- 
formed Presbyterians, to upwards of four 
hundred communicants. No sooner was 
it known that the use of this church had 
been granted to the presbytery, than an 
interdict was applied for to prohibit that 
congregation from affording even that 
temporary accommodation to their fellow- 
worshippers. Nor did the Court of Ses- 
sion hesitate to grant it; thus perpetiating 
a gross outrage upon the rights both oi 
conscience and of private property, and 
assailing a body of Christians uncon- 
nected with the Establishment. 

While this small, yet most harassing 
warfare was going on in Scotland, an 
event took place in England which vir- 
tually decided the conflict. This was the 
decision of - the second appeal to the 
House of Lords in the Auchterarder case. 
The first appeal regarded the question, 
whether the presbytery had acted legally 
in refusing to ordain Mr. Young when 
vetoed by the communicants. The se- 
cond was, whether the presbytery were 
liable to an action of damages in conse- 
quence of that refusal. It has already 
been shown that the action for damages 
did not, and could not proceed upon the 
ground of a civil injury sustained by pa- 
tron and presentee ; for the Court had 
awarded the fruits of the benefice to the 
patron. The Court of Session, never- 
theless, had decreed that the presbytery 
was liable to an action of damages ; and 
the case had been appealed to the House 
of Lords. On the 9th of August the 
case was brought before the House ; and 
the Lord Chancellor (Lyndhurst), and 
Lords Cottenham, Brougham, and Camp- 
bell, guiding, as law lords, the judgment 
of the House in legal questions, decided 
that the presbytery of Auchterarder was 
liable to an action of damages at the in- 
stance of the patron and his presentee, 
for refusing to ordain Mr. Young, al- 
though no civil interest was any longer 
involved in the refusal. These learned 
Lords never once adverted to the consti- 
tution of the Church of Scotland, by 
which an independent ecclesiastical ju- 
risdiction was secured to it in many un- 
repealed acts of parliament ; but reason- 
ing from vague generalities, totally in- 
applicable, and from cases in English 



444 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. [CHAP. XI 



law, affirmed the liability unanimously, 
and without hesitation. The necessary 
effect of that judgment was, that the 
Church courts were held liable to actions 
of d images for refusing to perform a 
purely spiritual act ; and conversely, by 
parity of reason, for performing a purely 
spiritual act, — consequently, all ecclesias- 
tical government and discipline were at 
once laid prostrate by that most iniquitous 
and unconstitutional decision. Nay, it 
might be truly asserted, that by this de- 
cision ecclesiastical courts were alto- 
gether abolished, for the very essence of 
a court is its liberty to decide according 
to its own conscientious conviction j and 
therefore, that it is no court where not 
only can the sentences be reversed, but 
the judges themselves punished for their 
judgment. From the moment that this 
judgment was passed, it became evident 
to every spiritually-rninded and reflecting 
man, that unless the legislature should 
very speedily set it aside by a new enact- 
ment, repressing the encroachments of 
the civil courts, the Church of Scotland 
could not continue in connection with 
the State, but must protest, remonstrate, 
and retire, leaving to the " Prince of the 
kings of the earth," her own Head and 
King, to vindicate His own cause in His 
own time and way. Such was the grave 
opinion generally entertained by the 
evangelical body, while their narrow- 
minded and short-sighted opponents re- 
garded it merely as a mode of crushing 
them into subjection by civil pains and 
penalties, — unaware, in their ignorance, 
that men who know and can appreciate 
spiritual liberty, can suffer in its defence, 
but cannot yield it, be the peril what it 
may. 

On the 10th of August the Commis- 
sion of Assembly held its usual quarterly 
meeting, and was numerously attended. 
Some discussion ensued respecting the 
delay that had taken place in presenting 
to the Queen the Claim of Rights, and 
the Address for the Abolition of Patron- 
age ; when it appeared that the delay 
was accidental and unintentional. The 
case of Abertaff was reported to the Com- 
mission, from which it appeared that the 
minister, Mr. Smith, had procured inter- 
dicts, not only against the presbytery, for- 
bidding them to proceed with his trial, 
but also against the list of witnesses, pro- 



hibiting them from appearing to bear 
evidence. The case was remitted to the 
Assembly, and the presbytery empowered 
to make provision for the dispensation of 
religious ordinances in the parish. A 
communication was received from Ameri- 
ca, proposing the commemoration of the 
Westminster Assembly, to be held on the 
1st day of July 1843, that being the day 
on which it first met two hundred years 
before. The same idea had been sug- 
gested to the Irish Assembly at Belfast, 
who entered cordially into the suggestion, 
as did also the Presbyterian Church in 
England. A committee was formed for 
the purpose of devising the best method 
of co-operating with all Presbyterian 
Churches ir. that important matter, which 
presented so favourable an opportunity of 
concentrating the energies of Presbyte- 
rianism, and diffusing its principles with 
increased vigour throughout the world. 

There was a considerably numerous 
meeting of the Moderate party held on 
the morning of the 10th, Principal Hal- 
dane of St Andrews in the chair, at 
which it was determined to support the 
deposed Strathbogie men, and to send a 
deputation to assist those persons in their 
pretended celebration of the sacrament of 
the Lord's Supper. This determination 
was announced in the newspapers of next 
day, rendering it publicly manifest, that, 
like the civil couits, the Moderates were 
resolved to prosecute every means of 
forcing on the crisis, even before it was 
known that the second Auchterarder de- 
cision, given by the House of Lords the 
preceding day, had already done the des- 
tructive deed. 

A special meeting of Commission was 
held on the 30th of August, for the pur- 
pose of preparing an address to the 
Q,ueen, on her Majesty's visit to Scot- 
land. When the Commission met, a 
sharp discussion took place on a prelimi- 
nary point of great importance. It was 
the general opinion, that as her Majesty's 
visit was not on State affairs, it would not 
be expedient to introduce the subject of 
the.serious dangers impending over the 
Church into the address itself; but the 
majority thought it necessary to pass a 
motion, for the purpose of having it en- 
tered on the Commission's records, in 
which should be declared the determina- 
tion of the Church to maintain her sacred 



A. D. 1843.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



445 



spiritual rights and liberties, and that even 
with increased energy and resolution, in 
consequence of the increasing danger 
caused by recent events, together with a 
statement of the reason why the Commis- 
sion refrained from bringing the subject 
before her Majesty in present circum- 
stances. The Moderate party vehemently 
opposed all reference to any such subject, 
venturing to stigmatize the very sugges- 
tion as savouring of a want of loyalty, 
and certainly tending to foment strife. A 
very animated debate arose upon this mo- 
tion, the most remarkable feature of 
which was, that when reference was 
made to the recent decision affirming lia- 
bility to damages in the Auchterarder 
case, and when it was said, that unless 
that decision should be reversed, it must 
ere long issue in the breaking up of the 
Establishment, the Moderates received 
the declaration with shouts of exultation 
and mockery. This drew from Dr. 
Candlish an indignant rebuke, in a speech 
altogether worthy of himself and of the 
occasion, in which he nobly vindicated 
the principles and the loyalty of the 
Church of Scotland, — referring to the 
period when our covenanted ancestors, 
although firmly opposing a monarch's 
despotism, were yet alone found faithful 
to that monarch in his adversity. The 
motion was carried against two others, 
one of an intermediate, and another of a 
more decided character; and addresses 
were prepared, and deputations appointed 
to present them to her Majesty and Prince 
Albert. 

This was the first meeting of a supe- 
rior Church court since the second Auch- 
terarder decision , and it was not difficult 
to perceive the effect of that event upon 
the two contending parties. The Evan- 
gelical majority displayed the grave, yet 
resolute bearing, the calm, deliberate 
courage and energy of men who were 
fully aware of the dangers by which 
they were menaced, and as fully prepared 
to meet them with unshrinking fortitude, 
relying with unwavering faith on the 
strength and wisdom of God to support 
and guide them in the hour of need. On 
the Moderate side, there was manifest an 
air of anticipated triumph, and a heart- 
less spirit of delight in the difficulties of 
-heir opponents, though they could not 
but be aware that the recent decision of 



the House of Lords involved the breaking 
up, to a greater or less extent, of the 
Church of Scotland as an establishment. 
For it required no very great degree of 
penetration to see, that the Evangelical 
majority could not yield to that judgment 
without such a loss of character, and 
consequently of moral influence, as 
would destroy their usefulness, and at the 
same time confirm the Voluntary argu- 
ment, — in addition to the withering effect 
upon themselves of a violated conscience : 
or, if they should in a body quit connec- 
tion with the State, the Establishment 
would, by that very act, receive a shock 
from which it could not recover. Yet 
they evidently rejoiced to see the Church 
of Scotland in such imminent peril, being 
unable, apparently, to see in it any thing 
else but a preliminary step to their own 
restoration to power. Even their own 
explanation of their cheers, when allusion 
was made to the impending disruption of 
the Establishment, " that it was because 
they did not believe the announcement," 
implied such a disbelief in the honest in- 
tegrity of their opponents as proved them- 
selves to be destitute of that character, 
according to the well known maxim, that 
each man suspects that of others which 
he knows to be true of himself It was, 
in short, a melancholy proof of the heart- 
less cruelty, and want of principle, char- 
acteristic of thorough Moderatism. 

Availing themselves of the opportu- 
nity presented by the presence of so many 
ministers in Edinburgh, the Evangelical 
body held several private meetings for 
mutual consultation respecting the course 
now to be adopted, in consequence of the 
new position in which affairs had been 
placed by the recent decision. It was the 
opinion of some of the most determined 
men, that the proper course would be, for 
presbyteries to decline proceeding to or- 
dination in all cases of presentation, and 
to refer each to the next General As- 
sembly. Others thought that the Church 
should regard the decision of the House 
of Lords as altogether incompetent, and 
not binding on the conscience, and should 
therefore proceed as if it had never been 
pronounced, ordaining where the pre- 
sentee was acceptable and qualified, and 
refusing to ordain where he was reje cted. 
At length an intermediate course received 
the approbation of the greater number ; 



416 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. XI. 



and it was generally agreed, that pres- 
byteries might proceed as under the Veto 
Act, carefully guarding, in each instance, 
against being thought to consent to the 
principle of the late decision, by entering 
on their records a strong protest, which 
should embody a new and explicit asser- 
tion of the constitutional principles, rights, 
and privileges of the Church. This 
plan was very soon carried into effect in 
several presbyteries, the example having 
been set by the presbytery of Edinburgh 
in the case of Mr. Arnot's presentation 
to Ratho. There can be little doubt that, 
in point of what may be termed theoretical 
propriety, the first of these plans would 
have been the most correct. For it is 
clear, that presbyteries could not be re- 
garded as acting freely on their own re- 
sponsibility as office-bearers of the Church, 
when inducting presentees, under the 
penalty of being liable to actions of 
damages if they should refuse, however 
much opposed the people might be to the 
persons presented, and however tho- 
roughly convinced the presbytery might 
be that the appointment of a person, in 
such circumstances, could not be for edi- 
fication. Jt was felt, too, that to act con- 
scientiously in such a condition would 
try severely the firmness of the most de- 
termined, and might prove a grievous 
snare to those of weaker and more timid 
character. Yet it was well that an inter- 
mediate course was adopted, since it 
avoided hastening on the crisis prema- 
turely, and allowed the full developement 
of all the evils that rendered the last step 
necessary. 

The Queen's visit gave occasion to the 
manifestation of another element in the 
general contest. Her Majesty landed at 
Granton on the morning of Thursday, 
September 1, and proceeded to Dalkeith, 
where she resided with the Duke of Buc- 
cleuch. But instead of attending divine 
worship in the High Church of Edin- 
burgh, as constitutionally the Presbyte- 
rian sovereign of a Presbyterian king- 
dom, and as George IV. on*his visit had 
done, the dining-room at Dalkeith was 
turned into a temporary chapel, a pulpit 
being erected at the one end of it, and 
Mr. Ramsay, Episcopalian minister of 
St. John's Chapel, Edinburgh, a decided 
Puseyite, was sent for to officiate. How 
Mr. Ramsay reconciled it to his con- 



science to preach in what he would re 
gard as an unconsecrated place, it is not 
easy to imagine. Again, at Drummond 
Castle, the Queen attended the ministra- 
tions of an Episcopalian chaplain, neglect- 
ing the Establishment, which she had 
sworn to support, and giving her coun- 
tenance to its avowed and implacable 
enemy. It was not supposed that this 
arose from any hostility entertained by 
the sovereign against the Church of Scot- 
land, but from the well known hostility 
of her constitutional advisers against the 
reforming and evangelical majority. The 
Earl of Aberdeen attended her Majesty, 
in the function, it was understood, of 
Home Secretary ; and no one who re- 
membered the part he had a.I along 
acted, could doubt his determined enmity 
against the cause, and the men whom he 
had attempted to delude, and then bitterly 
calumniated and reviled. With remark- 
able infatuation, the Moderate party ap- 
peared to rejoice in the evident disrespect 
done to the Church. They did not seem 
to perceive, that if the Presbyterian 
Church of Scotland should be over- 
thrown, they must either join its destroy- 
ers, or perish in its ruins. The Puseyite 
Episcopalians rejoiced greatly in the sun- 
shine of royal favour which thus shone 
around them ; and their prelates presented 
an address of no doubtful import to her 
Majesty, boasting of their obedience to 
the laws. For some time after the oc- 
currence of this event, there appeared 
symptoms of an incipient controversy in 
nearly all the periodical organs of the 
various parties m the country ; but it was 
suppressed, though with very manifest 
difficulty, by the reluctance universally 
felt to say any thing that might appear 
personally disrespectful to the youthful 
and beloved Queen. There is some 
reason, however, to believe, that the sup- 
pressed feeling of dissatisfaction died not 
away, but merely sunk into the still 
depths of the heart of Scotland, adding 
another element of strength to the anti- 
prelatic under-current that there sweeps 
steadily along, waiting its time to pour 
forth its irresistible might when the full 
hour of retribution shall have come. 

For a short period the contest seemed 
to have subsided, during the busy time of 
harvest. But even in this interval oi 
comparative quiescence, there were sev- 



A. D. 1842.] 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



447 



eral indications of unabated hostility 
against the Church, on the part of the 
civil courts. An interdict was granted 
against the presbytery of Arbroath, and 
laid before that court on the 5th of Octo- 
ber, forbidding them to prevent the ad- 
mission to the Lord's Table of a person 
who had, as it was alleged, in a state of 
drunkenness, disturbed the public wor- 
ship of God in the parish church of In- 
verkeillor, and had refused to submit to 
the requirements of church discipline. 
It began also to be customary for opposing 
heritors to apply for and obtain interdicts 
forbidding meetings to be held in parish 
churches, — a course which" was exten- 
sively followed during the succeeding 
winter and spring, as if for the suppres- 
sion of arguments which they could not 
answer. 

But this short breathing-time was not 
unimproved. It allowed leisure for de- 
liberate reflection, respecting the state of the 
Church, and the course of conduct which 
that state had rendered necessary. About 
the middle of October, a circular letter, 
signed by 32 of the most able, pious, and 
venerable fathers of the Church, was sent 
to all those ministers throughout the king- 
dom, who had in general acted w T ith, and 
contributed to form, the Evangelical ma- 
jority. In this circular, attention was 
directed to the peculiar character and in- 
evitable consequences of the second 
Auchterarder decision, as subversive of 
the essential liberties of the Church, and 
leading certainly to its destruction, unless 
speedily remedied ; and a general meet- 
ing or convocation was called to be held 
at Edinburgh on the 17th of November, 
the day after the ordinary meeting of the 
Commission. This circular was pre- 
pared and signed almost exclusively by 
the aged fathers in the Church, — a point 
of no small importance, proving that the 
contest w 7 as not caused and carried on 
merely by young and fiery controver- 
sialists, as opponents loudly and con- 
stantly asserted. And in order that the 
Convocation might be as numerously at- 
tended as possible, considerable sums 
were subscribed to defray the travelling 
expenses of ministers from distant parts 
of the country, while some parishes un- 
dertook to bear the charges of their own 
ministers. Accommodation was also 



liberally provided, by numbers of the 
Edinburgh citizens, for the ministers 
during the time of their deliberations. 

The week before the Convocation met 
was perhaps a time of more general and 
fervent prayer throughout Scotland, than 
had been known for centuries ; both 
ministers and people feeling, that upon 
the result of its momentous deliberations, 
would depend, not merely the existence 
of the Church of Scotland in all her 
purity and freedom, established or not, 
but also the character and welfare of true 
evangelical and spiritual religion in the 
country. And it must be added that 
during the sitting of the Convocation, the 
absence of the ministers did not prevent 
the continuation of meetings for prayer, 
conducted by the pious and venerable 
village or rural patriarchs, who knew 
the principles of the Church of Christy 
and believed them to be those for which 
the Church of their fathers had often 
suffered, and was again called on to 
suffer in circumstances of imminent 
peril. 

The Commission of Assembly met on 
the 16th, according to its usual arrange- 
ment, and was very fully attended by the 
Evangelical body. Few Moderates were 
present, and of these, some went away al- 
most immediately, leaving a protest 
against its proceedings, as illegally con- 
stituted, on account of the exclusion of 
Dr. Bryce, who had been suspended by 
the preceding Commission. A very in- 
teresting report was read by Dr. Cand- 
lish, on the arrangements for the pro- 
posed celebration of the Westminster Bi- 
centenary ; and particularly with regard 
to a basis for the formation of a greater 
degree of unity among evangelical Chris- 
tian churches, than has hitherto existed. 
In the evening an important discussion 
took place concerning the state of the 
Church, in which was clearly pointed 
out the absolute necessity of taking some 
decided step in defence of religious 
liberty. A memorial was prepared, 
drawing the attention of Government 
again to the Claim of Right, and the 
other documents transmitted to it by last 
Assembly, to which no answer had yet 
been returned ; and pointing out the new 
encroachments on the spiritual jurisdic- 
tion of the Church which had takers 



448 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. XL 



place since that time, craving redress of 
those grievances. No other transactions 
of peculiar importance took place. 

Next day, the 17th of November, the 
Convocation met. It was formally open- 
ed by a sermon, preached by. Dr. Chal- 
mers, in St. George's Church, from the 
text, " Unto the upright there ariseth 
light in darkness." (Psalm, cxii. 4.) In 
this sermon there was a brief, but a clear, 
lofty, and forcible exposition of great prin- 
ciples, applicable to the disturbed and peri- 
lous condition of the Church ; and tending 
to explain, and in its explanation furnish- 
ing a very striking example of, the manner 
in which light might be expected to arise 
in the midst of darkness. It may, with 
truth, be said, that by nearly the entire au- 
dience, the sermon was regarded as itself an 
emanation of that light which it described. 

On the evening of the same day, the 
Convocation met for deliberation in Rox- 
burgh Street Church. Dr. Chalmers 
was chosen to be moderator, or chair- 
man, it being understood, that in his ab- 
sence, the next eldest of those who had 
been moderators of Assembly should oc- 
cupy the chair, or some other minister, 
distinguished by piety, and venerable by 
years. Mr. Pitcairn of Cockpen was ap- 
pointed clerk to the Convocation, and ar- 
rangements to regulate the course of pro- 
cedure were made. It was resolved that 
each meeting should be opened with 
praise, reading a portion of the Word of 
God, and prayer ; — that the meetings 
should be from 11 forenoon to 4 after- 
noon, and from 7 to 10 evening, or later if 
necessary ; and that once, at least, during 
each meeting, the business should be sus- 
pended, and the Convocation should en- 
gage in prayer, in order that the course 
of the discussion might, from time to 
time, be subjected to the stilling and hal- 
lowing influence of solemn and united 
devotion. After the roll of those present 
had been prepared, the circular calling 
the Convocation was read, it was stated 
that those who had come, must of course, 
be held as concurring generally in the 
views contained in that circular. This 
gave rise to some discussion, from which 
it appeared, that there was a small num- 
ber present, prepared rather to oppose 
than to support the leading principles 
stated in that document. During the 
course of the discussions which took 



' place, on the second day of the Convo- 
cation, all the diversities of opinion that 
existed among the ministers present w e're 
fully developed ; and these, considering 

, that there were assembled about 450 nu n 
of free and independent minds, all accus- 
tomed to think and act for themselves, 
were exceedingly few. There were in- 
deed but three tolerably distinct views en- 
tertained and stated in the meeting. The 
great majority came fully prepared to 
frame and carry into effect the measures 
which were finally adopted as the resolu- 
tions of the Convocation. It was the un- 
hesitating conviction of the entire body, 
that the decisions of the civil courts were 
completely subversive of the constitution 
of the Church, and must speedily issue 
in its destruction, unless some adequate 
remedy could be procured ; but the diver- 
sities of opinion arose on the questions — 
What ought to be regarded as an ade- 
quate remedy? and What would be the 
duty of the Church should no remedy be 
obtained ? A very small number thought 
that what they termed " a good non-in- 
trusion measure" might be a sufficient 
remedy. A somewhat more numerous 
party, agreeing with the majority, that 
no mere non-intrusion measure could be 
of any avail, so long as the second Auch- 
terarder judgment stood unrepealed, still 
differed with regard to the duty of the 
Church, in the event of no remedy being 
granted, or no answer returned to the ap- 
plications which were to be made to 
Government. Their argument was to 
the effect, that since the British Constitu- 
tion had expressly guaranteed spiritual 
independence to the Church of Scotland, 
she was entitled to regard any decision 
of the civil courts which violated that 
spiritual independence, as so unconstitu- 
tional, that it was in itself, and must ever 
be, null and void, incapable of laying 
any obligation upon conscience requiring 
obedience, — or rather, that the duty of 
defending the constitution, laid a prior 
and greater obligation upon conscience, 
actually to refuse obedience. The legiti- 
mate conclusion of this argument was, 
that let the State do what it might, the 
duty of the Church would be, to resist 
the decisions of the civil courts, to retain 
her position as an Establishment, and to 
suffer, till the State should of itself change 
its persecuting course, or be compelled to 



A. D. 1842.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



449 



do so by the righteous indignation of the 
community. It will be at once evident 
to every reflecting mind, that had the 
Church adopted this course of procedure 
the inevitable consequence would have 
been, a revolutionary struggle of the most 
appalling character. And it deserves to 
be especially marked, that this formidable 
theory of the Church's duty was enter- 
tained and asserted chiefly by those 
whose general leanings had been, and 
still were towards the middle party, and 
not by those who had been regarded as 
the advocates of extreme opinions; that, 
in truth, those very leaders, such as Drs. 
Chalmers, Candlish, Cunningham, and 
others, were the men by whom this 
perilous theory was most strenuously and 
ably opposed. And it is right that the 
whole community should know that it is 
chiefly owing to the wise and temperate 
counsels of those much maligned but 
most honourable and disinterested men, 
guided unquestionably by wisdom from 
above, that the Church did not adopt a 
course which must speedily have plunged 
the kingdom into the horrors of a wild 
and devastating civil revolution. By 
reasoning clear and forcible as lightning, 
it was shown that such a course would 
confound sacred and civil duties, — would 
confound the rights and the duties of the 
Church in sacred thing s^ with the rights 
and duties of the civil magistrate about 
sacred things. — would be undertaking 
the defence of the civil constitution for 
the integrity of which the Church is not 
responsible, and would be interfering 
with that duty for which the State is 
alone responsible to Him who is not only 
" Head of the Church," but also " Prince 
of the kings of the earth." 

But it would be inexpedient here to 
give a full detail of the discussions held 
in the Convocation ; although it is not 
too much, to say, that from them the most 
sage and practised, the most enlightened 
and philosophical statesman might have 
learned wisdom. It may, however, be 
yet regarded as a duty to lay the most 
important-of them before the public, es- 
pecially in times when the great prin- 
ciples which they elucidated are becom- 
ing those by which the destinies of the 
world are moved and moulded. 

The discussions which began on the 
evening of the 17th of November, con- 
57 



tinued with the interval of the Sabbath- 
day, till the 24th, on which day a public 
meeting was held in Lady Glenorchy's 
Church, in the evening, at which ad- 
dresses were delivered, stating the leading 
principles which the Convocation had re- 
solved to avow and defend. The meet- 
ing of that evening, formed, indeed, a fit- 
ting conclusion to the momentous delib- 
erations of the Convocation. The open- 
ing prayer, by Dr. Brown of Glasgow, 
was one of marvellous solemnity, spirit- 
uality, faith, and earnest self-denying de- 
votedness to the glory of God, and the 
welfare of the Redeemer's kingdom. — 
full, indeed, of the Spirit of grace and 
supplication. And the concluding ad- 
dress by Dr. Candlish, not merely held 
the vast multitude in breathless admira- 
tion, but placing, as it did, every event, 
not only of the Church, but the empire 
and the world, full in the light of sacred 
truth, constrained every one to see all 
things, and to think, and feel, and judge 
of them all, as in the light of eternity, 
and in the presence of God. 

The "Resolutions of the Convocation," 
the " Memorial to Government," and the 
" Address to the People of Scotland," 
have been so extensively circulated, and 
are so recent, that it cannot be necessary 
to give here even an outline of them. 
This only it may be necessary to state, 
that in the first series of resolutions, the 
leading idea embodied, was a declaration, 
that in the opinion of the members of 
Convocation, the second Auchterarder 
judgment contained a principle so com- 
pletely subversive of all spiritual jurisdic- 
tion, that not only could the government 
of the Church not be conformed to that 
principle, but it was essentially fatal to the 
very existence of Church government. 
The second series of resolutions was, in 
truth, a necessary consequence of the first, 
declaring it to be the duty of the Church 
to terminate its connection with the State, 
if no measure of redress, such as was 
held to be indispensable, should be 
granted. About 20 of the ministers re- 
quired a slight modification in the expres- 
sion of their assent to the second series 
of resolutions. It was generally held, 
that the refusal of the State to return any 
answer, ought to be regarded as equiva- 
lent to a refusal of the Church's applica- 
tion for redress, so as to define the time 



450 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. XI 



when it would be her duty to relinquish 
the position and advantages of the Estab- 
lishment. But this small party could not 
view the mere silence of the State as ade- 
quately deciding the path and fixing the 
period of duty, so as to constitute an ob- 
ligation on conscience to quit the Estab- 
lishment ; though they adhered so far, 
that the Legislature would, after a reason- 
able time, oblige them to adopt that 
course on the ground of Christian expe- 
diency. With this slight modification, 
the second series of resolutions was signed 
by upwards of 350 ministers, several 
having been obliged to return to their 
homes before the conclusion ; and the 
small party who, at first, seemed inclined 
to oppose, having either joined their 
brethern, or altogether withdrawn. 

In taking the peculiarly solemn and 
perilous steps already specified, the Con- 
vocation did not act rashly and unwit- 
tingly. As already stated, the meeting 
was called, not by hasty and impetuous 
youth, but by the grave and aged fathers 
of the Church. It was composed chiefly 
of those most far advanced in life, on 
whom the feeling of nearness to the grave 
and the world to come most habitu- 
ally rested ; of those most enlarged minds, 
whether from genius or acquirements ; 
of those whose piety had been most con- 
spicuous, and whose labours had been 
most successful in winning souls to Christ ; 
of all, in short, most distinguished for 
venerable age, deep piety, genius, talent, 
learning, energy of mind and character, 
and every kind of professional and per- 
sonal eminence in the Church. It was 
impossible to look around the Convoca- 
tion on the truly noble and dignified band 
of Christian ministers there assembled, 
without feeling.constrained to say, " Whe- 
ther these men remain connected with the 
State, or leave it, where they are, there 
the Church of Scotland is." And their 
deliberations were throughout charac- 
terised by unwonted solemnity of feeling 
and disinterested earnestness of purpose. 
The spirit of prayer, and the spirit which 
true prayer produces, was most distinctly 
manifest. They were a band of brothers, 
with one heart filled by the love of God, 
and every hour tended to the production 
of one mind, by the moulding and blend- 
ing energies of faith and prayer. Once, 
and once only, did there appear symptoms 



of division, on the first evening of their 
meeting, ere heart had fully met with 
heart, and mind opened itself to mind. 
This was almost instantly repressed by a 
solemn, serious, and well-timed admoni- 
tion, in which was pointed out the abso- 
lute necessity of calm, patient self-denial, 
and brotherly love, of mutual forbearance, 
and above all, of dependence upon God, 
and the constant application to Him for 
that wisdom which cometh from above. 
The danger was seen, and met ; the rem- 
edy was sought, and obtained. From 
that time forward, all was candour, and 
frankness, and harmony. If any tendency 
to asperity of language or feeling ap- 
peared, it was instantly checked, and a 
deep and solemn tone reproduced. If 
any apparent tendency to division created 
alarm, it was subdued, and a sacred sin- 
gleness of aim restored. And when 
unanimity appeared beyond what had 
been hoped, it drew forth, not the exulta- 
tion of triumphant policy, but the hal- 
lowed spirit of grateful thanksgiving and 
adoration. It was a scene in which 
conscience was allowed its free exercise, 
enlightened and guided by fervent devo- 
tion ; in which selfishness perished, over- 
whelmed by the awful importance of the 
subjects under deliberation, and the results 
which might follow ; and in which the 
interests of time gave place to those of 
eternity, the feelings of earth yielded to 
those of heaven, and all human duties 
were subordinated to the duties which 
man owes to his great God and Saviour. 

Such is a brief outline of the leading 
facts of the Convocation ; but it was an 
event of too great importance to be dis- 
missed without some remarks on its spirit 
and tendency. It would be difficult to 
show, that a meeting of ministers of the 
gospel has been held in modern times, if 
ever, in whose deliberations were involved 
matters of deeper moment to the welfare 
of the Christian Church and to the world, 
than that of the Convocation which met 
in Edinburgh on the 17th, and concluded 
on the 24th of November 1842. One 
very manifest effect of this Convocation, 
as appeared when its " Memorial to the 
Government," and its " Address to the 
people of Scotland" were promulgated, 
was the clear light in which it displayed 
to the world the real nature of the con- 
flict in which the Church of Scotland was 



a. d. im.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



451 



engaged, — a conflict involving the very 
existence of that spiritual jurisdiction 
which is essential to the purity and free- 
dom of the Church general of Christ. 
Long had this conflict been obscured and 
misrepresented, as if it were either a mere 
struggle for ascendency between two 
parties in the Church courts, or a tem- 
porary collision between the civil and ec- 
clesiastical courts on some small question 
respecting the boundaries of jurisdiction 
between them. And in this latter view, 
it had been frequently and confidently 
asserted, that the Church courts w r ere 
arrogating to themselves, under the name 
of spiritual independence, powers which 
did not belong to them, which were des- 
potic in their nature, and Popish in their 
tendency, and which were incompatible 
with the duties of subjects in a w r ell-con- 
stituted government, and destructive of 
the peace and order of society. All these, 
and many similar charges against the 
conduct and pretensions of the Church, 
were fully met, and conclusively an- 
swered by the productions of the Convoca- 
tion. The Church distinctly and amply 
declared, and explained both her own 
duty and that of the State, to the Lord 
Jesus Christ. By the clear exposition 
given of her views respecting the right 
and duty of the supreme civil magistrate, 
to be guided by his own conscience, en- 
lightened by the Word of God, in all that 
he does circa sacra, in matters external 
to, but concerning the Church, she vin- 
dicated herself, in the estimation of all 
intelligent and right-minded men, from 
the accusation of attempting to usurp a 
Popish supremacy over the State in tem- 
poral affairs. At the same time, with 
equal clearness, she asserted her own 
divinely given, and inherent right to de- 
termine for herself, according to her own 
conscientious understanding of the princi- 
ples and laws of her Divine Head and 
King, her own duty in sacris, in all mat- 
ters essentially sacred and spiritual, sub- 
ject to no control or coercion within that 
purely spiritual province. 

But there w r as no reason to expect, nor 
was it expected, that the dense clouds of 
misrepresentation and calumny which 
had so long thickened round her path, 
would be at once dispelled. On the con- 
trary, all were convinced, that the more 



fully these great principles were dis- 
played, the more intensely would the 
hostility of the world be roused. It is 
well known, that the sacred truths which 
men cannot confute, and will not receive, 
they only the more vehemently deny and 
oppose. And while the members of 
Convocation held themselves impera- 
tively bound to declare and maintain 
their principles, they did not expect the 
result to be an early and an easy triumph, 
but a fierce renewal of the conflict, in a 
spirit of embittered hatred, and with in- 
creased determination on the part of their 
opponents. This was indeed inevitable, 
unless the civil powers had resolved to 
grant a full and satisfactory redress. 
For, by the position taken, and the prin- 
ciples declared by the Church, the State 
was constrained to view the matter in its 
essential character, and in all its magni- 
tude and importance. It seems probable, 
that Government had imagined that their 
silence with regard to the Claim of Right, 
would, of itself, be enough to overawe the 
Church into corresponding silence, and 
to deter her from making any fresh ap- 
plication. But the Convocation dispelled 
this imagination, and constrained Govern- 
ment to know, that the silence of the 
Legislature would be a culpable neglect 
of its duty, at the least ; and when coupled 
with the conduct of the civil courts, would 
be regarded as equivalent to a sanction 
of all their unconstitutional and unscrip- 
tural encroachments on the sacred rights 
of the Church, and would, of itself, pro- 
duce a result as disastrous as could be 
effected by the most explicit condemna- 
tion of her claims. In this manner, it 
was rendered unavoidable, that the mind 
of the State should be revealed ■ since 
evasion would, in its certain conse- 
quences, be equal to refusal of redress. 
Thus would it be made to appear, whether 
the State were prepared to acknowledge, 
or to disavow, its own allegiance and 
duty to the King of kings ; whether it 
were prepared to redress, or to consum- 
mate the violence done to the British 
Constitution, by the unjust and pernicious 
Patronage Act of 1712 ; whether it were 
prepared to protect, or to destroy the reli- 
gious, and, by inevitable consequence, 
the civil liberties of the people. All this 
I was involved in the answer which the 



452 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



(CHAP. XL 



Legislature might give to the solemn 
appeal made to it by the Convocation, or 
even by refusing to answer. 

Nor could the nation fail to be deeply 
affected by the proceedings of the Convo- 
cation, and constrained also to declare its 
mind on the momentous question so 
clearly stated and explained. For the 
Address to the People rendered it un- 
avoidable for the whole community to 
consider their own duty in the matter, 
and to determine whether they were pre- 
pared to permit their religious liberties to 
be utterly subverted, and the Church of 
their fathers overthrown, without one 
constitutional and legal attempt to save 
them ; or, whether they were prepared 
at length to make their voice heard by 
the Legislature in tones too distinct and 
significant to be any longer disregarded. 
When the appeal was made, it rested for 
themselves to determine, whether they 
had become so engrossed by the cold and 
selfish spirit of a secular age, that they 
had ceased to value spiritual rights and 
privileges, and were only to be taught, to 
their loss and shame, by the result, that 
they had despised their birthright, and 
culpably forfeited the most precious bless- 
ing that God gives to nations. 

The deep solemnity of the Convoca- 
tion's proceedings, and the language of 
its Resolutions, Memorial, and Address, 
were well fitted to vindicate the Church 
from the common charge of stubborn per- 
tinacity in adhering to principles which 
the civil courts had called illegal. These 
principles were shown to be too sacred 
to be yielded up, be the hazard what it 
might. It was proved, that they involve 
the very essence of Christianity, — the 
spiritual union of individual believers, 
and of every true Church, with the Lord 
Jesu<> Christ. For as every believer 
must obey God rather than man, in all 
that He has commanded, so must every 
Church ; and to take commands from 
any earthly power in matters spiritual, is 
to allow that spiritual union to be broken. 
But the civil courts had interposed in 
matters so purely spiritual as the ordina- 
tion, suspension, and deposition of minis- 
ters, in the administration of the sacra- 
ments, and in acts of discipline regarding 
the admission and rejection of ordinary 
members. If this can be done, then there 
can be no such thing as a spiritual king- 



dom of Christ upon earth, which is ex- 
pressly contrary to the whole tenor of the 
Word of God. To such unscriptural 
conduct the Church can never submit. 
To such unscriptural conduct, whatso- 
ever party submits, will not easily prove 
its claim to be regarded as a Church of 
Christ. These points, therefore, could 
not be yielded, even though the furnace 
should be heated seven times more than 
it was wont. " We must obey God rather 
than man :" — this is the sole answer 
which the Church could give. 

It is an opinion entertained by many, 
from the aspect of our country and the 
world, that some great event is fast ap- 
proaching. With that great event, the 
Church controversy in Scotland is, be- 
yond all question, closely connected. 
And the Convocation was so led, as to 
give the fullest possible developement of 
its leading principle. That principle, as 
held by her opponents, is the supremacy 
of the civil courts over the ecclesiastical, 
not only in civil matters, which is not de- 
nied, but in all matters, however mani- 
festly spiritual. This is equivalent to the 
rejection of Christ's mediatorial sove- 
reignty ; it is saying, " We will not have 
this man to reign over us." In England 
the Puseyite party seem listening on a 
struggle of a dangerous character, in- 
volving all that is arrogant in the preten- 
sions and superstitious in ihe practices of 
Popery. On the Continent there are 
symptoms of a vast combination of ra- 
tionalistic infidelity, nominal evangelism, 
and Popish superstition, under the aus- 
pices of the Prussian monarch. And 
when to these is added, the prevalent 
spirit of commercial selfishness and hard- 
hearted utilitarianism, so characteristic 
of the age, it is impossible not to be 
struck with the wide and mighty muster 
of portentous elements of strife and con- 
vulsion. 

Nor does it seem visionary to entertain 
the idea, that the present may be the very 
commencement of the last great conflict 
between the powers of light and dark- 
ness which sacred prophecy foretells as 
destined to precede the glories of the lat- 
ter days. Every thing seems ripening 
and hastening on to that great, universal, 
and terrific struggle. The progress of 
events has led to the full developement 
of the principles held by the world with 



A. I>. 1843 ] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



-3 



regard to Christianity ; and, consequent- 
ly, has drawn prominently forth that es- 
sential element in Christianity which the 
world most intensely hates,— its spiritual 
independence. The Christian Church 
must nevertheless continue to hold what 
is essential to her union with her Head 
and King. Thus the conflicting and an- 
tagonist powers are forming their lines, 
mustering their hosts, and taking up their 
positions j they must come speedily into 
direct and destructive collision. Chris- 
tianity may be at first overborne and 
smitten prostrate ; but in its weakest and 
most suffering hour, its Divine Head will 
interpose for deliverance, when His own 
holy arm shall alone be seen, and not 
man's might or prudence. 

So far as this view is entertained, it 
must be regarded as of incalculable im- 
portance, that the Evangelical Church of 
Scotland, in Convocation met, renewed 
her Testimony in behalf of the Redeem- 
er's Crown. From the beginning of her 
existence as a national Church, that has 
been her peculiar, distinctive, and very 
glorious province. Repeatedly has she 
renewed that Testimony in perilous 
times, — never without suffering in its 
behalf, and never without final success. 
And it may be that she is now called 
upon to complete her Testimony in de- 
fence of the " many crowns" worn by 
her Divine Head and only King, not 
merely against the power of despotic 
sovereigns as formerly, but against a still 
more formidable antagonist — the stern 
and pitiless spirit of abstract laws. If 
kings and judges alike, — if the world in 
its mightiest powers, be resolved to reject 
His sovereignty, the more imperatively 
is the Church called upon to declare in 
its defence, — the greater, doubtless, will 
be the peril, and equally the greater will 
be the glory when He shall take to Him 
his great power and reign. It would 
appear that the Convocation was led to 
take the true position, and to begin to de- 
clare aloud that great Testimony. The 
men of the world may slay the wit- 
nesses, — they may trample their bodies 
m the dust ; but that triumph will be 
short. The spirit of the Lord will en- 
ter into them, — they will be raised into 
the heavens of spiritual life and power, 
and the city of the persecutors will 
perish. 



The proceedings of the Convocation, 
the unanimity with which so many min- 
isters had concurred in its strong and 
self-denying, or rather self-sacrificing re- 
solutions, and the quickened attention 
and awakened sympathy begun to be ma- 
nifested by the country, seemed for a 
time to have astonished, and even stun- 
ned the antagonists of the Church. Re- 
covering from their amazement, they re- 
sumed their previous artifices, and plied 
them with increased keenness and activi- 
ty. Every conceivable misrepresenta- 
tion was put forth respecting the motives 
by which the Convocation was actuated, 
the temper and feelings which it display- 
ed, and the conclusion to which it had 
come. Perhaps the most general calum- 
ny directed against it was, that it was a 
nefarious attempt to bully and overawe 
the Government ; and that, notwithstand- 
ing the solemn pledge waich had been 
taken before God and the world, the 
Convocationists would not quit connec- 
tion with the State, and thereby sacrifice 
their emoluments, though the Legislature 
should refuse redress. This, of course, 
still proceeded upon the deplorable fact, 
that those who uttered these sentiments 
judged others according to their own 
standard, and knowing well that they 
would not themselves sacrifice wealth, 
station, and influence, for the sake of 
conscience, they could not believe that 
the evangelical ministers would after all 
make that sacrifice. Most industriously 
was this calumnious theory promulgated, 
and not without some effect, confirming 
the opinions of the worldly-minded, and 
exciting suspicions respecting the sincer- 
ity of the Church in the minds of many 
who would otherwise have been her 
eager and devoted supporters. In spite 
of all these misrepresentations, the cause 
of the Church continued steadily to ad- 
vance, and to gain the favour of all who 
understood and valued the principles of 
religious liberty. 

[1843 ] But at length, in the midst Oi 
this comparative calm, the storm burst 
forth with new power and violence. A 
letter from Sir James Graham, Secretary 
of State for the Home Department, dated 
4th January 1843, was received by Dr. 
Welsh, the Moderator of the late General 
Assembly, in answer to the recent Memo- 
rial of the Commission. To what extent 



454 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. XI. 



the appearance of this document was due 
io the determined conduct of the Convo- 
cation, cannot be ascertained, no notice 
being taken of it in the letter itself; but 
the spirit and temper of that singular 
State-paper sufficiently proved that the 
angry feeling of a galled partizan, rather 
than the grave and deliberate thought of 
a wise statesman, had presided in its com- 
position, It begins by a haughty admis- 
sion that the Secretary of State had been 
" unwilling to intercept the transmission 
to the throne" of the Claim of Right, and 
the Address for the Abolition of Patron- 
age. It then " studiously combines" these 
two papers, which had been by the As- 
sembly as studiously kept separate ; and 
proceeds to reject both applications on the 
ground of the necessity for defending the 
civil rights of patrons. A most unfair 
attempt is then made to represent the 
Church as claiming the sole power of 
determining what matters are spiritual, 
and what civil, in all questions of disputed 
jurisdiction, — a claim which the Church 
had repeatedly and most explicitly denied ; 
but which, in truth, formed the very es- 
sence of the civil court's encroachments. 
This gratuitous imputation is then cen- 
sured and condemned, as if it were the 
claim which the Church had advanced. 
Various other accusations, equally un- 
founded, are also urged against the 
Church; and a sufficient amount of mis- 
representation and calumny having been 
vended, the claims of the Church are 
wholly and peremptorily rejected. This 
letter has been, by the opponents of the 
Church, characterised as a most able and 
statesmanlike document. If it be states- 
manlike to misstate facts, — to put an un- 
just construction upon arguments, — to 
pervert history, — to repeat refuted calum- 
nies, — to employ sophistry instead of 
reasoning, — and to repel with haughty 
scorn the firm but respectful appeal of a 
Christian Church complaining of gross 
wrong and outrage, — then was it indeed 
a statesmanlike document, and that, too, 
of the highest order, and Sir James Gra- 
ham must ever be renowned as a most 
distinguished statesman. . But if to pen 
and promulgate such a tissue would stamp 
infamy upon the basest partizan in some 
paltry pol itical intrigue, then let the Right 
Honourable Baronet weigh well the sen- 
tence which truth will dictate, and posterity 



will loudly pronounce upon the reputed 
author of that document. Nor is it be- 
yond the province of the historian, or any 
abuse of his privilege, in some degree to 
anticipate, on historical grounds, the judg- 
ment on such a matter which future times 
will most assuredly award and confirm. 

A meeting of the Special Commirsion 
was held on the 12th of January, to take 
into consideration the Home Secretary's 
remarkable letter, and to frame to it such 
an answer as might meet and repel the 
injurious perversions with which it so 
lavishly abounded. It did not indeed lie 
directly within the province of the Special 
Commission to enter into formal corres- 
pondence with Sir James Graham ; but 
a minute was framed in such a manner 
as to contain a complete answer, which 
was extracted and transmitted to the Home 
Office in the first instance, and then printed 
and published along with the letter itself. 
This was rendered absolutely necessary 
in consequence of the extensive circula- 
tion which the opponents of the Church 
were eagerly giving to that document. 
It was also resolved that a special meet- 
ing of the Commission of Assembly 
should be held on the 31st of January, 
for the purpose of having the letter of the 
Secretary of State laid before them, and 
of taking into consideration the propriety 
of applying to both Houses of Parlia- 
ment by petition, and thus obtaining the 
decision of the Legislature itseLf as the 
last resource, now that the sentiments of 
the Government had been declared. The 
minute of the Special Commission was 
prepared by Mr. Dunlop, and though not 
rivalling the sententious brevity of the 
Home Secretary's production, was in 
every other respect as far superior to it 
as truth is to error, sound reasoning to 
sophistry, and high-minded integrity of 
principle and purpose, to the subtle wiles 
of diplomatic craft. 

Before the Commission of Assembly 
met, another event had taken place, which 
would of itself have been subversive of 
the Church, if not redressed. On the 
20th of January the Stewarton case was 
decided, denying the power of the Church 
to permit ministers of quoad sacra par- 
ishes to be members of Church courts, 
and decided by the usual majority of 
eight of the Judges against five. This 
decision was not unexpected, the opinions 



A. D. 1843.] HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



455 



of the Judges on all ecclesiastical matters 
having been previously made sufficiently 
apparent. But although the judgment 
had been anticipated, — anticipated in 
every point of view, not only in the ex- 
pectation -of both the public and the 
Church, but also literally, by their Lord- 
ships granting interdicts, in many cases, 
on the ground that there were quoad sacra 
ministers in the presbyteries before they 
had themselves decided the question, — yet 
it was left to be an additional and deadly 
blow inflicted on the Church by the civil 
court. It involved, at least, two fatal ele- 
ments : It assumed that the civil court 
had the power of regulating the constitu- 
tion of Church courts, which destroyed 
their independence of itself; and it seemed 
to determine that there were to be thence- 
forth two orders of ministers in the 
Church, which would have annihilated 
the principle of ministerial equality, and 
rendered it no longer a Presbyterian 
Church. It was impossible, therefore, 
that the Church could submit to this de- 
cision, fatal alike to its primary constitu- 
tution, to its spiritual independence, and 
to its very existence as a National Church, 
by rendering it incapable of extending its 
means of religious instruction in propor- 
tion to the necessities of an increasing 
population. But it came in time to com- 
plete the melancholy sum of the grievous 
wrongs done to the Church of Scotland 
by the civil courts, and to give to the Le- 
gislature the opportunity of redressing 
them all at once, or of taking upon itself 
the fearful responsibility of the whole 
dark series. 

On the 31st of January the extraor- 
dinary meeting of the Commission of 
Assembly was held, for the special pur- 
pose of receiving Sir James Graham's 
letter, and of preparing a petition to Par- 
liament. But before its proper business 
had begun, Dr. Cook directed its atten- 
tion to the Stewarton decision, and in con- 
formity with it, moved that ministers of 
quoad sacra parishes should not be en- 
rolled, nor permitted to take part in the 
deliberations of the Commission. Even 
this was premature, as the decision of 
the Court of Session might be appealed 
to the House of Lords, and in fact was 
appealed as soon as it could be regularly 
done. Dr. Cook's motion was opposed 
by Mr. Dunlop, and defeated by a ma- 



jority of one hundred and fifteen to twen- 
ty-three ; upon which Dr. Cook and his 
party read a protest, and withdrew. 
Thus the first divisive or schismatical 
step was actually taken by the Moderate 
party, and upon no higher ground than 
the unconfirmed decision of a subordinate 
civil court. 

The subject of Sir James Graham's 
letter was then brought before the Com- 
mission ; and Dr. Candlish, in a speech 
of great acuteness, eloquence, and power, 
investigated its leading points, detected its 
perversions and misstatements, exposed 
its fallacies, and repelled its unjust accu- 
sations. He concluded by moving a se- 
ries of resolutions, in which the leading 
points of the Home Secretary's letter were 
directly met, and by which the minute of 
the Special Commission was adopted as 
the Commission of Assembly's own 
answer. This motion was seconded by 
Dr. Chalmers, who, in a short but ex- 
ceedingly clear and forcible speech, ex- 
plained the exact position in which the 
Church at that moment stood, the precise 
nature of her claims, the manifest view in 
which these were regarded by the Gov- 
ernment, the utter futility of repealing the 
Veto Act, the all but absolute certainty 
that the Evangelical body must be 
speedily driven from the Establishment, 
and the consequent duty and necessity of 
taking immediate measures to prepare for 
that event ; so that, come when it might, 
Scotland should not be taken by surprise, 
and laid helpless and hopeless beneath 
the feet of her enemies, but might yet be 
rendered " an experimental garden, co- 
vered with churches and with schools." 
The resolutions were carried unani- 
mously j and a petition was prepared to 
be transmitted to Parliament, briefly re- 
capitulating the grievances more fully de- 
tailed in the Claim of Right, stating those 
which had recently taken place, and 
praying that the Church might be heard 
by certain of their number, or by their 
counsel, at the bar of the House of Com- 
mons in support of their petition. This 
concluded the business of this Com- 
mission ; and it cannot fail to be remarked, 
that all the elements necessary for bring- 
ing the conflict to a close were at length 
fully developed, either in actual and vigor- 
ous operation, or so clearly indicated that 
their almost immediate action could not be 



456 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. XI. 



averted. By the Stowirton decision, the 
last hope that the Court of Session might 
possibly pause in its destructive career 
was destroyed ; by the petition to Parlia- 
ment, the Church adopted a course which 
rendered it impossible for the Government 
again to prevent her claims from being 
brought formally before the Legislature, 
so as to secure such an answer as might 
render the p ith of duty plain ; and in the 
Speech of Dr. Chalmers, an indication 
was given that a direct and immediate ap- 
peal was about to be made to the piety 
and zeal of Scotland for the means of 
maintaining, extending, and perpetuating 
evangelical truth and religious liberty in 
the l< ingdom, out of the pale of the Estab- 
lishment, since it was too evident that 
within it these were no longer to be 
tole rated. 

It was now universally felt, by all sin- 
cere friends of the Church, that there had 
bei n enough of mere deliberation, and 
that the time for strenuous and united ex- 
ertion had come. Nor were they unpre- 
pared for that immediate action which 
was imperatively necessary. There h;id 
been a meeting of elders intimated to 
be held on the 1st of February, the day 
after the Commission. This meeting 
was very numerously attended; and after 
a long and earnest discussion respecting 
the measures which ought to be adopt- d 
in an emergency so great, a memorial 
was framed to Sir Robert Peel and the 
other members of Government, containing 
a vindication of the Church from the 
unjust aspersions of her adversaries, a 
statement of the many and great benefits 
which had been conferred on the com- 
munity by her instrumentality, and an 
earnest appeal to the justice and the 
patriotism of her Majesty's administration, 
praying them to interpose and preserve 
an institution so sacred and precious from 
impending destruction. But a still more 
important step was taken by the meeting 
of elders. It was resolved that a number 
of the most active and influential of 
the members should, along with the com- 
mittee of ministers appointed by the late 
Convocation, constitute a Provisional 
Committee of interim administration and 
management ; the object of which should 
be to commence active and energetic ex- 
ertions adequate to the nature of the crisis 
at hand ; so that when the disruption of 



the Church should take place, prepara- 
tion might have been already made to 
enable the pastors to continue their minis- 
trations without interruption, and to pro- 
vide at once the means of public worship 
to all who might adhere to the disesta- 
blished Church throughout every part of 
the kingdom. The Provisional Com- 
mittee was accordingly formed, and entered 
immediately upon the strenuous dis- 
charge of its important duties. There 
were three main objects to be accom- 
plished, which naturally led to a subdivi- 
sion of the committee into three main 
branches. It was necessary to ascertain 
the numbers of those who adhered to the 
Claim of Right, and the principles em- 
bodied in the resolutions of the Convoca- 
tion; and also, by diffusing information, 
to dispel error and prejudice, and increase 
the number of such adherents. This 
formed the peculiar province of the statis- 
tical sub-committee. Again, it was ne- 
cessary to raise funds for the erection of 
places of worship, when the adhering 
ministers should have been constrained 
by conscience to abandon connection with 
the State ; and to this the attention of the 
building sub-committee was directed. And 
further, it was necessary to provide means 
for the support of the ministry, when com- 
pelled to relinquish all claim upon that 
statutory support which they had pre- 
viously enjoyed, as ministers of an en- 
dowed Church. This formed the duty 
of the Financial Committee, in which 
was speedily merged the committee of the 
Church Defence Associations. 

This general arrangement having been 
made, and a convener appointed to direct 
the operations of each sub-committee, 
these divisions of the Provisional Com- 
mittee entered at once upon the discharge 
of their important duties, with a degree 
of wise, zealous, and active energy, alto- 
gether astonishing, meeting everywhere 
encouragement and success far beyond 
what almost any person had ventured to 
anticipate. In order at once to ascertain 
the state of the country with regard to ad- 
herents, and to diffuse sound information, 
the kingdom was divided into districts, 
and deputations were sent throughout it 
to address the people in explanation of the 
great principles at stake, to point out the 
almost inevitable certainty of a speedy 
disruption of the Church, to ascertain the 



A. D. 1842.] HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 



457 



number of those who were resolved to 
defend religious truth and liberty, and to 
see what provision could be made, or 
would be required, in every parish, town, 
or county, in the kingdom. The effect 
of these deputations was very great, and 
very beneficial. Long had the adver- 
saries of the Church striven to persuade 
the people, that the whole controversy 
was merely one on the part of the minis- 
ters for power to themselves ; and, to a 
considerable extent had the people been 
misled by such misrepresentations. But 
wlien the real nature of the contest was 
made known, and the actual state of af- 
fairs explained, with all the eloquence of 
truth and sincerity, the response was 
equally instantaneous and enthusiastic, 
proving that the heart of Scotland still 
was sound, and the mind of Scotland still 
held and valued the principles for which, 
in other days, the Scottish martyrs had 
borne their dying testimony. 

The feelings thus awakened were not 
permitted to die away; the intelligence 
thus communicated was not permitted to 
be forgotten. Associations were formed 
throughout the whole kingdom, and 
placed in connection with the Provisional 
Committee in Edinburgh. A series of 
Communications were issued weekly by 
the Provisional Committee, containing 
information of what had been done and 
was doing in all parts of the kingdom, 
suggesting the most suitable measures to 
be adopted, giving directions how these 
could be most successfully carried into 
effect, and thus at once completely in- 
structing and thoroughly organizing 
the entire adhering community. So 
thoroughly was the kingdom organized, 
and so extensive was the demand for these 
Communications, that there were issued 
of them, not under 100,000, and more 
frequently 150,000 every week. The 
enemies of the Church of Scotland began 
at length to perceive that she possessed a 
vitality and a power, the remotest idea of 
which had never entered into their imag- 
ination. In vain did Moderate and ir- 
religious periodicals ply their old work of 
slander and falsehood. The Church held 
on her course, obstructed by their darkest 
insinuations and their loudest outcries, no 
more than the moon's path in the heavens 
is obstructed by the murky clouds and 
baying dogs beneath. And both friends 
58 



and foes alike began to be convinced that 
the Church of Scotland was indeed on the 
point of sustaining a shock, the occur- 
rence of which many had hitherto con- 
tinued to regard as visionary, — a shock 
which would either separate her as a 
Church from the State, or, at least, expel 
from her communion the vast body of her 
most able and zealous ministers, and most 
pious and right-minded people. One 
only gleam of hope seemed yet to glim- 
mer in the growing darkness. Might it 
not be, that the Legislature, having an 
opportunity of deliberately considering 
the claims and complaints of the Church, 
as these had been repeatedly stated and 
explained by herself, and being at length 
convinced that both Church and nation 
were in earnest, would, on the presenting 
of the Commission's petition, grant such 
redress as might avert the threatened ca- 
lamity? To this faint gleam the eyes of 
many anxiously turned : but this, too, was 
destined to be speedily extinguished. 

When the Right Honourable Fox 
Maule presented the petition of the Com- 
mission, he also gave notice of a motion, 
that the House should go into committee, 
to take into consideration the claims of 
the Church of Scotland. On the 7th of 
March, 1843, this motion came under 
discussion before the House, and occu- 
pied its attention on that and the succeed- 
ing day. This was the first opportunity 
that had been obtained for bringing the 
whole subject formally under the deliber- 
ate consideration of the House, though 
speeches relating to it had been uttered 
on various occasions. The whole ques- 
tion was stated with great distinctness 
and force of argument by Mr. Fox Maule; 
its legal character was explained and 
vindicated with remarkable ability by Mr. 
Rutherford ; the inconsistencies of the 
Church's opponents were detected, and 
their calumnies exposed and repelled 
with fervid and glowing eloquence by 
Mr. P M. Stewart, and Mr. Campbell of 
Monzie ; and Sir G. Gray, in a calm and 
dispassionate, but generous and truly 
statesman-like speech, gave his support 
to the motion. On the other hand, Sir 
James Graham opposed it, repeating in 
an expanded form the groundless and in- 
jurious misrepresentations that formed 
the substance of his sententious letter, — 
declaring that the claim of the Church 



458 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. XI, 



of Scotland to co-ordinate jurisdiction in- 
dependent of the civil courts in spiritual 
matters, was " so unjust and unreasonable, 
that the sooner the House extinguished 
it the better ; " the Solicitor-General 
evaded, but did not even attempt to meet 
Mr. Rutherford's legal argument; and 
Sir Robert Peel gave utterance to senti- 
ments which not only proved his entire 
and unchangeable opposition to the claims 
of the Church, but also revealed the true 
cause of that opposition. "If," said he, 
" a Church chooses to participate in the 
advantages appertaining to an Establish- 
ment, that Church — whether it be the 
Church of England, the Church of Rome, 
or the Church of Scotland, — that Church 
must conform itself to the law." This 
declaration, delivered with even vehe- 
ment emphasis, clearly proved that, in 
Sir Robert Peel's opinion, a Church can- 
not both be established, and at the same 
time enjoy spiritual independence, — a 
principle to which the Church of Scot- 
land never assented, which gives to 
Voluntaries all that their argument re- 
quires for the overthrow of Establish- 
ments, and which that statesman may yet 
learn to be incompatible with the per- 
manent existence of any Established 
Church in the present stage and condi- 
tion of society, Again he declared, " My 
opinion is, that such claims, were you to 
concede them, would be unlimited in 
their extent. They could not be limited 
to the Church of Scotland. A principle, 
then, is involved, and if the principle be 
conceded by the House of Commons, 
why, the House of Commons must be 
prepared to carry it out." It was, per- 
haps, creditable to the candour of the 
Right Honourable Baronet that he made 
such a statement, but not equally to his 
prudence. For it proved that what the 
Church and people of Scotland dreaded 
at the time of the Union, and strove to 
prevent by the Act of Security, had at 
length taken place ; and that the British 
Parliament, in. violation of national faith, 
had destroyed the spiritual independence 
of the Church of Scotland, in order to 
prevent that great and sacred principle 
from extending to England, and disturb- 
ing the torpor of her wealthy but secu- 
larized and enslaved Establishment. 

It is not necessary to characterise the 
speeches of the various other members 



by whom the Church of Scotland's claims 
were opposed, displaying chiefly, as they 
did, utter ignorance of the subject, with 
one exception. That exception was the 
speech of Mr. Colquhoun of Killermont, 
who had previously endeavoured to dis- 
tinguish himself as a zealous friend and 
strenuous supporter of the Church of 
Scotland, — who had advocated her claims 
both in speeches and pamphlets, and who 
now, in her hour of extremity, not only 
deserted but misrepresented her cause. 
Nay more, he presumed to print and 
circulate letters to those ministers who 
had signed the Convocation's resolutions, 
in which he endeavoured, by sophistry, 
and by drawing guilefully pathetic pic- 
tures of the calamities which might befall 
their families, to persuade them to aban- 
don the principles which they had in the 
most solemn manner avowed and pledged 
themselves to maintain. True, the temp- 
tation did not succeed, but for that no 
thanks were due to the tempter. And 
as an act of historical and retributive jus- 
tice, his name is here singled out that 
posterity may fix upon it the brand of re- 
probation which it deserves. 

The result was, that the motion, and 
by consequence the Church of Scotland's 
claims, were rejected by a majority of 
135, the votes being 21 1 against, and 76 
for the motion. It deserves, however, to 
be stated, that of the Scottish members 
who voted, there was a decided majority, 
25 to 12, in favour of the motion, render- 
ing it all the more manifest that the spiri- 
tual liberties of the Church of Scotland 
were indeed overthrown, as had at the 
Union been dreaded, by English and 
Prelatic influence.* 

From this time forward it was no 
longer doubtful that a disruption of the 
Church would take place. This was in- 
deed rendered absolutely inevitable by 
the destruction of every lingering hope 
that the Legislature might interpose in a 
favourable manner, and the path of duty 
was, at the same time, rendered clear by 
the removal of that obstacle which might 
have continued to hamper some, had no 
answer been obtained. So far the event 
was propitious, deplorable as in every 
other sense it must be regarded. The 

* It scarcely requires to be noted, that the influence 
of the bishops was understood to be strenuously exerted 
against the claims of the Church of Scotland. 



A. D. 1843.] HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



459 



only point on which any contest could 
now be waged was with regard to the 
approaching General Assembly. As the 
Evangelical body had held a decided 
and even a growing majority since 1 834, 
it was desirable that it should be retained, 
so that the Church should, by the voice 
of her highest court, formally relinquish 
her connection with the State, since she 
could not conform to the conditions on 
which alone the Legislature had now 
declared that the benefits of an Establish- 
ment could be granted. This, on the 
other hand, it was the obvious policy of 
the Moderate party, of the civil courts, 
and of the State itself to prevent ; both 
because they would thereby diminish 
the effect upon the country, and would 
escape from the perilous necessity of 
actually "creating a Church," to use 
their own expression. Every effort ac- 
cordingly was made, and every artifice 
employed, in order to break down the 
Evangelical majority. In all presbyteries 
where the Moderates formed the majority 
they returned as members of Assembly 
only those of their own party, a course 
which was perfectly legitimate, however 
unusual; in others they first proposed the 
exclusion of the quoad sacra ministers, 
and when outvoted, they withdrew, formed 
themselves into a separate presbytery, and 
chose their own members, and in a consid- 
erable number of instances a junction 
took place between them and the middle 
party, by which a majority was obtained, 
and persons of their own principles 
chosen. In some presbyters a still more 
violent course was followed. Interdicts 
were sought and obtained to prevent 
quoad sacra ministers from sitting in 
presbyteries; and in one remarkable case, 
first the presbytery of Perth, and then the 
synod, were interdicted from holding their 
regular meetings for despatch of business, 
unless all such ministers were first ex- 
cluded. These lawless encroachments 
might have been resisted, and presby- 
teries might have disregarded them, and 
proceeded according to their own consti- 
tutional rights and privileges ; but they 
could have done so only with the certain- 
ty of being dragged before the Court of 
Session, and punished by heavy fines, per- 
haps imprisonment, for the offence of 
breaking the interdicts of that Court, and 
setting its authority at defiance. It thus J 



became obvious, that the Church was no 
longer in a condition to exercise the right 
of choosing representatives, and that 
therefore a free and lawfully constituted 
General Assembly could not be held. 
In this manner the Church was absolute- 
ly shut up to one only course of proce- 
dure, to preserve her spiritual liberties as 
a Church of Christ. 

In the meantime the preparations to 
meet the now inevitable disruption were 
carried on with increasing activity and 
success. New associations were rapidly 
formed in every quarter, great numbers 
readily joining who had hitherto continued 
to stand aloof. Large sums were sub- 
scribed, both for the erection of churches, 
and for the support of the ministry. Plans 
were prepared by a very skilful architect, 
according to which, places of worship 
might be built sufficiently commodious 
and comfortable, and yet at a very redu- 
ced scale of expenditure, compared with 
the usual cost of such buildings. Scot- 
land began again to display her warm 
heart, strong mind, and unconquerable 
energy of character, when thus once more 
aroused to assert and defend her religious 
liberty. Nor did these quickened efforts 
bear at all the aspect of being called forth 
by the energy of despair. There was 
doubtless some anxiety till the final step 
should be taken ; but there was a cheer- 
fulness of manner, an open and warm 
frankness of intercourse, a fearless and 
manly independence of demeanour, and 
through all, and above all, a solemn se- 
riousness, which told of peace, comfort, 
and hope, such as the world could neither 
give nor take away; of light, encourage- 
ment, and strength, sought and obtained 
from heaven ; and of that fear of God 
which enables the heart to triumph over 
all other fear. 

There were a few events of inferior 
importance which took place between the 
rejection of the Church's petition by the 
Legislature, and the meeting of Assem- 
bly, — events which did not attract much 
public notice, in consequence of the en- 
grossing attention bestowed on the pre- 
paration for what was so soon to take place, 
and which yet deserve to be briefly men- 
tioned. On the 21st of March the action 
for damages against the Presbytery of 
Dunkeld, arising out of the Lethendy case, 
was decided. Lord Cunninghame pre- 



460 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. XI. 



siding in the trial. It was proved that 
no damage of a civil nature had been sus- 
tained by patron or presentee. A previous 
judgment of the Court of Session had 
awarded the fruits of the benefice to the 
patron ; the presentee had been residing 
for a considerable time in the manse, and 
in the undisturbed possession of the civil 
emoluments ; nothing, in short, was want- 
ing to him but ordination, and the Court 
of Session had empowered the Moderate 
minority to ordain Mr. Clark themselves, 
so th >t there was not the shadow of a 
ground on which an action of damages 
could rest, it being utterly impossible for 
the majority to inflict any injury of either 
a civil or a spiritual nature. Yet Lord 
Cunninghame, in his charge to the jury, 
asserted damages to be due ; and the jury, 
thus instructed, awarded them, though to 
a considerably less amount than had been 
claimed. At the conclusion of Lord Cun- 
ninghame's charge, certain exceptions to 
it were taken by Mr. Rutherford, counsel 
for the presbytery, so clear, searching, 
and indisputable, that the learned judge, 
even in his pride of place and power, 
shrunk from ail discussion regarding 
them. The result of this trial was a very 
marked demonstration of the distinction 
between power and right ; for the civil 
courts had assumed and exercised the 
power of inflicting damages, even where 
no injury had been sustained ; but by all 
unprejudiced people it was felt, that in 
their eagerness to crush the Church 
courts, they had perpetrated a grievous 
wrong, from which the moral sense of 
mankind recoiled with blended feelings 
of sharne and indignation, to see such 
things done under the sanction of law, 
and in a free and civilized, and nominally 
Christian country. 

Not long afterwards, a discussion arose 
in the House of Lords which threatened 
to embarrass the Government in its in- 
tended course. The Earl of Aberdeen 
had intimated his design of again intro- 
ducing his former bill, with such explana- 
tion and modifications as might be thought 
necessary or desirable. The speech of 
his Lordship gave offence to the Law 
Lords, who complained that such a bill as 
he had described, bearing the title of a 
declaratory enactment, would be contrary 
to the principles on which they had de- 
cided the Auchterarder appeals, and by 



declaring that to be law which they af- 
firmed was not law, would be equivalent 
to a censure upon the solemn judgment 
of the House. Several sharp and keen 
altercations followed, at different times, 
on the same subject, the result of which 
was a compromise, Lord Aberdeen ren- 
dering his bill declaratory in some, and 
enacting in others of its clauses. This 
modification, however, took place at a dif- 
ferent stage, to which reference will, in 
the proper place, be made. 

Such was the state of affairs when the 
time for the meeting of the General As- 
sembly drew near. There was scarcely 
a single point of the conflict which had 
not been fought out, — scarcely a single 
disputed question which had not been 
resolved so as to cause its primary ele- 
ments to appear. During the course of 
the protracted struggle, every leading 
principle of the Church of Scotland's con- 
stitution had been assailed and overborne 
by the decisions of the civil courts, so 
that her entire government and discipline 
had been subverted. Kirk-sessions and 
presbyteries had been prevented from 
exercising discipline, as in the case of the 
parish of Inverkeillor, and Presbytery 
of Arbroath. The Court of Session had 
assumed the power of determining who 
were or were not to be rulers and office- 
bearers, as ministers and elders in the 
possession of all their due functions, pre- 
venting the Church from extending reli- 
gious instruction to the people, and de- 
stroying the principle of Presbyterian 
equality of ministers, as in the case of 
Stewarton, affecting all quoad sacra 
parishes. It had been decided that the 
minority of a presbytery might supersede 
the majority, though fewer than the legal 
number required to constitute a presby- 
tery at all, and might, in defiance of the 
orders of every superior Church court, 
transact business, and give license, induc- 
tion, and ordination, as in the case of 
Auchterarder. The Court of Session 
had assumed and exercised the power of 
removing the sentence of deposition, and 
restoring deposed persons to their eccle- 
siastical character, as in the case of 
Strathbogie. Damages had been found 
due to a rejected presentee, against the 
majority of a presbytery, because they 
refused to ordain him, although he was in 
possession of the fruits of the benefice, and 



A. D. 1843.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



461 



the civil court had empowered the minority 
to confer ordination, as in the case of Leth- 
endy. And, as if to complete the utter 
prostration of religious liberty, the Court 
of Session first interdicted the Church 
courts from ordaining ministers on the 
call of the people, where no civil interests 
of other parties could possibly be involved, 
as in the cases of Marnoch and Stewarton, 
and then inflicted a fine upon those who 
had, in a matter so purely and exclusively 
spiritual, dared to obey God rather than 
man. And both Government and the 
Legislature had distinctly and peremp- 
torily refused to redress these grievous 
wrongs, to restrain the civil courts within 
their own proper jurisdiction, and to pro- 
tect the Church of Scotland from being 
again exposed to similar violent encroach- 
ments upon those sacred rights and pri- 
vileges " which God has given to His 
Church." 

There were, in these circumstances, 
but two possible courses for the Church 
to follow: — either to sink at once into 
the condition of a merely secular institu- 
tion, the creature and the slave of the 
State ; or, to retain her God-given prin- 
ciples in all their holy and free integrity, 
and to resign that position and those 
emoluments which could no longer be 
retained without sin and dishonour. Few 
of the truly religious, either ministers or 
people, doubted for a moment which al- 
ternative the Evangelical body would 
choose. But by men of the world in 
general, and by the Moderate party in 
particular, it was still believed, that when 
the time for quitting" the Erastianized 
Establishment should come, by far the 
greater proportion would succumb, and 
nothing but a very few of the leading 
men would redeem the pledges which 
had been repeatedly and most solemnly 
made to their own conscience, to evan- 
gelical Christianity, and to their great 
God and Saviour. That such a supposi- 
tion should be entertained, was not less 
discreditable to those who entertained it, 
than insulting and injurious to the char- 
acter of evangelical Christianity. It is 
discreditable to any man to suspect others 
of dishonesty and guile, exposing him to 
the charge of judging them by himself, 
and therefore of being himself dishonest 
and guileful. And it is highly insulting 
and injurious to the character of evan- 



gelical Christianity to suspect its ministers 
of being men who value worldly wealth 
and honour more than a good citiscience 
and the command of God. But it seemed 
that Lord Aberdeen had been paitly per- 
suaded that conscience did in reality exer- 
cise some power in the minds of Pres- 
byterian ministers, — a persuasion which 
only led him to make a new attempt to 
delude it, and to bring its influence then 
into operation on his side. A short time 
before the meeting of the Assembly, he 
made a public statement in the House of 
Lords respecting the principles of such 
a bill as the Government might yet bring 
forward. This statement was consider- 
ably plausible, and made some impression 
on those who equally longed for a peace- 
ful settlement and dreaded a disruption. 
And soon afterwards, in answer to some 
questions asked by the Marquis of Bread- 
albane, he repeated his subtle sophisms, 
and concluded by saying, that if the min- 
isters should secede without seeing his 
newly modelled bill, " they would not be 
able, at the last day, to call the God of 
Truth to witness that they had been 
driven to that course by the persecution 
of the Legislature." This was the most 
deceitful and cruel part of all the deceit- 
ful and cruel course of diplomatic craft 
so steadily prosecuted by the Earl of 
Aberdeen, as became afterwards manifest 
when the bill was produced, and was 
found to contain, in an enacting clause, 
an express and special condemnation of 
that principle, without the sanciioned 
existence of which the Church had de- 
clared that she could not continue in con- 
nection with the State. His Lordship's 
diplomatic craft was again unsuccessful. 
Men asked the opposite question, — If the 
Earl of Aberdeen has a measure which 
will preserve the Church in its integrity 
as a national institution, how will he 
answer at the last day for not producing 
it in time to prevent her overthrow ? — 
and if he has not, but merely means to 
deceive, how will he answer for this 
appeal to the God of Truth ? A feeling 
of high-toned moral indignation, roused 
by this fresh insult and outrage, swept 
away at once the wicked sophistry, and 
the Church held on her course. 

On the Monday before the meeting of 
the General Assembly, that is, on the 
15th day of May, a large proportion of 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. XI 



the ministers who had signed the resolu- 
tions of the Convocation assembled in 
Edinburgh, to hold a closing consulta- 
tion, preparatory to the adoption of a 
final measure and the taking of a final 
step. The subject of deliberation was, 
whether the refusal of Government and 
the Legislature to the applications of the 
Church amounted to such a rejection of 
her claims for redress, as to realize the 
position contemplated in the second series 
of resolutions, arid to render an immediate 
separation from the State an act of neces- 
sary duty. There were a few, and but a 
few, whom Lord Aberdeen's sophistry 
and appeal to God had so far influenced, 
that they could almost have been per- 
suaded to consent to a brief period of 
prolonged delay. But when Dr. Gordon, 
in a speech of astonishing mental power, 
loftiness of principle, and Christian dig- 
nity, had detected and exposed the hollow 
character of the proposed mode of settle- 
ment, and insisted on the imperative ne- 
cessity of maintaining principle at all 
hazards ; and when Mr. Campbell of 
Monzie had further revealed and con- 
demned the tissue of diplomatic craft with 
which it had been hoped that the Church 
might yet be ensnared and fettered; every 
doubt vanished, every difficulty disap- 
peared, and with one heart and mind the 
band of brothers next addressed their 
thoughts to deliberate by what course, 
and in what manner, the closing event 
might be most suitably accomplished. 
Nor was this a difficult point to deter- 
mine. Not only were there double re- 
turns of commissioners to the Assembly 
from twelve presbyteries, in consequence 
chiefly of the schismatical procedure of 
the Moderate party, but one entire pres- 
bytery was disfranchised by an interdict ; 
and many members were also interdicted 
from taking their places. It was evident, 
therefore, that the Assembly could not be 
regarded as a free and lawful Assembly, 
duly elected according to the laws and 
the constitution of the Church of Scot- 
land. The proper course accordingly 
was, that so soon as the Assembly should 
be met, and before it was constituted, a 
protest against it, as unconstitutional and 
bereft of its due freedom, should be taken 
by the Evangelical body, and that they 
should then retire and form themselves 
into a separate court. The propriety of 



this course was at once apparent, and it 
obtained unanimous approbation. A pro- 
test was then framed, deliberately read, 
and cordially, even enthusiastically adopted 
by the whole ministers and elders present 
who had signed the resolutions of the 
Convocation, those who had formerly 
given a modified adherence withdrawing 
that modification, and joining unreserv- 
edly with their brethren. The protest* 
thus resolved upon was prepared chiefly 
by Mr. Dunlop, and was unquestionably 
the most complete and the ablest docu- 
ment to which the whole contest had 
given rise, summing up the main ele- 
ments of the great controversy, exhibiting 
the successive encroachments of the civil 
courts, and stating the inevitable conse- 
quences as violating both the constitution 
of the Church of Scotland, and the prin- 
ciples and laws of every true Christian 
Church, as contained in the sacred Scrip- 
tures, with such distinctness, perspicuity, 
and force, that it was impossible either to 
misunderstand the meaning or evade the 
reasoning of this unanswerable argu- 
ment. With the adoption of this admir- 
able protest terminated the private deli- 
berations of that Evangelical majority, 
who, since 1834, had striven to reform 
and defend the beloved and venerated 
Church of their fathers, and who were now 
prepared to preserve her principles and 
her honour, though all else should be lost. 

The day had now come, — the day big 
with the fate of the Church of Scotland, 
and without presumption it may be added, 
with the spiritual welfare of Christendom. 
It was a bright and lovely day of May — 
the memorable 18th — when nearly all 
that Scotland could produce of aristocratic 
grandeur, and civic authority, and legal 
dignity, and clerical aspiration, and min- 
isterial worth, and upright integrity, and 
fervent piety, and eager curiosity, thronged 
the ancient capital, and poured their count- 
less multitudes along her streets, and to 
every point of peculiar importance. The 
reign of silence in grey Holyrood was 
interrupted, for the annual glitter and 
noisy bustle of reflected royalty was 
there ; the sombre aspect of the old town 
was changed into the brightness of a 
gorgeous procession, as her Majesty's 
commissioner proceeded to the cathedral 
church of St. Giles ; and a close-pent 

The Protest, see Appendix. 



A. D. 1843.J 



HISTORY OP THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



463 



crowd had already, from an early hour, 
rilled St. Andrews, where the Assembly 
was ere long - to meet. Slowly the hours 
wore past till the levee terminated, and 
the sermon had been preached by Dr. 
Welsh, the moderator of the preceding 
Assembly, — a sermon distinguished alike 
by clearness of thought, loftiness of prin- 
ciple, and emphatic energy of expression. 
Then began the active interest of the day. 
The streets were filled by a dense mass 
of human beings ; and it required the 
utmost exertions of a large body of police 
to open an avenue through the multitude, 
such as to permit the processional move- 
ment of the commissioner to advance. 
As the brilliant train swept past, it was 
regarded by the people with utter indif- 
ference, — their beloved Church was on 
her trial, and what was shadowed royalty 
compared to that 1 When the slow pro- 
cession passed, the vast crowd closed be- 
hind it, as the disparted ocean- wave closes 
behind the gliding ship. Within the As- 
sembly Hall, in St. Andrew's Church, 
the tramp of steeds, the clash of military 
accoutrements, and the ringing swell of 
martial music was heard ; the langour 
of long hours was at once thrown off, 
and all prepared, with sharpened eye and 
mind, to notice and to treasure up in 
memory's most retentive tablets the even 
awfully important events of each next 
trembling moment. All were keenly 
alive, yet all were deeply still, in the in- 
tense eagerness of curiosity, or the solemn 
earnestness of prayer. 

The members of Assembly came throng- 
ing in by either door. On the Moderate 
side, there was the appearance of uncer- 
tainty and care, and somewhat, perhaps, 
of gloomy fear, lest after all their victory 
should prove more disastrous than defeat ; 
and on the Evangelical side, there was 
that grave and settled seriousness of 
aspect, that chastened awe of mien and 
bearing which men wear when engaged 
in some great and sacred enterprise. The 
commissioner, the Marquis of Bute, en- 
tered, and was received with the usual 
ceremonies of respect. The moderator 
opened the meeting with prayer. Then 
followed a pause of brief duration, but 
of dead silence, unbroken save by the 
quickened beatings of a thousand hearts. 
Again the moderator spoke, uttering 
slowly, and firmly the following words : 



— " According to the usual form of pro- 
cedure, this is the time for making up 
the roll j but, in consequence of certain 
proceedings affecting our rights and pri- 
vileges, — proceedings which have been 
sanctioned by her Majesty's Government, 
and by the Legislature of the country, 
and more especially in respect that there 
has been an infringement on the liberties 
of our constitution, so that we could not 
now constitute this Court without a viola- 
tion of the terms of the union between 
Church and State in this land, as now 
authoritatively declared, I must protest 
against our proceeding further. The 
reasons that have led me to this con- 
clusion are fully set forth in the docu- 
ment which I hold in my hand, and 
which, with permission of the House, I 
shall now proceed to read." He then 
read the protest, laid it on the table 
before the clerk, and bowing to the 
throne where sat the Commissioner, 
attended by the law officers of the 
crown, withdrew, closely followed by all 
the men of distinguished genius, and 
talent, and learning, and piety, and faith- 
fulness, and energy, and zeal,- -by all 
whose lives and labours had shed fresh 
grace and glory on the Church of Scot- 
land, as honoured servants of her Head 
and King. A long-drawn sobbing sigh, 
a suppressed cheer, at once of admiration 
and deep sympathy, swept round the 
Church, as the crowded spectators gazed 
intently on the strangely solemn scene. 
As man by man rose and joined the re- 
tiring band, and seat by seat was emptied 
on the left side of the throne, the Mo- 
derate party, the attendants of the com- 
missioner, and the Commissioner himself, 
gazed on with countenances expressive 
of astonishment and dismay. They were 
beginning to learn that religious liberty 
was a reality which the powers of the 
world might assail, but could not con- 
quer ; that faith and truth had yet a 
home upon the earth, and that there ex- 
isted a class of men to whom stainless 
integrity of character, and a conscience 
void of offence, and spiritual independence, 
and the glory of the Redeemer's Crown, 
were more precious than all that the 
world could give or take away. In 
some instances, the excited aspect of 
boasting and baffled scorners was even 
fearful ; some who but a few hours be- : 



464 



nisTORV OP THE CHUJtCH or Scotland. 



[CHAP. XI. 



fore had sent intimation to Government 
thai not thirty ministers would leave the 
Establishment, and whose faces, as they 
marked the event, grew livid ami ghastly 
with agitation. 

At the door of the church, and in the 
st reel immediately in front of it, there had 
been seme excitement among the crowd 

from their closeness to the .scene, and yet 
the impossibility of knowing what was 
going on within. " When will they 
come?" They will not come." " They 
will come," had been the abruptly inter, 
changed exclamations, when the door 
opened, and u lie re thnj come '"announced 

to the vast multitude that the deed was 
done, and that the Evangelical Church of 
Scotland was free! Instantly the whole 
mass of people was in motion, hats and 
handkerchiefs were waved aloft, and a 
shout, not loud nor long, but deep and 
earnest, — a shout, the voice of the heart 
rather than of the lip, burst from the 
countless thousands that thronged street, 
and door, and window, and even housetop, 
wherever a foot could be perched and a 
view obtained. And how were the min- 
isters to work their way through that 
dense crowd ? No civic force was there 
to clear a path ; the military had retired ; 
but with one similtaneous impulse the 
mass divided right and left, and opened 
an avenue in the middle of the street so 
broad that four might walk abreast, and 
through that living lane, the venerable 
defenders of religious liberty moved calm- 
ly and steadily on along the line of street 
leading to their appointed place of meet- 
ing at Tanfield Hall, on the north side of 
the city, in the valley formed by the wa- 
ter of Leith. Never, perhaps, was there 
a more signal instance beheld of the pow- 
er which tried and trusted moral worth 
and religious dignity exercises over the 
mind of man, than in that marvellous 
spectacle ; and frankly did many stran- 
gers, natives of other lands, who were 
present, declare, that in no country but 
Scotland could such a moral and religious 
triumph have been displayed. Not one 
single jarring incident occurred ; no 
haste, no confusion disturbed the great 
and grave solemnity of the Church of 
Scotland's Exodus; her friends were 
stilled from tumultuary applause, her ene- 
mies were restrained from wrathful vio- 
lence, and the presiding care of her Di- 



vine 1 lead and King rendered her path 

one of .serenity and peace. Yet w lien 

the protesting ministers and elders took 
their places m the sp.ice reserved lor them 

in the spacious 1 lall, within which alrea- 
dy at least three thousand spectators had 

assembled, and when Dr. Welsh opened 

the meeting with a prayer remarkable 

lor solemnity of tone, comprehensiveness 

of thought, and even Sublime fervour of 
devotional spirit, many a bosom could no 
longer restrain its full and bursting emo- 
tions, and many a grave and manly coun- 
tenance was copiously bathed in tears. 
It was not sorrow, still less was it regret; 
it was the outpouring of unutterable grati- 
tude to God for that grace which had 
enabled them to maintain their Integrity, 
and to bear an unshaken testimony to the 
truth of Christ's mediatorial sovereignty, 
and for that providential goodness which 
had watched over them, preserved them 
from all strife and confusion, and given 
to all their proceedings that air of calm 
untroubled dignity which so well be- 
seemed the sacred nature and the vast im- 
portance of the event. Another mode of 
relief to the full heart was obtained when 
that great multitude stood up to sing the 
praises of the Lord, in such a strain of 
rejoicing and adoring melody as human 
ears have seldom heard, and human voices 
seldom raised to heaven. But enough ; 
the whole scene was far beyond descrip- 
tion, — a scene such as to share in and 
behold, might have amply repaid the toils 
and sorrows of a lifetime, — a scene worth 
living to witness, worth dying to realize. 

The events which followed are too re- 
cent in their occurrence, and too deeply 
engraved on the mind of the country, to 
require to be here recorded in minute de- 
tail. A few only of those which were of 
chief importance may be briefly stated. 
Dr. Welsh, in a short emphatic speech, 
moved that Dr. Chalmers should be cho- 
sen Moderator of this the First General 
Assembly of the Free Church of Scot- 
land. The motion was carried by accla- 
mation, and Dr. Chalmers took the chair. 
The 43d Psalm was then sung, prayer 
was again offered up to God, and the As- 
sembly was thus regularly constituted. 
Dr. Chalmers then commenced the busi- 
ness by an address, in which he recapitu- 
lated the principles of the recent conflict, 
as necessarily the same on which the new 



A, D. 1843.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



465 



Assembly was now constituted and pre- 
pared henceforth to act ; viewed the posi- 
tion which must now be occupied, and 
the course of conduct which ought to be 
followed towards other parties ; and con- 
cluded with a beautiful statement and ap- 
plication of the sacred principles and hea- 
venly affections that knit together the 
hearts and minds of faithful pastors and 
their pious people. It was then proposed 
by Dr. Candlish, that the Assembly 
should assume into their body, as mem- 
bers of the House, all those ministers who 
had signed the Protest, or a concurrence 
in it, together with one elder from each 
adhering kirk-session. This proposal 
was received with unanimous approba- 
tion ; and thus the Assembly was put in a 
position to complete, by means of a for- 
mal Deed of Demision, individually 
signed, the separation of the Free Protest- 
ing Church of Scotland from the State, 
and from the Erastianized Establishment. 

The time of several successive days 
was occupied in receiving deputations 
from other Churches, who expressed their 
concurrence in the principles and sym- 
pathy with the sufferings of the Free 
Church ; in hearing the reports of the 
sub-divisions of the Provisional Commit- 
tee, and of the Committees for managing 
the Schemes of the Church, of which the 
one for the conversion of the Jews ob- 
tained the precedence ;* and in receiving 
the declared adherence of a large body of 
probationers, during the course of which 
proceeding, many very eloquent and very 
impressive addresses called forth the deep 
emotions of the vast audience. At 
length, on Tuesday, the 23d of May, the 
Act of Separation and Deed of Demis- 
sionf was read, received the approbation 
of the Assembly, and was prepared for 
receiving the signatures of all adhering 
ministers and elders. All other business 
was suspended, that this momentous act 
might with due deliberation and solemni- 
ty be done, in the presence of the whole 
Assembly. The roll of names was called 
in the usual arrangement of synods and 
presbyteries. Ten by ten the members 
rose, moved to the platform behind the 
Moderator's chair, and there, with un- 
it was a curious and an encouraging coincidence, 
hat as the Church of Scotland had been the first 
Church that sent missionaries to the Jews so to resume 
that mission was the first enterprise of the Free Church, 
t Deed of Demission, see Appendix. 

59 



swerving heart and steady hand, calmly 
completed the sacrifice of all their worldly 
possessions, and their station in society, 
for the sake, as they firmly believed and 
deeply felt of Christ's Crown and Cove- 
nant.* At least five hours were occupied 
in the deliberate execution of this singu- 
larly impressive and self-denying deed; 
and yet throughout this protracted period 
there appeared no symptom of either ex- 
citement or langour. It was the result, 
not of hasty and fickle passion, but of 
steady and unchangeable principle; it 
was the deed of the soul, rather than of 
the heart ; it had been caused, and it was 
accomplished by the power of spiritual 
and eternal truth, and therefore it dis- 
played somewhat of the majestic serenity 
and immoveable steadfastness of eternity 
itself. 

As much important business connected 
with the reorganization of the Church re- 
quired to be done, the Assembly continued 
its sittings with unabated zeal, attended 
by crowds displaying undiminished inter- 
est in its proceedings, till the evening of 
Tuesday, May 30, when it was closed 
after an address by Dr. Chalmers, in 
which the rare combination of genius, 
wisdom, and piety, which characterizes 
that distinguished servant of God was 
pre-eminently displayed. So terminated 
the memorable First General Assem- 
bly of the Free Church of Scotland, 
having by its noble and self-denying, 
or rather self-sacrificing Deed of Demis- 
sion, saved both the principles and the 
character of the true Evangelical and 
Presbyterian Church, for which the Scot- 
tish reformers toiled, and the Scottish 
martyrs died, from the imminent peril to 
which they were exposed by the treache- 
rous and the faint-hearted within the 
camp, and the fierce hostility and subtle 
guile of the civil powers without* Firm- 
ly and fully had the faithful ministers re- 
deemed all their pledges, and borne 
their testimony, and suffered the loss of 
all things in defence of the Saviour's 
Crown, and the sacred rights and privi- 
leges of His Church and people ; but 
there was not a man of that God-fearing 
and world-defying band whose deepest 
thought was not, " Not we, but the grace 

t The number of those who signed on that day wag 
3G6 ; additional signatures, subsequently given, have 
raised it to upwards of 470. 



466 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAF. XI. 



of God m us." And when they departed, 
not as usual to return to homes rendered 
doubly dear in all their hallowed tran- 
quillity by a period of toilful absence, but 
to break up their households, and to go 
forth as strangers and pilgrims in reality, 
into a world whose hostility was but 
too surely known, it was not with feel- 
ings of woe and despondency, but with 
the deep and chastened joy of hearts con- 
scious of temptations repelled, duty dis- 
charged, trials well and fully endured, 
and souls graciously strengthened by in- 
ward spiritual might, and thus prepared 
for all that should lie before them, in act- 
ing or suffering, till their Christian war- 
fare should be done, and they should be 
called to enter into the rest that remaineth 
for the people of God, who have "fought 
the good fight and finished their course." 

It is a melancholy contrast to turn to the 
proceedings of what has been not inaptly 
called, the Residuary Assembly. The 
state of feeling in that Assembly produced 
by the disruption, seemed at first to be the 
biank confusion of utter amazement and 
dismay. Never, till that moment, had 
they realized the idea that the Evangeli- 
cal ministers were men of greater sin- 
cerity and rectitude than themselves, — 
hence the incredulity which they had all 
along entertained, and the false reports 
which they had transmitted to Govern- 
ment, respecting the probability of the 
threatened disruption which had now 
taken place. It was not till the Monday 
that they were sufficiently recovered from 
their stunning astonishment to proceed to 
the despatch of business. But then they 
went forward with the blended eagerness 
of tyrants and servility of slaves, increased 
by the blind impetuosity of men acting 
under the spell of infatuation. Adopting, 
apparently, the Letter of Her Majesty's 
Administration* as the supreme law by 
which their whole conduct was to be 
guided, they repealed the Act on Calls, 
commonly denominated the Veto Act, 
thereby subjecting the people entirely to 
the despotism of patrons and Church 
courts, and at the same time admitting the 
principle, that the Church was bound 
to regulate its procedure according to the 
dictates of the civil courts ; they expelled 
the whole of the quoti sacra ministers, 
declaring the act which gave them admis- 

• Queers Letter, see Appendix. 



sion null and void from the beginning, 
thereby admitting the power of the civil 
courts to determine who were to be the 
members of ecclesiastical courts, consent- 
ing to the unpresbyterian theory of two 
orders of ministers, and allowing hostile 
landholders to stop at pleasure the exten- 
sion of religious instruction to those who 
were destitute of that blessing ; they re- 
scinded the original and recently revived 
laws respecting the popular election of 
elders, thereby depriving the people of 
representatives and protectors in Church 
courts ; they restored the Strathbogie men 
to their status as ministers, without re- 
poning them, as if no sentence of deposi- 
tion had been passed, thereby sanctioning 
the fatal theory, that the sentence of 
Church courts may be disregarded as 
null and void, though not proved sinful, 
which, if followed out, would foster in- 
subordination, and end in dissociation and 
anarchy ; they rescinded all the sentences 
of deposition passed upon ministers con- 
victed of criminal and immoral conduct, 
remitting these cases to their respective 
presbyteries, u to take such steps in the 
matter as they should see fit ;" and they 
restored the Act of 1799, thereby cutting 
themselves off from religious communion 
with every Church in the world. 

Such were the proceedings of the Mo- 
derate and Erastian Assembly ; and thus, 
in one short week, they swept away the 
reformation of nine years, and did their 
utmost to place the Establishment in the 
exact position which it had occupied at- 
the end of the preceding century ; as if 
utterly unaware, that though Moderatism 
may have no power of life and motion, 
the mind of man and the affairs of society 
live and advance, and that, therefore, a 
system unable to adapt itself to the spirit 
of the age cannot be maintained. But 
they had pleased the Government, they 
had harmonized with the civil courts, 
they had expelled the popular element 
and influence from their own courts, they 
had been relieved from the disturbing 
mental, moral, and spiritual energy of 
their evangelical antagonists, and they 
might surely at length hope for a period 
of untroubled repose. True, there was 
some dread that the Free Church might 
yet cross their path ; and there was a ne- 
cessity for filling the demitted charges 
with all convenient speed; and there 



A. D. 1842.] HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



467 



might be some uneasy misgivings about ; 
the probabilities of the future ; and there 
could be little ground of trust in the sup- 
port of an- approving Providence : but 
thej r had the security of continuing to 
dwell in their manses and receive their 
stipend, though their ministry should be 1 
deserted by the people ; and they had the 
prospect of obtaining translations to those 
more lucrative or dignified positions, out ! 
of which treachery, fraud, and force, had 
expelled their better brethren.* 

Lord Aberdeen, as was previously 1 
stated, had given intimation of a bill soon 
to be introduced, such as ought, in his . 
opinion, to have prevented the disruption 
of the Church. On the 1st of June his 1 
lordship brought forward his bill, which 
proved to be his former measure, some- ' 
what altered for the worse. It had to en- ' 
counter the direct opposition of the Law | 
Lords, who affirmed that it gave power 
to the Church courts to infringe the j 
rights of patrons, and was contrary to the j 
Auchterarder decision. Well did the 
earl know, that no Moderate presbyter)- 
would ever dispute the authority of pa- 1 
trons ; but to mitigate the hostility of his 
learned and noble antagonists, he con- 
sented that it should be both declaratory 
and enacting, — declaring that to be law 
which had yet to be enacted, and enacting I 
that which had already been declared, and 
thus reducing the whole measure to a 
tissue of preposterous absurdity. When 
the bill came before the House of Com- 
mons, it was again encountered and ex- 
posed with such skill and power by the 
friends of the Free Church, that it nar- 
rowly escaped rejection. And after it 
had become law, it was so little satisfacto- 
ry to the Establishment, that at the meet- 
ing of their Commission it was strongly 
censured by a large and influential mi- 
nority of that body. So ended the glories 
of Aberdeen diplomacy in ecclesiastical 
affairs, with the dissatisfaction of all par- 
ties concerned. 

Although the history of the Church of 
Scotland properly ends with the dises- ! 
tablishment of that evangelical body I 
which had alone held and maintained the 1 
principles of its standards, and followed 
the example of its founders and its mar- 

* A few, and but a few, of those who had generally 
acted along with the Evaneelical body deserted at the 
hour of extremity. It is mercy to leave their names 
ss Car as possible in oblivion. 



tyrs ; yet a few sentences maybe allowed 
in which to trace its operations in its new 
condition, as the Free Protesting Church 
of Scotland. It was well and truly said 
by several of the deputations from other 
Churches, that whatever the remaining 
Establishment might be called, thev had 
no difficulty in perceiving that the Free 
Church was the Church of the Scottish 
people — that she already possessed their 
hearts, and had nothing to do but to go 
forth and possess the land. On the Sab- 
bath after the termination of the Assem- 
bly, the ministers of the Free Church ab- 
stained from using their former places of 
worship, and preached in halls, or bams, 
or in the open air, to audiences many 
times more numerous, and unspeakably 
more intensely attentive than had ever 
before attended their ministrations. 
There was in their own devotions and 
instructions a fervour, a pathos, and a 
spirituality to which they had rarely or 
never before attained ; and their people 
gazed on them and listened to them with 
an earnest sympathizing and admiring 
love, which rendered every word pre- 
cious, and its impression deep and last- 
ing. It may be safely said, that the gos- 
pel was, that day, preached in Scotland 
to a greater number of eager and atten- 
tive auditors than had ever before listened 
to its hallowed message. And yet that 
was but the beginning. From Sabbath 
to Sabbath, and on almost every week- 
day evening, the people sought to hear, 
and the ministers of the Free Church 
hastened to proclaim, the glad tidings of 
salvation. Nor did this remarkable avidi- 
ty of the people to hear, and willingness 
of the ministers to preach, bear almost 
any reference to the recent controversy 
ana its result ; but both ministers and 
people felt themselves at last free, and they 
used that freedom in the service of their 
Divine Lord and Master. 

At the same time, as the hearts -of the 
people had been opened to receive the 
gospel, so were their hands opened to 
contribute towards its support and exten- 
sion throughout the kingdom. Large 
sums were subscribed and collected for 
the erection of plain and humble, but 
comfortable places of worship, and for 
the due maintenance of the faithful anr 
self-denying ministers of the Free Church 
Within two months after the disruption, 



468 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. XI 



upwards of £240,000 had been subscribed, 
and nearly 800 associations formed, 
parfly to aid in supporting, and partly 
that they might themselves enjoy the in- 
estimable blessing of a pure and free gos- 
pel. Churches in all directions began to 
be erected ; every minister and proba- 
tioner was constrained to discharge 
double or threefold duty ; and still the de- 
mand continued to increase. Nothing 
could be more apparent, than that a larger 
proportion of the people than of the min- 
isters had abandoned the Erastian Es- 
tablishment ; and that if a sufficient num- 
ber of ministers could have been obtained, 
the Free Church might have at once pos- 
sessed the land, as the Church of the 
Scottish people.* In many localities, in- 
deed, there were great difficulties to be 
surmounted, arising chiefly out of the 
narrow-minded and persecuting hostility 
of the landlords, some denying sites for 
the erection of churches, and others 
threatening to eject their tenantry and 
other dependents if they ventured to ad- 
here to the Free Church. This perse- 
cuting spirit generally overshot its pur- 
pose, rousing instead of subduing the 
moral courage and determination of the 
high-hearted Scottish peasantry, calling 
forth the indignation of the public mind, 
and suggesting the perilous questions, 
how far such, conduct was consistent with 
the law of toleration and British freedom 
of opinion, and how far the rights of 
property might overbear the rights of 
conscience. 

Before the disruption took place, it 
had been repeatedly suggested that depu- 
tations should be sent to lay before the 
frank and generous people of England 
an account of the wrongs inflicted on the 
Church of Scotland. With this it had 
been found impracticable to comply dur- 
ing the contest. But now several depu- 
tations were sent, and were hailed with 
ready kindness and liberal sympathy — 
large sums being promptly contributed to 
aid in meeting the urgent and increasing 
demands for the immediate erection of 
places of worship for the Free Church. 
Warm-hearted Irish Presbyterians lent 
their help, both in money and in minis- 
ters, to relieve the ministers of the Free 
Church from some of their overwhelm- 

" It is enough to refer to the too well-known instances 
of Sutherlandshire, Ross-shire, the Isle ofSkye, &c. &c. 



ing toils. Even America sent, no' 
merely the voice of encouragement, bu 
also liberal pecuniary assistance across 
the wide Atlantic, requesting that a depu- 
tation might be sent to that vast continent, 
to communicate information, and to re- 
ceive a fuller measure of substantial sym- 
pathy in return. 

In the midst of these mighty and en- 
couraging movements an event occur- 
red, with a short outline of which this 
narrative must close. This was the Bi- 
centenary Commemoration of the first 
meeting of the Westminster Assembly. 
It has already been mentioned that steps 
had been taken towards making suitable 
arrangements for the commemoration 
long before the disruption. The General 
Assembly of the Free Church did not 
neglect this matter in the midst of all its 
great and urgent exertions. A commit- 
tee was appointed to make suitable ar- 
rangements, and to correspond with other 
Presbyterian Churches, who, holding 
the same standards, were equally inter- 
ested in the commemoration. The first 
meeting of the Westminster Assembly 
was held on the 1st day of July 1643; 
and, allowing for the difference between 
the old and new styles, it was appointed 
that the commemoration should be held 
on the 12th of July 1843, and in the 
same great hall which had been occupied 
by the General Assembly of the Free 
Church. On the previous evening, an 
introductory sermon was preached by the 
Rev. Dr. Symington of the Reformed Pres- 
byterian Church, in which the principles 
of Christian love were beautifully and. 
impressively explained and enforced. 
The large hall was nearly filled early in 
the forenoon of the 12th with ministers 
and people from all the Presbyterian 
Churches in the kingdom, without dis- 
tinction, and without jealousy or envy. It 
was soon evident that all had come to- 
gether animated by the true spirit of 
Christian love. Most cheeringly and 
affectingly beautiful was the sight of 
ministers of all Presbyterian denomina- 
tions,* — the Free Church, the United 
Secession, the Relief, the Original Seces- 
sion, the Reformed Presbyterian, and 

* Not one minister of the Erastian Establishment 
gave countenance to, or took any part hi, the Com- 
memoration ; but this was consistent, for how could 
they commemorate the Westminster Assembly, which 
was so decidedly opposed to Erastianism 1 



A. D. 1843] HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



469 



the English and Irish Presbyterians, thus I with the interests of spiritual truth and 
united in one common object, commenc- 1 of eternity ; or, so far as they are at all 
ing in the unity of the Spirit, proceeding ' regarded, they are beheld in a very dif- 
in the harmony of oneness in heart and | ferent point of view from that in which 
mind, and concluding by drawing more they appear to the man whose mind and 
closely and kindly the bonds of peace. I heart are engrossed by the objects of the 
Many eloquent and powerful addresses passing hour. When the events of life 
were delivered, explaining and vindicat- and time are contemplated habitually in 
ing the great principles of Presbyterian the relation which they bear to the souls 
Church government, doctrine, and dis- i of men and to eternity, the mind becomes 
cipline, as contained in the Standards j conscious that it has attained a loftier 
framed by the Westminster Divines. It ^ eminence, from which it enjoys a clear 
was the remark of all, that during the ' perception of what would otherwise have 
two days in which the commemoration remained obscure and indistinct. Then, 
was held, greater progress had been 1 all events — national, political, and even 
made towards realizing the sublime idea [ personal — are seen as they subserve or 
of one grand Evangelical and Presbyte- , oppose those great ends for which man 
rian Union, than during the two centu- was created and redeemed; and with 
ries that had elapsed since it was first en- j reference to that, as by a sacred standard, 
tertained. by the Westminster Assembly. | are they tried. 

The meeting could not separate, the! Thus viewed and estimated, the Evan- 
hearts of men were too full and grateful, gelical and Presbyterian Church of Scot- 
without determining that similar meet- 1 land appears the most perfect and bene- 
ings should again be held, and a cordial ficial, yet most persecuted Christian in- 
co-operation in all religious duties be be- j stitution that has ever yet been established 
gun and carried on, in the hope and with \ among mankind. In assuming for her 
the desire that it might lead to the ulti- first principle that sacred truth, that the 
mate incorporation and thorough union I Lord Jesus Christ is the only Head 
of all Evangelical and Presbyterian ' and King of the Church, she placed 
Churches. Nor was that unity of spirit her foundation, indeed, upon the Rock 
and harmony of heart confined to Pies- of Ages ; but she placed it where it was 
byterians, but a cordial expression of certain to be assailed by all the storms 
readiness to co-operate with evangelical and tempests which the enemy of all sa- 
Episcopalians and Congregationalists ' cred truth, the god of this world, could 
was also made, and sanctioned by the raise. That she should suffer in holding 
warm applause of the meeting. The this truth, was inevitable ; for it is the 
very existence of such a meeting as this, ' very truth for holding and asserting 
the unanimity of mind and brotherly love which Christ himself was accused before 
which prevailed in it, and the expansion Pilate, condemned, and crucified, -If 
of aim and effort, and the commencement thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's 
of evangelical intercourse and co-opera- friend," was the argument which wrung 
tion which it produced, may all be fairly from the Roman governor the sentence 
attributed to the principles maintained of death against Him who is King of 
and the position taken by the Free kings and Lord of Lords. And for faith- 
Church of Scotland. And with this brief \ fully maintaining the same great truth 
account of the propitious commencement has the Church of Scotland often, almost 
of her actions and endeavours as a Free incessantly, suffered persecution, is suf- 
Church. ends the history of her existence ' fering still, and must suffer so long as 
as an Establishment. she continues to maintain it, till He come 

whose right it is to reign universally. 
Many grave and solemn thoughts must | This great principle Romanism cannot 
necessarily arise in the mind which has \ hold, because it constitutes the pope its 
been long and intensely occupied with ' head ; Prelacy cannot hold, because it 
the history of a Christian Church. All yields practically its headship to an 
the interests of time, and the feelings and j earthly king ; Voluntaryism cannot fully- 
pass ions that agitate human nature, seem hold, because by not only totally with- 
to sink into nothingness in comparison I drawing from, but absolutely denying 



470 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP, XI 



he lawfulness of all connection with the 
State, it virtually denies Christ's right to 
reign, not only as King of the Church, 
but also as King of kings. It is, there- 
fore, and has always been, the peculiar 
glory of the true Church of Scotland to 
declare, maintain, and suffer in defence 
of the Divine Redeemer's Mediatorial 
Crown. 

And let it he peculiarly marked, as 
every stage of her history testifies, that 
exactly in proportion to the faithfulness 
with which sne maintained that truth, did 
her Head and King honour her with 
His presence and His blessing, in her 
supreme courts held in His name, in all 
her inferior judicatories, in her pastors, 
and in her people. When most faithful 
in her allegiance to Him, she was 
always most prosperous in that which 
constitutes the true prosperity of a Chris- 
tian Church, — in promoting the progress 
and the power of vital godliness fhrough- 
Out the nation. To that is solely owing 
the high eminence which the Scottish 
people so early gained and so long held i 
among mankind, notwithstanding "the 
smallness of the kingdom and the com- 
parative barrenness of the country and ! 
severity of the climate. And in like 
manner, in proportion as she violated or j 
yielded that principle, did she sink into a \ 
fatal spiritual lethargy, while the increas- 
ing, disregarded, and alienated popula- 
tion rapidly degenerated into vice, pov- 
erty, and turbulence. Of this, the pre- 
sent state of Scotland, after the long and 
torpid period of Moderatism, or unspiritu- 
ality, is a fearful proof. Scotland is not 
what it was ; because for several genera- 
tions the Church of Scotland was under 
the domination of a party, the spirit of 
whose system was the spirit of the world, 
not the spirit of evangelical Christianity. 
Dark must have been the cloud of infatu- 
ation which rested on the minds of the 
Legislature, when, by its countenance 
and support, Moderatism was enabled to 
consummate its guilt by exterminating 
all that constituted the life and glory of 
the Church, — when its ancient power to 
paralyze, which had been shaken off, 
was, by the authority of civil courts and 
the State, raised into a power to destroy. 

Yet, truth is eternal ; and when a 
great truth has been clearly stated, it 
cannot perish. Repeatedly has this been 



proved in the case of the Church of 
Scotland ; for repeatedly has that great 
truth which is her fundamental principle 
been for a time obscured and overwhelm- 
ed, but has again shone forth, rising from 
out the ruins of whatsoever had attempt- 
ed its destruction. And in every succes- 
sive instance of its repeated emergence 
it has obtained a fuller developement, and 
acquired a mightier power, than it had 
previously done. Thus, in the Second 
Reformation, the sole sovereignty of 
Christ over His Church was more am- 
ply manifested than before, and the 
Church was more completely freed from 
the clinging fetters of the world than 
ever it had previously been. And 
though that period of spiritual freedom 
was but of short duration, yet it present- 
ed a brief realization of what a Christian 
Church ought to be in its relation to 
Christ, to the State, and to the community. 
The power of the example then displayed 
lives still, and is even now putting forth 
its vital realizing energy. And when 
the Third Reformation, now in progress, 
shall have been accomplished, it will then 
be clearly seen, that the successive cycles 
through which the Church of Scotland 
has run, have but been expansions of 
each other, the moving principle being 
still the same, and all the elements re- 
maining unchanged, but becoming more 
fully developed. 

We have termed the recent, or rather 
the present great movement in the 
Church of Scotland, the Third Refor- 
mation ; and under that character some 
of its most remarkable aspects deserve to 
be seriously contemplated, so far as they 
are yet revealed. The first peculiarity 
which demands attention, is that which 
arises out of the nature of the contest and 
the character of the assailants. From 
the period of the Revolution, and espe- 
cially from that of the Patronage Act, 
the Church has been divided. One 
party, the Evangelical, has striven to act 
in conformity to the spirit of her sacred 
first principle, though that should be of- 
fensive to the world ; the other, the Mod- 
derate, has attempted to hide that princi- 
ple, to keep it in abeyance, and to act in 
conformity to the world. From this di- 
vergency at the centre, has necessarily 
followed a still widening divergency in 
the growth and progress of these tw 



A. D. 1843.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



471 



parties. But the one which held the 
original principles of the Evangelical 
Presbyterian Church in truth and sin- 
cerity, was alone truly the Church of 
Scotland ; the other was its worldly 
counterfeit, and for that very reason it 
obtained most of the world's favour. 
Fearful have been the consequences to 
Scotland of the long domination of the 
worldly system ; but a demonstration of 
inestimable value has been made, which 
will yet be understood and applied. It 
has been clearly proved, that a Church 
really Erastian, but nominally and in 
form Presbyterian, is of all Protestant 
Churches the worst, having neither ritup} 
to attract, nor faith and warmth to inspire 
and animate the people, whom at the 
same time it deprives of every vestige of 
spiritual liberty. It seems expressly cal- 
culated to produce national infidelity, by 
driving vital religion out of its pale, and 
deadening all that remain within it. If 
Popery has been termed the religion of 
fallen man, Moderatism may, with equal 
propriety, be termed the religion of fallen 
Presbyterians ; or, as the same secular 
spirit may prevail in any church, it may j 
be termed the religion of fallen Protest- 
ants. And yet, notwithstanding the pre- ' 
sent apparent triumph of that system, it : 
may be safely predicted that the reign of 
Moderatism has passed away, and can- 
not again be permanently re-established. 
Its doom is written in the word of truth, 1 
which condemns the " earthly" and the ' 
" lukewarm," manifested in the signs of 
the times; urged on by the advancing 
spirit of the age; and will soon be pro- 
nounced alike by politicians, who will 
find that it can no longer subserve their 
purposes : and by the indignant voice of 
an outraged and insulted nation. The 
Evangelical and Presbyterian Church 
of Scotland has been cast out, and may 
be for a time trodden under foot ; all ec- 
clesiastical establishments may be over- 
thrown ; and they that dwell on the earth 
may rejoice because Christ's witnesses 
have been slain. But that Church which 
is willing to perish rather than surrender 
the Crown Rights of the Redeemer, may 
be persecuted, but shall not be forsaken, — 
may be cast down, but cannot be de- 
stroyed ; for the Lord Jesus, for whom it 
suffers will be with it always, even to the 
end of the world. 



Christianity, in its practical embodi 
ment as a system, has always suffered 
more or less corruption by the intermin- 
gling of things civil with things spiritual. 
In Popery, the distinctions between them 
are lost by the spiritual or ecclesiastical 
authority engrossing all power, civil and 
sacred ; in an Erastian Church, by the 
civil power assuming a right to dictate in 
spiritual matters ; and in churches which 
hold what is termed the voluntary princi- 
ple, an evil at least equal arises by the 
civil power being compelled to become 
virtually atheistic. The ruling princi- 
ple of the Church of Scotland is differ- 
ent from all these ; she has been con- 
strained to encounter each of them in 
succession ; and she has recently been 
exposed to the combined hostility of 
them all. She disclaims all power in 



matters civil ; she 



not surrender the 



power which Christ has given her" in 
matters spiritual : and she fearlessly tells 
both governments and communities, that 
it is their duty to be Christians, to act 
as Christians, and to make it their chief 
object to promote Christ's kingdom and 
glory. For this has she been, and still 
is, exposed to threefold peril, — for this 
has she been compelled to abandon the 
temple where her children worshipped 
God, and to erect a tabernacle in the 
wilderness ; and for this is she still pur- 
sued by the fierce wrath of her relent- 
less enemies. But through the triple 
darkness of the lowering tempest which 
surrounds her, there may be seen the 
dawning brightness of a thrice glorious 
and peaceful day. Her conflict has 
now been freed from every admixture of 
a worldly nature on her side ; all politi- 
cal parties have alike deserted her cause, 
or are banded together against her, so 
that she is not even tempted to put her 
trust in princes or the sons of men ; 
while the masses of an irreligious and 
immoral population, left in that state by 
Moderatism, seem ready to add the fierce 
and irresponsible element of physical 
force. But for these very reasons little 
of worldly contamination can now cleave 
to her, and intermingle in her procedure ; 
she is followed by the sympathy and the 
prayers of all truly evangelical Churches ; 
she is in the condition to be most thor- 
oughly purified by the fiery trial through 
which she is passing ; and bereft as she 



472 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP. XI. 



is of all human help, the more manifestly 
will the final victory be the Lord's. 

It has already been shown how re- 
markably the progress of events has 
been so guided by the hand of Providence, 
as to bring to the light the very central 
element of the last grand controversy 
between the Church and this world. 
During" the earlier stages of the contro- 
versy, its true nature was apparent to 
comparatively few, and not at all to the 
greater part of the nation. As it advanced, 
one cause of obscurity was removed after 
aviother, and its real character became 
nore and more manifest to all who could 
discern spiritual things. And at last the 
very essence of the mighty subject ap- 
peared distinct and alone, in the form of 
this direct and intelligible question, — 
Shall the will of Christ, or the will of 
man, be the supreme law and rule of the 
Church in spiritual matters? To this 
question the Church can have but one 
answer, and the world has but one. Of- 
ten have these conflicting answers come 
into partial collision ; but never, at any 
period in the history of the Christian 
Church, has this question been raised 
with such unavoidable precision, and the 
antagonist deliverances given with such 
appalling emphasis. The two contend- 
ing principles which these answers em- 
body, are now brought front to front, in 
the attitude of determined hostility, and 
till the one or other perish there can be 
no peace and rest for Christendom. 

The same idea might be stated and il- 
lustrated in a somewhat different man- 
ner, — Is it the duty of the State to give en- 
couragement and support to the Church 
of Christ, without attempting to deprive 
it of that spiritual independence which is 
necessary for the right discharge of all 
its spiritual duties ? From the very be- 
ginning of her existence the Church of 
Scotland has maintained the affirmative 
of this great question, and it has been 
her constant endeavour to demonstrate 
to the world, that a Christian Church 
may be in connection with the State, 
thus giving to rulers the opportunity 
of obeying the King Eternal, and reali- 
zing the predictions of His Word ; and 
may, nevertheless, maintain its alle- 
giance inviolate to its own Divine King, 
and enjoy that spiritual freedom where- 
with Christ has made his people free. 



The full realization of this attempt seems 
to be yet premature, as it has proved to be 
in bygone times ; but something has been 
gained in each successive conflict ; and 
more will yet be gained in this, both be- 
cause to human view the difficulties to 
be surmounted are greater than ever, and 
because the object of the contest stands 
more clearly denned. 

Even the fact that the antagonist pow- 
er appears in the impassive form of ab- 
stract human law, though an element of 
peculiar danger, is equally an element of 
purity and hope. It is not now with 
persons that the Church has to contend 
so much as with principles ; and who 
may doubt the issue when a human prin- 
ciple presumes to encounter one that is 
undeniably divine? Men have yet to be 
taught, that law itself can have no sure 
basis but the Word of God ; and that 
equally those who make, and those who 
interpret and administer a nation's laws, 
are bound to regard it as their first duty 
both to legislate and to administer not 
otherwise than according to the will of 
Christ. And formidable as is the might 
of human law, it has already so far been, 
and will yet more be compelled to feel, 
that its utmost energy sinks into absolute 
povverlessness, when directed against 
conscience enlightened and upheld by 
Him who alone is Lord of the conscience. 
Then will men learn the full meaning 
of those simple yet sublime words. 
" Whether it be right in the sight of God 
to hearken unto you more than unto God, 
judge ye." 

Repeatedly has the thought been sug- 
gested, during the course of this history, 
that civil and religious liberty exist and 
fall together. Nowhere has this been 
more signally proved than in Scotland, 
and never more manifestly than at pre- 
sent. Before the Church of Scotland 
could be assailed, it was necessary to vio- 
late the British constitution, as in the 
case of the Patronage Act of Queen 
Anne. Before she could be overthrown, 
it was necessary to subvert it, as has been 
too manifestly done by the recent pro- 
ceedings of the civil courts and the Le- 
gislature. And in the endeavour to 
crush the Free Church, even the theory 
of toleration is set aside, and liberty of 
conscience is denied. And it were well 
for the nation, if all who value the rights 



a. D. 1843.] 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



47S 



and privileges of freemen were aware, 
that whether such be her desire or not, 
the Free Church of Scotland is at this 
moment the chief safeguard of all liber- 
ty, civil and religious. She cannot be 
overborne without a fatal shock being 
given to the very freedom of the soul, 
from which all other freedom springs. 
And those who support her antagonists 
may yet mourn to know, that they have 
been busily engaged in forging fetters 
for themselves. 

With strangely unobservant eye and 
mind must that reader have perused these 
pages, who has not clearly perceived that 
the contest in which the Church of Scot- 
land has been engaged, is precisely the 
same in which for centuries she has 
fought, and bled, and conquered. " Take 
from us the liberty of Assemblies, and 
take from us the Gospel," said John 
Knox. " What is Csesar's, or what is 
ours, let it be given to Caesar, but that 
may not derogate from Christ's right ; let 
the God by whom kings reign have His 
own place and prerogative," said Alex- 
ander Henderson. " We can die, but we 
cannot forswear ourselves, and be false 
traitors to Christ," said the Covenanters. 
u The spiritual independence of the Re- 
deemer's kingdom, in all matters touch- 
ing the doctrine, government, and disci- 
pline of the Church, and the sole Head- 
ship of the Lord Jesus Christ, on which 
it depends, as also the rights and privi- 
leges of the Christian people, we will 
assert, and at all hazards defend, by the 
help and with the blessing of Almighty 
God," was the solemn declaration of 
those true-hearted Presbyterians, and 
faithful servants of the Lord, who have 
been, and still are so strenuously endea- 
vouring to effect the Church of Scotland's 
Third Great Reformation. The First 
Reformation, like a whirlwind, dashed 
to the earth, and swept away the apostate 
and idolatrous Church of Rome, though 
deeply rooted in the deceived and blind- 
ed nation. The Second Reformation, af- 
ter a long and painful struggle, overthrew 
and banished from Scotland that perjured 
and blood-thirsty prelatic usurpation, 
which the craft of one sovereign, and the 
fierce despotism of his three successors, 
had in vain attempted to erect upon the 
ruins of the persecuted Presbyterian 
Church. And the Third Reformation 
60 



has been engaged in bui sting asundei 
the fetters, and casting ofl the yoke of 
that cold, worldly, unspiritual, unchris- 
tian system, so well designated Modera- 
tism. In each of these Reformations the 
Church has experienced the most despe- 
rate opposition, has been for a time over- 
borne, and in the First and Second she 
ultimately obtained the victory. By the 
Black Acts of 1584, she was overpower- 
ed and enslaved, but regained her liberty 
in 1592. By the Glasgow Act of 1662, 
she was disestablished, silenced, driven 
to the mountain solitudes, and the best 
blood of her sons and daughters shed 
like water ; but the revolution of 1688 
terminated for a time her sufferings, 
sanctioned her principles, and ratified her 
liberties. By the recent decisions of the 
Civil Courts, the rejection of her Claim 
of Rights by the Legislature, and the 
Bill of Lord Aberdeen, her constitution 
has been again subverted, and those who 
continue to hold and defend it have been 
once more, like their forefathers, com- 
pelled to forsake their homes and places 
of worship, and to bear a full and public 
testimony against an Erastianized Es- 
tablishment, and Erastian principles in 
the State. 

But the end is not yet. If her prin- 
ciples be, as we believe, sacred and divine, 
they must and will finally conquer. 
And though the warfare of argument is 
ended, the sterner warfare of principle is 
yet only beginning. Other Churches 
are now learning the- meaning of her testi- 
mony, and are employing its high and holy 
terms. The very sympathy which her 
wrongs, her sufferings, and her undaunt- 
ed bearing have called fo..h, have tended 
unspeakably more to diffuse her prin- 
ciples than could have done her early 
and complete triumph in their defence, 
Evangelical Christianity can now lift a 
more erect and ennobled head in the 
world, since God has enabled the Free 
Church of Scotland to give an undeni- 
able proof that religion is something more 
than a system of dead forms and vague 
professions, — that there are still Chris- 
tians on earth, even in this secular and 
selfish age, to whom grace has been given 
to suffer the loss of all things in their 
Divine Redeemer's cause. Humbly an< 
gratefully let the Free Church adore her 
sole Head and King, that He has not 



474 



HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



[CHAP, XI 



with( '.rawn from her that hidden spiritual 
life which has enabled her to dare the 
furnace, and will bring her unscathed 
through all its purifying fires. And let 
other Churches seek to realize a similar 
union with Him, both as the first and 
most certain step towards union with each 
other, and as a preparation for their own 
approaching hour of trial. She has al- 
ready drunk deeply of the cup out of 
which all other Churches will have ere 
long, perhaps, to drink ; and unspeakably 
the most fearful will it be for that Church 
which shall have to drain the dregs. 
For it seems evident to almost every re- 
flecting mind, that the last great conflict 
between the Church and the world, fore- 
told in sacred prophecy, has already be- 
gun. The various events which may 
take place during its progress cannot be 
fully foreseen ; but the issue is certain, 
and it is awful, — the destruction of all 
that take counsel together against Jeho- 
vah, and against his Anointed. " Be 
wise now, therefore, O ye kings ; be in- 
structed, ye judges of the earth. Serve 
the Lord with fear, and rejoice with 
trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be 
angry, and ye perish from the way, when 
his wrath is kindled but a little." 

It would be equally presumptuous and 
unwise to hazard any definite opinion re- 
specting the exact nature and probable 
extent and duration of the fearful conflict 
of irreconcilable principles which has 
rent asunder the Church of Scotland, ex- 
pelled her genuine children from the 
temples where their fathers worshipped 
God, is rapidly spreading into other lands 
and rousing other Churches, and may 
soon convulse Christendom and the 
world. Enough to know that the Lord 
God Almighty reigneth, and that the 



Judge of all the earth will do right 
Earnestly is it to be wished and hoped 
that the warfare may continue to be 
spiritual, not carnal, — not waged against 
kings, and governments, and armed 
troops, as in former days ; but not the 
less arduous may be the contest, and not 
the less protracted may be the struggle, 
against an antagonist power entrenched 
within legal forms, and aided by the ag 
gressive might of that modern despotism 
abstract human law, — forgetful, in its 
pride, of those high spiritual laws which 
mould time, whichr frame and govern 
life, which made and guide the universe, 
which were promulgated from heaven to 
lead immortal souls to its abodes of ever- 
lasting peace, arid which have their sum 
and centre in Him who is the King Eter- 
nal. Whether the early triumph of these 
high spiritual laws shall glad the hearts 
of those who are now, exposed to every 
peril, their dauntless defenders,— or 
whether it be reserved for that day, near 
or remote, when angels shall proclaim, 
a The kingdoms of this earth are become 
the kingdoms of our Lord and of his 
Christ, and He shall reign for ever and 
ever,"— it becomes not short-sighted man 
to conjecture ; but the Free Church of 
Scotland may, and, as we pray and trust, 
she will, go forward in her holy course 
of reformation, completing her great tes- 
timony, bearing the cross and defending 
the crown of her only and Divine Head 
and King, strong in the Lord and in the 
power of his might, in the spirit of faith 
and prayer, and hope, — encouraging her 
heart with these sacred words, " The 
Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our 
Lawgiver, the Lord is our K:ng; 
He will save us." 



APPENDIX, 



No. I 

Note on the Death of Cardinal Beaton^ p. 33. 

The attempt which has been made by Patrick 
Fraser Tytler, Esq., in his History of Scotland, 
to prove that the great and pious Scottish Re- 
formers were implicated in some of the most crim- 
inal transactions of that dark and stormy period 
in which they lived, having been briefly alluded 
to in the body of this work, it may seem neces- 
sary to take more specific notice of his opinions 
than could there appropriately be done. With 
regard to the charge insinuated against Wishart, 
however, that he was concerned in a conspiracy 
against the life of Cardinal Beaton, little need be 
said, till Mr. Tytler give a satisfactory answer to 
the complete " Vindication of George Wishart," 
which appeared in the Edinburgh Christian Mon- 
itor, vol. hi. p. 475, in the year 1823. The 
grounds of this accusation are, the prophetic lan- 
guage of Wishart at the stake, which some men 
think more likely to have proceeded from actual 
knowledge of an intended assassination, than 
from any preternatural enlightenment granted to 
the dying martyr; and the casual mention in 
some manuscript correspondence of the period, 
that " a Scottishman called Wysshert," was said 
to have been employed by Henry VIII. in some 
alleged conspiracy against the life of the cardinal. 
The first of these conjectural suppositions we 
leave to those who can entertain it; because 
neither reasoning, nor reference to many similar 
well-authenticated cases, would be likely to pro- 
duce conviction in their minds. Another answer 
might be given, which would be more satisfactory 
to some ; neither Fox, in his account of Wishart's 
•martyrdom, nor Knox, make any mention of his 
prophetic language; those, therefore, who wish 
to fasten this charge upon him must first prove 
that he spoke such words. With regard to the 
other, it is enough to state, that in the " Vindica- 
tion" referred to above, it is proved, by direct his- 
torical testimony, that if any such person existed 
as is mentioned in the manuscript, he could nei- 
ther have been the martyr, nor his brother the 
laird of Pittarow. This of itself is enough to vin- 
dicate the memory of Wishart from any such mere 
conjectural aspersion ; for no conjecture, founded 
on the mere similarity of a name, loosely men- 
tioned in the gossiping language of epistolary cor- 
respondence, may ever be allowed to set aside 
direct historical testimony. It would, besides, re- 
quire the most incontrovertible evidence to sub- 
stantiate such a charge against all the moral im- 
probabilities, or rather impossibilities, which it has 
to encounter, when brought against the mild, pa- 
tient, gracious, and heavenly-minded martyr, 
George Wishart. 



Note on the Death of Rizzio, p. 68. 

In the seventh volume of his History of Scot- 
land, Mr. Tytler has directly, and even ostenta- 
tiously, charged John Knox with being " precog- 
nizant of, and implicated in," the murder, of 
David Rizzio. This charge has been met, and, 
as most people think, completely refuted, by the 
Rev. Thomas M'Crie, son of the distinguished 
biographer of Knox. It is not my intention, cer- 
tainly, to retrace the ground which has been so 
ably occupied by Mr. M'Crie, thinking it enough 
to refer the reader to his answer to Mr. Tytler, as 
it appeared in the appendix to his " Sketches of 
Scottish Church History." Still, as there may 
be different methods of demonstrating the same 
truth, I think it expedient to offer, very briefly, 
my reasons for regarding Mr. Tytler's accusation 
as utterly untenable ; and this, I trust, I may do 
without being suspected of intending any disre- 
spect to that gentleman. 

Every historian finds himself often compelled 
to balance conflicting evidence, in order to arrive 
at the truth of any subject respecting which con- 
tradictory statements have been made. The evi- 
dence thus to be estimated is to be of two kinds, 
— the evidence of facts, and the evidence of moral 
probability. These kinds of evidence sometimes 
seem opposed to each other, and sometimes they 
coincide. When they coincide, a conclusion 
amounting to absolute certainty is obtained; but 
when they are opposed to each other, the task 
becomes considerably difficult to determine to 
which of them the greatest credit is due, and very 
opposite conclusions will be drawn from the same 
data by minds differently constituted. It requires 
a higher cast of mind to appreciate duly the evi- 
dence of moral probability, than it does that of 
facts ; although, no doubt, when the facts can be, 
or have been, fully ascertained and substantiated, 
nothing more is required, and the controversy is 
at an end. Yet such is the power of moral pro- 
bability, that every man must have felt himself 
constrained in peculiar instances to reject in- 
stinctively the argument of facts, and to say, "I 
cannot believe that a man of a character so high 
and noble could have done a deed so base." It 
will not be a small amount of the evidence of facts 
that will suffice to set aside such an instinctive 
moral conviction ; and when facts are brought 
forward with that view, they will be met by a sift- 
ing investigation whether they really occurred, 
and on what authority we are asked to believe 
that they actually took place as they are said to 
have done. Nothing short of the direct testi- 
mony of a sufficient number of witnesses of un- 
doubted veracity, and adequately acquainted with 
the facts which they relate, will ever substantiate 
a charge which is instinctively felt to be morally 



476 



APPENDIX. 



improbable. If, for example / any person were to 
attempt to propagate a report that the Duke of 
Wellington had been detected in an act of petty 
theft, every man would at once indignantly feel 
and declare, that it was impossible ; and it would 
require an extraordinary amount of direct evi- 
dence to induce and constrain any man to believe 
a report so abhorrently incredible. Not less clear 
and incontrovertible ought to be the evidence 
brought forward by him who accuses John Knox 
of being implicated in an act of private murder. 
What, then, is the amount of evidence adduced 
by Mr. Tytler 1 

The following is a brief outline of the main 
facts of the event. Queen Mary had joined the 
League of Bayonne, which was framed for the 
purpose of utterly exterminating Protestantism 
by violence. This was well known to the Scot- 
tish Protestant nobles ; and her Italian secretary, 
David Rizzio, was believed to be the agent 
through whom she held intercourse with the 
Romish powers. The Protestant nobles resolved 
to seize Rizzio, bring him to trial, and condemn 
him to death, as a person engaged in treasonable 
transactions. At the same time the weak, vain, 
and violent Darnley conceived a strong hatred 
against this Italian, on the ground of an imagined 
guilty intercourse between him and the queen. 
The nobles were not reluctant to obtain Darnley's 
countenance to promote their own design against 
Rizzio's life. There was thus a double plot ; and 
Mr. Tytler, without the shadow of evidence to 
support it, nay, against direct evidence to the 
contrary, conjectures that the nobles must have 
abandoned their own intention of a public trial 
and execution, and adopted Darnley's scheme of 
a private murder. Rizzio was actually seized 
and murdered. Soon afterwards, the blandish- 
ments of the queen prevailed over her fickle hus- 
band, and induced him to violate his engagement 
to the lords ; and thus, the conspiracy was broken 
up, and the betrayed noblemen fled to various 
quarters, to escape from the vengeance of the 
queen. John Knox retired to Kyle for a season, 
well knowing that Mary bore to him no favour, 
and that if she had it in her power to bring 
him within the sweep of her meditated vengeance, 
she was not likely to let slip the opportunity. 

Accounts of these transactions were sent to 
Cecil by the Earl of Bedford, and by Sir Thomas 
Randolph, from Berwick, to which town several 
of the Scottish nobles had fled for safety. In 
Randolph's letter, dated the 21st of March, the 
names of those who were concerned in the death 
of Rizzio are mentioned ; and in the same letter 
it is stated, that the intention of the lords was to 
have hanged him, but that a tumult arising in the 
court below, and fearing a rescue, they went the 
next way to work with him. On the 27th 
another letter was sent by Randolph, giving a 
formal and authentic list of those who were con- 
cerned in the death of Rizzio. In neither of these 
does the name of Knox occur. An account of 
the whole matter was sent to Cecil by Morton 
and Ruthven ; and as rumour had then begun to 
implicate Knox and Craig, these noblemen ex- 
pressly declare, that the ministers were " neither 
art nor part of that deed, nor participate thereof." 
A similar declaration is contained in Ruthven's 
own narrative of the event, in which he strongly 
exonerates the ministers. Douglas of Lochleven, 



another of the conspirators, disclaims the inten- 
tion of murdering Rizzio, and declares that it was 
their purpose to punish him by order of justice 
Hume of Godscroft, in his History of the House 
of Douglas, says the same. Every author, in 
short, of any credibility, gives the same general 
statement, — that the lords intended to bring Riz- 
zio to a public trial, and to condemn him to death 
and execute him as a plotter against the religion 
and the liberties of the kingdom, and that the 
ministers were in no respect implicated in the 
matter. 

To overwhelm the whole of the evidence thus 
briefly stated, Mr. Tytler brings forward the one 
small fact, that he found a slip of paper pinned 
to Randolph's first letter, which slip contained a 
list of those "who were at the death of Davy, 
and privy thereunto, and are now in displeasure 
with the queen, and their houses taken and 
spoiled." This pinned list contains the names 
of John Knox and John Craig. It has no sig- 
nature, but is thought to be in the handwriting 
of a clerk employed by the Earl of Bedford, — a 
likely enough person to pick up the floating ru- 
mours of the day. This pinned list contains 
enough to prove it unworthy of credit. It states 
that " all these were at the death of Davy," 
whereas it is certain that neither Knox nor Craig 
were present. It further adds, that they " are 
now in displeasure with the queen, and their 
houses taken and spoiled ;" yet it is known that 
Craig was not in displeasure with the queen, and 
there is no evidence that the house of Knox 
was "taken and spoiled." Such glaring mis- 
statements prove this pinned slip to be a mere 
transcript of some popular report, such as are 
busily circulated without examination when any 
remarkable event excites the public mind, but 
which no man of candour or of judgment regards. 
It is strange reasoning, surely, to say, that be* 
cause an unauthenticated rumour is false in two 
points, it must be true in the third. Mr. Tytler 
is not at liberty to change the express words of 
this precious document, converting avd into or, 
that it may the better serve his purpose. He 
does so at the hazard of endangering his own 
character for candour and integrity. It must be 
taken as it is, without any such constructions, 
and then it manifests its own falsehood. 

Feeling, apparently, that this small fact of the 
pinned list furnished but slender evidence on the 
strength of which to implicate John Knox in a 
charge of murder, Mr. Tytler attempts to corrob- 
orate it by reasoning from the known sentiments 
of the Reformer ; that is, he leaves the evidence 
of facts, and enters upon the evidence of moral 
probability. His first and chief argument is, that 
Knox held it lawful for private persons to put to 
death notorious murderers and tyrants, provided 
that all redress by the ordinary courts of justice was 
impossible. This will not prove that Knox would 
either have engaged in such a deed himself, or 
would have approved of its being done privately; 
and, besides, in the case of Rizzio, the supposed 
emergency did not exist, the banded lords being 
sufficiently powerful to bring him to a public 
trial, as it is proved that they intended to do, his 
private seizure being merely to prevent the possi- 
ble occurrence of a public tumult. The attempt 
to fasten such a charge upon the Reformer, on 
the ground of his holding such an abstract theory, 



APPENDIX. 



477 



is manifestly absurd, unless it be first proved that 
the case was precisely such as his theory sup- 
posed. And even then it would be necessary to 
show that he could, consistently with his own 
character, have put his theory into execution in 
the same manner as that in which Rizzio was 
killed. Now, from the whole tenor of Knox's 
life it is evident that he could not have committed 
a deliberate, contrived, private murder. Such a 
man, had he not been a Christian, might have 
killed a tyrant in his open court and surrounded 
by his guards, but could not have crept into his 
bedchamber to murder him in secret. Mr. Tyt- 
ler attempts further to prove, that the murder of 
Rizzio was not accidental, arising out of a sudden 
tumultuous frenzy enhanced by the apprehension 
of being frustrated in the completion of their de- 
sign. Strange that he does not perceive how 
much more improbable this renders it that Knox 
could have been implicated in the crime. Indeed, 
reasoning from Mr. Tytler's premises, and taking 
into consideration the high, bold, and pious char- 
acter of John Knox, I do not hesitate to say, that 
no man who can comprehend moral evidence 
will ever regard the charge against him as any 
thing else than a charge involving a moral im- 
possibility. And this I regard as a proof how 
unfit Mr. Tytler is to deal with moral evidence. 

Another argument on which he builds is this : 
that at a subsequent period one of the ministers, 
defending Knox from the aspersions of King 
James, said, " that the slaughter of David was 
allowed by Knox, as far as it was the work of 
God, and not otherwise." Mr. Tytler here evi- 
dently misunderstands both the sentiment and 
the word used to express it. The sentiment is a 
sufficiently common one, nothing being more 
usual than for men to say, when any great crim- 
inal perishes miserably, that it is a remarkable 
instance of the righteous retribution of Provi- 
dence, while they do not intend to express ap- 
probation of the human instrumentality by which 
such retribution was effected. The word allowed 
was in former times used, not to mean permitted 
an event to take place, but generally in the loose 
sense of approbation of the object intended, and 
often little more than abstaining from censure. 
The meaning of the sentence is plainly this : So 
far as the death of Rizzio may be regarded as the 
righteous retribution of Providence, John Knox 
approved, or did not condemn it; but he ex- 
pressed no approbation of it, so far as it was the 
deed of guilty men. Rightly understood, this 
goes, to prove that Knox was not implicated in a 
deed which, so far as it was man's, he disallows. 

Mr. Tytler attempts to remove another objec- 
tion to which his accusation is exposed, from the 
declaration of Morton and Ruthven, that none of 
the ministers were " art and part, or participate," 
in the deed. This he does by labouring to show, 
that in Morton's estimation, to be precognizant 
of an intended crime without revealing it, and to 
be "art and part" in it, were not equivalent ex- 
pressions. He might have understood Morton's 
meaning better had he attended a little more ac- 
curately to his reasoning. Morton was accused 
of being " art and part" in Darnley's murder. 
This he strenuously denied ; yet he owed that 
he knew it was intended, and did not reveal it. 
When asked how he could reconcile this with his 
deniai of being art and part in it, he answered, 



I " To whom should I have revealed it 1 To the 
I queen 1 She was the doer thereof. The kintr 
was such a child, that there was nothing tola* 
him but he would reveal it to her again. And 
therefore I durst in no ways reveal it. I fore- 
knew, indeed, and concealed it, because I durst 
not reveal it to any creature for my life." Morton 
reasons, that the primary law of self-preservation 
exonerated him from the accusation of being ac- 
cessary to the commission of a crime of which he 
was precognizant, and disapproved yet concealed, 
because he believed that to reveal it would cause his 
own death, and would not prevent its being com- 
mitted. But he could not have given to John 
Knox the same excuse which he took to himself, 
when he denied that " precognizance " was in 
such a case equivalent to " art and part," unless 
he had been prepared to prove that for Knox to 
have revealed it would have caused his own death 
without preventing the crime, so that to be silent 
was merely an act of self-preservation, and im- 
plied no approbation of the deed. In this instance 
also Mr. Tytler shows himself to be singularly 
unable to understand and apply moral evidence 
and reasoning. 

But it is needless to traverse the whole ground of 
Mr. Tytler's small facts and smaller arguments. 
Enough has been said, I trust, to substantiate the 
opinion given in the body of this work, that 
" certainly so grave a charge, and so improbable, 
was never brought forward and maintained on 
evidence so slender, nay, so absolutely incredi- 
ble." Mr. Tytler would need to beware, other- 
wise his character as a historian will not long 
stand high, either for candour and impartiality, 
or for soundness of judgment. There is a law of 
retribution which never fails in its operation. 
When a man assails the character of another, and 
fails to prove his charge, the accusation recoils, 
crushing him who put it in motion. And even 
though no consequence so serious should take 
place, the public may begin to draw this conclu- 
sion, that the mind which is continually prying 
into minute details, is liable to lose the higher 
faculties of comprehensiveness and discrimina- 
tion, to form an undue estimate of the value of 
small facts, and to regard as discoveries what a 
mind of higher order would at once have per- 
ceived to be merely the idle rumours or the parti- 
zan insinuations of the day, and would have 
deemed unworthy of any notice. 



No. II. 

ACTS OF PARLIAMENT. 

In the year 1560, on the 17th of August, the 
First Confession of Faith of the Reformed Church 
of Scotland was " professed, ratifiet, and ap- 
proveit in Parliament ;" the jurisdiction of the 
Pope was abolished ; and an act was passed 
against idolatry, and another abolishing the mass. 

In the year 1567, on the 19th of April, Queen 
Mary, before the last series of criminal actions 
which led to her imprisonment and exile, passed an 
act securing to all her subjects freedem from civil 
injury in their adherence to the Reformed faith. 



478 



APPENDIX. 



But it was not till the meeting of the first par- 
liament, held by the Regent Murray, that a full 
recognition was made of the Reformed Church, 
amounting to its establishment as the National 
Church of Scotland. The most important points 
of these acts of parliament are here given. 

Act 1567, ch. 6. Anent the trew and holy Kirk, 
and of thame that are declarit not to be of the 
samin. 

Item, Forsamekle as the Ministeris of the blissit 
Euangell of Jesus Christ, quhome God of his 
mercy hes now rasit vp amangis vs, or heirefter 
sail rais, aggreing with thame that now liues, in 
doctrine and administratioun of the Sacramentis, 
and the pepill of this realme, that professis Christ 
as he now is offerit in his Euangell, and do com- 
municat with the holy sacramentis (as in the re- 
formit Kirkis of this Realme ar publickKe admin- 
istrat), according to the Confession of the Faith, 
Our Souerane Lord, with auise of my Lord Re- 
gent and three Estatis of this present Parliament, 
hes declarit and declaris the foirsaid kirk to be the 
onlie trew and holy Kirk of Jesus Christ within 
this realme, and decernis and declareis that all 
and sundrie quha outher gainsayis the Word of 
the Euangell ressauit and appreuit as the heides 
of the Confessioun professit in Parliament of be- 
foir, in the yeir of God 1560 yeirs, as alswa spe- 
cified in the Actis of this Parliament mair partic- 
ulate dois expres, and now ratifyit and appreuit 
in this present Parliament, or that refusis the 
participation of the holy sacraments as thay ar 
now ministrat, to be na membris of the said Kirk 
within this realme now presently professit swa 
lang as they keipe thame selfis sa deuydit fra the 
societie of Christis body. 

Act 1567, ch, 7. Anent the Admissioun of thame 
that sal be presentit to Benefices hauand cure of 
Ministrie. 

Item, It is statute and ordained by our Sove- 
raine Lord, with advice of his dearest Regent, 
and three Estatis of this present Parliament, that 
the examination and admission of ministers, 
within this Realme, be only in the power of the 
Kirk, now openlie and publicly professed within 
the samin. The presentation of laic Patronages 
ilwais reserved to the Just and auncient Patrones. 
And that the Patron present ane qualified per- 
soun, within sex Moneths (after it may cum to 
his knawledge, of the decease of him quha bruiked 
the Benefice of before) to the Superintendent of 
thay partis, quhar the Benefice lyis, or uthers 
havand commission of the Kirk to that effect; 
utherwaies the Kirk to have power, to dispone 
the samin to ane qualifyed person for that time. 

Providing that in caice the Patron present ane 
person qualified to his understanding, and failze- 
mg of ane, ane uther within the said six Moneths, 
and the said Superintendent or Commissioner of 
of the Kirk refusis to receive and admit the per- 
son presented be the Patron, as said is : It sail be 
lessum [lawful] to the Patron to appeale to the 
Superintendent and Ministers of that province 
quhar the Benefice lyis, and desire the person 
presented to be admitted, quhilk gif they refuse, 
to appeal to the General Assemblie of the haill 
realme, be quhom the cause be and decyded, sail 
take end, as they decerne and declair. 



Act 1567, ch. 12. Anent the iumdictioun of the 
Kirk. 

Item, Anent the Artickle proponit and geuin in 
by the Kirk to my Lord Regent and the thre Es- 
tatis of this present Parliament, anent the iuris- 
dictioun iustlie apperteining to the trew Kirk 
and immaculat spous of Jesus Christ, to be de- 
clarit and expressit as the "artickle at mair lenth 
is consuit : The Kingis Grace, with auise of my 
Lord Regent and thre Estatis of this present Par- 
liament, nes declarit and grantit iurisdictioun to 
the said Kirk ; quhilk consistis and standis, in 
preiching of the trew word of Jesus Christ, cor- 
rection of the maneris, and administration of naly 
sacramentis. And declaris, that thair is na vther 
face of Kirk nor vther face of Religioun, than is 
presentlie be the faour of God establischeit within 
this realme. And that thair be na vther iurisdic- 
tioun ecclesiasticall acknawledgit within this 
realme, vther than that quhilk is and sail be 
within the same Kirk, or that quhilk flowis thair- 
fra concerning the premisses ; and forther, our 
Souerane Lord, with auis, of my Lord Regent 
and thre Estatis foirsadis, hes geuein and geuis 
power and commission to Schir Jarnes Balfour 
of Pittindreich, Kyncht, Priour of Pittinweem ; 
Mark, Commendatour of Newbottill ; Johne 
Priour of Coldinghame, Lord Preuie Seal ; Mais- 
ter James Makgill of Rankillour Nether, Clerk 
of Register ; William Maitland, younger of Le- 
thington, Secretar to our Souerane Lord ; Schir 
Johne Bellenden of Auchinoull, Knycht, Justice 
Clerk; John Erskine of Dune; Maister Johne 
Spottiswod, Superintendent of Lowthaine ; 
Johne Knox ; Maister Johne Craig ; and Mais- 
ter Dauid Lindesay, Ministeris of the worde of 
God, To seirche furth mair speciallie, and to con- 
sidder, quhat vther speciall pointis or clausis 
sould appertene to the iurisdictioun, priuilege, 
and authoritie of the said Kirk, and to declair 
thair mindis thairanentis to my Lord Regent and 
thre Estatis of this Realme at the nixt Parlia- 
ment, Swa that they may tak ordour thairintill, 
and authories the samin be act of Parliament, as 
sail be fund agreable to the worde of God. 

[These acts were again ratified in the years 
1578, 1579, and 1581. 

In 1581, a short act was passed respecting the 
few lay patronages at that time existing, but 
which the king was strenuously endeavouring to 
increase.] 

Act 1581, ch. 102. That ministeris sail be t pre- 
sentit be the Kingis Majestie and thejawit 
Patronis, to all benefices of cuir under Pre- 
lacyis. 

Item, It is statute and ordanit be our Souerane 
Lord, with aduise of his thre Estatis of this pres- 
ent Parliament, That all benefices of cuir under 
prelacyis, sail be presentit be our Souerane Lord, 
and the lawit personis, in the fauoure of abill 
and qualifeit ministers, apt and willing to enter 
in that functioun— and to discharge the dewtie 
thairof. And in cace any sail happin to be 
gevin and disponit wtherwise hereafter, decernis 
and declaris the giftis and dispositiounis to be 
null and of none availl, force, nor effect. 

[Next appear the " Black Acts" of 1584 



APPENDIX. 



479 



Act 1584, :h. 129. An Act confirming the Kingis 
Majesties Royall Power over all Statis and 
Subjeclis within this Realme. 

Forsamekle as syndrie personis, being Iaitlie 
callit befoir the Kingis Majestie and his secreit 
Counsell, to answer upon certaine poinds to have 
bene inquirit of thame, concerning sum treasoun- 
able, seditious, and contumelious speches, utterit 
by thame in Pulpit. Scholis, and vtherways, to 
the disdane and reprooche of his Hienes, his Pro- 
genitouris, and present Counsell, contemtuouslie 
declinit the judgment of his Hienes and his said 
Counsell in that behalf, to the evill exemple of 
uthers to do the like, gif tymous remeid be not 
providit: TJhairfoir our Souerane Lord, and his 
thrie Estatis, assembled in this present Parlia- 
ment, ratifeis and apprevis, and perpetuallie con- 
firmis the royall power and authoritie over all 
statis, alsweil Spirituall as Temporall, within this 
Realme, in the persoun of the Kingis Majestie, 
our Souerane Lord, his airis and successouris : 
And als statutis and ordanis, that his Hienes, his 
said airis and successouris, be thameselffis and 
thair counsellis, ar, and in tyme to cum sail be, 
jugos competent to all personis his Hienes sub- 
jectis, of quhatsumever estate, degrie, functioun, 
or conditioun that ever they be of, Spirituall or 
Temporall, in all matteris quhairin they, or ony 
of thame, sail be apprehendit, summound, or 
chargeit to answer to sik thingis as sail be in- 
quirit of thame, be our Soverane Lord and his 
Counsell. And that nane of thame, quhilkis sail 
happin to be apprehendit, callit, or summound to 
the effect foirsaid, presume or tak upoun hand to 
decline the jugement of his Hienes, his airis or 
successouris, or thair Counsell, in the premisses, 
under the pane of treasoun. 

Act 1584, ch. 131. Act discharging all jurisdic- 
tionis and judgmentis, not approvit be Parlia- 
ment, and all Assembleis and Conventionis, 
without our Souerane Lordis speciall licence 
and commandment. 

Our Souerane Lord and his thrie Estates, as- 
semblit in this present Parliament, dischargeis all 
jugementis and jurisdictionis, Spirituall or Tem- 
porall, accustomat to be usit and execute, upoun 
ony of his Hienes subjectis, quhilkis are not ap- 
provit be his Hienes and his saids thrie Estatis, 
convenit in Parliament ; and decernis the same 
to ceis in tyme cumming, quhil the ordour thereof 
be first sene and considerit in Parliament, and be 
allowit and ratifeit be thame. Certifeing thame 
that sail proceid in using and exerceing of the 
saids jugementis and jurisdictionis, or in obeying 
of the same, not being allowit and ratifeit, as said 
is, They sail be repute, halden, callit, presewit, 
and punissit as usurparis, and contemnaris of his 
Hienes auctoritie, in example of utheris. And 
als it is statute and ordainit, be our Souerane 
Lord, and his thrie Estatis, that none of his Hie- 
nes subjectis, of quhatsumever qualitie, estate, or 
functioun they be of, Spirituall or Temporall, pre- 
sume to tak upoun hand, to convocat, convene, 
or assemble thamselfiis togidder, for holding of 
councellis, conventionis, or assembleis, to treat, 
consult and determinat in ony matter of Estate, 
Civill or Ecclesiasticall (except in the ordinare 
jugementis), without his Majesties speciall com- 
mandement, expres licence had and obtenit to 



that effect, under the panis ordinit in the lawia 
and actis of Parliament, agains sic as unlawfullie 
convocat the Kingis lieges. 

Act 1584, ch. 132. The Causes and Maner of 
Deprivation of Ministers 

Our Souerane Lord, and his thrie Estatis, as- 
semblit in this present Parliament, willing that 
the word of Cod sail be preachit, and Sacramentis 
administrat in puritie and synceritie, and that the 
rentis, quhairon the Ministeris audit to be sus- 
tenit, sail not be possest be unworthie personis 
neglecting to do thair dewties, for whilkis they 
accept thair benefices, being utherwayis polluted 
with the fraill and enorme crymis and vices after 
specefeit. It is, thairfoir, statute and ordainit be 
his Hienes, with auice of the saides thrie Estatis, 
that all Personis, Ministeris, or Reiddaris, or uth- 
eris providit to benefices, sen his Hienes Corona- 
tioun (not having vote in his Hienes Parliament), 
suspectit culpable of heresie, papistrie, fals and 
erroneous doctrine, common blasphemie, fornica- 
tion, common drunkennes, non-residence, plural- 
itie of benefices having cure, quhairunto they are 
providit sen the said Coronatioun, Symonie, and 
dilapidatioun of the rentis of benefices, contrare 
the lait Act of Parliament, being lawfullie and or- 
dourlie callit, tryit, and adjudgit culpable, in the 
vices and causes abouewritten, or onie of thame, 
be the ordinare Bishop of the diocie, or utheris 
the Kingis Majesties Commissionaris to be consti- 
tute in Ecclesiasticall causes, sail be deprivit 
alsweil fra thair functioun in the Ministerie, as 
fra thair benefices, quhilkis sail be thairby de- 
clarit to be vacand ; to be presentit and conferrit 
of new, as gif the personis possessouris thairof, 
were naturallie dead : And that it sail be esteemit 
and jugeit not-residence, quhair the persoun be- 
ing in the function of the ministerie, providit to 
ane benefice, sen the Kingis Majesties Corona- 
tioun, makis not residence at his mans, gif he ony 
hes ; and failzeing thereof, at sum uther dwelling- 
place within the parochin ; but remains absent 
thairfra, and from his Kirk, and using of his 
office, be the space of four Sondayis in the haill 
zeir, without lawfull caus and impediment, allowit 
be his ordinare. And quhair ony persoun is ad- 
mittit to ma benefices, havand cure, sen our 
Soverane Lordis Coronatioun, the acceptioun of 
the last sail be sufficient cause of deprevatioun 
from the remnant, swa that he be providit to twa 
or ma benefices havand cure, sen the tyme of the 
said Coronation. And nevertheles, this present 
Act sail not extend to ony persoun providit to his 
benefice befoir the said Coronatioun, nather sail 
the bruking of the said office, quhairunto he was 
providit of befoir, induce pluralitie of benefices in 
this cace; bot he sail allanerlie tyne his richt 
of the benefice quhairunto he was providit sen 
the said Coronatioun allanerlie : And unioun of 
kirkis to ane benefice not to be jugeit pluralitie, 
quhill farder ordour be establissit and providit in 
that behalf : Likeas alswa, the personis being in 
the functioun of the ministerie, that sail happin 
to be lawfullie and ordourlie convict befoir our 
Soverane Lordis Justice-Generall, or utheris 
thair Jugeis competent of criminal causis, sick as 
treasoun, slachter, mutilatioun, adulterie, incest, 
thift, [commoun oppressioun, usurie aganes the 
lawis of this Realme,] perjurie, or falset : They 



480 



APPENDIX. 



being lykewayis iawfullie . and ordourlie deprivit 
fra their function in the ministerie, be thair ordi- 
nair, or the Kingie Commissionaiis in Ecclesias- 
ticall causes. The benefices possest be the saidis 
personis to vaik, be reasoun of the said convic- 
tioun and deprivatioun. And this to have effect 
and execution onlie for crimis, vicis, faultis, and 
offeneeis, that sail happin to be committit efler 
the dait hierof. 

[That important Act commonly designated 
"The Great Charter of the Church," which 
was passed in the year 1592, demands special at- 
tention.] 

Act 1592, ch. 116. Act for abolishing of the Actis 
contrair the trew Religion. [Ratification of 
the libertie of the trew Kirk : Of General and 
Synodall Assemblies : Of Presbyteries of Disci- 
pline. All laws for Idolatrie ar abrogate : Of 
Presentation to Ben/ jices.] 

Our Soverane Lord and Estaittis of this present 
Parliament, following the loveable and gude ex- 
ample of their predecessours, Hes ratifiet and ap- 
previt, and be the tenour of this present Act 
ratifies and apprevis, all liberties, privileges, im- 
munities, and freedomes, quatsumever, gevin and 
grantit be his Hienes, his Regentis in his name, 
or ony of his predecessouris, to the trew and haly 
Kirk, presentlie establishit within this realme ; 
and declarit in the first Act of his Hienes Parlia- 
ment, the twcntie day of October, the zier of God 
ane thousand, five hundreth, three-scoir ninetene 
zieres ; and all and whatsumevir Actis of Parlia- 
ment, and statutes maid of befoir, be his Hienes 
and his Regentis, anent the libertie and freedome 
of the said Kirk : and specialie the first Act of 
the Parliament, halden at Edinburgh, the twen- 
tie-foure day of October, the zier of God ane 
thousand, five hundreth, and foir-scoir ane zieres, 
with the haill particulare Actis thairin mentionat, 
quhilk sail be als sufficient as gif the samyn wer 
herin exprest. And all uther Actis of Parlia- 
ment maid sensyne, in favouris of the trew Kirk ; 
and siklyke, ratifies and apprevis the Generall 
Assemblies appointed be the said Kirk : And de- 
claris, that it sail be lauchfull to the Kirk and 
Ministrie everilk zier at the leist, and offer pro re 
nata. as occasion and necessitie sail require, to 
hald and keip Generall Assemblies : Providing 
that the Kingis Majestie or his Commissioner 
with thame, to be appoyntit be his Hienes, be 
present at ilk Generall Assemblie, befoir the dis- 
solving thairof nominat and appoint tyme and 
place quhen and quhair the nixt Generall Assem- 
blie sail be haldin : and in caise nather his Ma- 
jestie nor his said Commissioner beis present for 
the tyme in that toun, quhair the General Assem- 
blie beis halden, Then, and in that caise, it sail 
be lessum to the said Generall Assemblie, be 
themselffis, to nominat and appoynt tyme and 
place quhair the nixt Generall Assemblie of the 
Kirk sail be keipit and haldin, as they haif bene 
in use to do thir tymes bypast. And als ratifies 
and apprevis the Sinodall and Provinciall Assem- 
blies, to be halden be the said Kirk and Ministrie, 
twyis ilk zier, as they haif bene, and are present- 
lie in use to do, within every Province of this 
realme ; And ratifeis and apprevis the Presbyte- 
ries, and particulare Sessionis appoyntit be the 



said Kirk, with the haill jurisdictioun and disci- 
pline of the same Kirk, aggreit upon be his Ma- 
jestie, in conference had be his Hienes with cer- 
tane of the Ministrie convenit to that effect : of the 
quhilkis Articles the tenour followis. Materis 
to be entreated in Provincial Assemblies : Thir 
Assemblies ar constitute for wechtie materis, 
necessar to be entreatit be mutuall consent, and 
assistance of brethrene, within the Province as 
neid reqvyris. This Assemblie hes power to 
handle, ordour, and redresse all things omittit or 
done amisse in the particulare Assemblies. It 
hes power to depose the offke-beareris of that 
Province, for gude and just causes, deserving de- 
privatioun : And generallie, thir Assemblies hes 
the haill power of the particulare Elderschippis, 
quhairof they are collectit. Materis to be en- 
treated in the Presbyteries. The power of the 
Presbyteries is to give diligent labouris in the 
boundis committed to their chairge: That the 
Kirkis be kepit in gude ordour : To inquire dili- 
gentlie of the naughtie and ungodlie personis: 
And to travell to bring them in the way agane 
be admonitioun. or threatening of Goddis juge- 
mentis, or be correctioun. It appertenis to the 
Elderschip, to tak heid that the Word of God be 
puirlie preachit within thair boundis, the Sacra- 
mentis richtlie ministrat, the Discipline enter- 
teynit, And Ecclesiasticall guidis uncorruptlie 
distributit. It belangis to this kynd of Assem- 
bleis, to caus the ordinances maid be the Assem- 
bleis, Provinciallis, Nationallis, and Generallis, 
to be kepit and put in executioun, to mak consti- 
tutionis, quhilkis concernis ro irps-nov in the Kirk, 
for decent ordour, in the particulare kirk quhair 
they governe ; provyding that they alter na rewlis 
maid be the Provinciall or Generall Assemblies: 
And that they make the Provinciall Assemblies foir- 
saidis, privie of the rewlis that they sail mak, and 
to abolishe constitutionis tending to the hurte of 
the same. It has power to excommunicat the 
obstinat, formale proces being led, and dew inter- 
val! of tymes observit. Anent particulare kirkis, 
Gif they be lauchfully rewlit be sufficient minis- 
teris and sessioun, Thay haif power and jurisdic- 
tioun in their awin congregation, in materis Ec- 
clesiasticall, And decernes and declaris the said 
Assembleis, Presbyteries, and Sessiounes, Juris- 
dictioun, and Discipline thairof foirsaid, to be in 
all tymes cuming maist just, gude, and godlie in 
theselff, Notwithstanding of quhatsumevir Stat- 
utis, Actis, Cannon, Civile, or municipall Lawes, 
maid in the contrair : To the quhilkis and every 
ane of thame, thir presentis sail mak expres dero- 
gatioun. And becaus thair ar divers Actis of 
Parliament, maid in favour of the Papistical Kirk, 
tending to the prejudice of the libertie of the trew 
Kirk of God, presentlie professit within this 
realme, jurisdictioun, and discipline thairof, 
Q.uhilk stands zit in the buikis of the Actis of 
Parliament, not abrogat nor annullit: Thairfoir 
his Hienes and Estaittis fbirsaidis hes abrogat, 
cassit, and annullit, and be the tenor hierof, 
abrogatis, cassis, and annullis, all Actis of Parlia- 
ment maid be ony of his Hienes predecessoris, for 
mantenance of superstitioun and idolatrie, with 
all and quhatsumevir Acts, Laws, and Statutes, 
maid at ony tyme, befair the day and dait hierof, 
aganis the libertie of the the trew Kirk, jurisdic- 
tioun, and discipline thairof, as the samyn is usil 
and exerceisit within this realme. And in special^ 



APPENDIX. 



481 



that pairt of the sevint Act of Parliament halden 
at [Streviling, the fourt day of November, ane 
thousand four hundreth, fourty-three] zeiris, com- 
manding obedience to be gevin to Eugin, the 
Pape for the tyme : the 1 09 Act made be King 
James the third, in his Parliament halden at Ed- 
inburgh, the twenty-fourth day of Februar, [the 
zeir of God] ane thousand, four hundreth, four- 
scor thrie zeirs. And all utheris actis quhairby 
the Papis authoritie is establishit. The fourty- 
seven Act of King James the third, in his Parlia- 
ment halden at Edinburgh, the [twenty day of 
November, ane thousand, four hundreth, three- 
score nine] ziers, anent the Satterday and uther 
vigilis to be hally dayes from Evin sang to Evin 
sang. Item, that pairt of the thirty-one Act 
maid be the Queene Regent, in the Parliament 
halden at Edinburgh, the first day o% Februar, 
ane thousand, five hundreth, fifty-ane zeirs, 
Geving speciall licence for haldin of Pashe and 
Zule. Item, the Kingis Majesty and Estatis 
foresaidis declaris, that the secund Act of the 
Parliament haldin at Edinburgh, the xxij day of 
Maij, the zier of God ane thousand, five hun- 
dreth, four scoir, four zeires, sail naways be pre- 
judicial!, nor derogat any thing to the privilege 
that God bes givin to the spirituall office-beareris 
in the Kirk, concerning heads of religioun, ma- 
teris of heresie, excommunicatioun, collation or 
deprivation of ministeris, or ony sik essential cen- 
sours, speciall groundit, and havand warrand of 
the word of God. Item, Our said Soverane 
Lord, and Estattis of Parliament forsadis, abro- 
gatis, cassis, and annulis the XX Act of the same 
Parliament, halden at Edinburgh, the said zeir, 
ane thousand, five hundreth, fourscoir, four zeires, 
granting commission to bisc'hoppis and utheris 
juges, constitute in ecclesiasticall causes, to 
ressaue his Hienes presentatioun to benefices, to 
gif collatioun thairupon, and to put ordour in all 
causes ecclesiasticall : quhilk his Majesty and 
Estatis foresaidis declaris to be expyrit in the self, 
and to be null in tyme cuming, and of nane 
availl, force, nor effect. And thairfoir ordanis all 
presentationis to benefices, to be direct to the par- 
ticular presbyteries, in all tyme cuming: with 
full power to thame to giff collationis thereupon ; 
and to put ordour to all materis and causes eccle- 
siasticall, within thair boundis, according to the 
discipline of the Kirk : Providing the forsaidis 
presbyteries be bund and astrictit to ressaue and 
admitt quhatsumeuir qualifiet minister presentit 
©e his Majestie, or uther laic patrou^es. 

Act 1592, ch. 117. Unqualified persons being de- 
prived, the Benefice vaikes, and the Patron not 
presentand, the right of Presentation pertaines 
to the Presbylerie, but prejudice of the tackes, set 
be tlie person deprived. 

Our Souerane Lord, Considering the great 
abuses quhilkis ar laitlie croppen in the Kirk, 
throw the misbehaviour of sik personis as ar 
providit to ecclesiasticall functionis : sic as per- 
sonages and vicarages within any parrochin, and 
thairefter neglecting thair charge, ather levis 
thair cure, or ellis committis sik crymes, faultis, 
or enormities that they are fund worthy of the 
sentence of deprivatioun, ather befoir thair awin 
presbyterie, or ellis befoir the Sinodall and Gen- 
erall Assembles. Quhilk sentence is the less re- 



gardit be thame, Because, albeit they be deprivit 
of their functioun and cure within the Kirk: zit 
they thinke they may bruike lawfully the profites 
and rentes of their saidis benefices, enduring their 
lyfetymes, Notwithstanding the said sentence of 
deprivatioun : Thairfore, our Soverane Lord, with 
avice of the Estaitis of this present Parliament, 
declaris, that all and quhatsomevir sentence of 
deprivatioun, ather pronouncit already, or that 
happenis to be pronouncit hereafter, be ony Pres- 
byterie, Synodall or General Assemblie, agains 
ony persone or vicare within their jurisdictioun, 
provydit sen his Hienes coronation : (All personis 
provydit to personages and vicarages, quha hes 
voit in Parliament, Secreit Council, and Ses- 
sioun, or providit thairto of auld, befoir the Kingis 
coronatioun, And Maister George Young, Archi- 
dene of Sanct Androis, being specially exceptit,) 
is and sal be repute in all jugementis, ane just 
cause to seclude the persone befoir, providit, and 
than deprivit from all profites, commodities, rentes, 
and deweties of the said personage and vicarage, 
or benefice of cure : And that ather be way of 
actioun, exception, or reply. And that the said 
sentence of deprivatioun sal be ane sufficient 
cause to mak the said benefice to vaike thereby. 
And the said sentence being extractit and pre- 
sentit to the Patroun, the said Patroun sal be 
bund to present ane qualifiit persone of new to 
the Kirk, within the space of sex monethis thair- 
efter. And gif he failzie to do the same, the said 
Patroun sal tyne the richt of presentation for that 
tyme allanerlie : And the richt of presentation to 
be devolvit in the handes of the Presbytery within 
the quhilk benefice lyes ; to the effect that they 
may dispone the same, and gif collatioun thereof, 
to sik ane qualifiit persone as they sail think ex- 
pedient. Providing allwayes, in caise the Pres- 
bytery refuises to admit ane qualifiit minister, 
presentit to thame be the Patroun, it sail be 
lauchful to the Patroun to retene the fcaill fruitis 
of the same benefice in his awin handes. And 
forder, his Hienes and Estatis foirsaides declaris, 
that the deprivatioun already pronouncit, or to be 
pronouncit, be ony Presbytery, Synodall or Gen- 
erall Assemblies, agains ony of the personis or 
vicaris afoirsaid, sail nawayes hurte or be preju- 
diciall to ony tackes, lawchfullie set be that per 
sone deprivit, befoir his deprivatioun, to quhat- 
sumevir personis. 

[It does not seem to be generally known, that 
the peculiarities of the act 1592, c. 116, are di- 
rectly favourable to the Church in that very 
respect in which they have been thought unfa- 
vourable. No express mention is made of the 
Second Book of Discipline, but certain of its main 
topics are ratified, while others are apparently 
passed over. Hence it has been argued that 
nothing has been ratified to the Church but what 
is specifically mentioned in the act itself, and that 
every other topic in the Book of Discipline must 
be held to have been rejected. It has been 
shown by Mr. Dunlop what fatal confusion such 
a theory would introduce, and that, therefore, it 
cannot be admitted. But the true reason of this 
peculiarity in the act appears to be the following. 
It is well known that when the Second Book of 
Discipline was laid before the privy council, cer- 
tain articles were at once ratified, and others" 
were referred to further consideration. Now, on 



482 



APPENDIX. 



comparing the copy of the Book of Discipline in 
Spotswood, in which the marginal comments of 
the privy council are given, with the act 1592, it 
is remarkable that none of those marked " agreed" 
are contained in the act, while the chief of those 
marked "referred" are. From this the conclu- 
sion seems inevitable, that having already agreed 
to these in the privy council, and thereby ratified 
them, it was not necessary to specify any but 
those which had been left for future considera- 
tion, and consequently, that partly by the con- 
currence of the privy council, and partly by the 
act of 1592, thus combined, almost the whole of 
the Second Book of Discipline was ratified, and 
became the law of the land, as well as the law of 
the Church. 

[In the year 1649, the Scottish parliament, 
when free from external control, and at liberty 
to legislate solely for the good of the country, 
and under the influence of a religious spirit, 
which taught them to respect the freedom and 
promote the purity of Christ's spiritual kingdom, 
passed the following important act : — ] 

Act of Parliament abolishing the Patronage of 
Kirks, at Edinburgh, March 9, 1649. 

The Estates of Parliament being sensible of the 
great obligation that lies upon them by the Na- 
tional Covenant, and by the Solemn League and 
Covenant, and by many deliverances and mer- 
cies from God, and by the late Solemn Engage- 
ment unto Duties, to preserve the doctrine, and 
maintain and vindicate the liberties of the Kirk 
of Scotland, and to advance the work of reform- 
ation therein to the utmost of their power ; and, 
considering that patronages and presentations of 
kirks is an evil and bondage, under which the 
Lord's people and ministers of this land have 
long groaned ; and that it hath no warrant in 
God's Word, but is founded only on the canon 
law, and is a custom popish, and brought into the 
Kirk in time of ignorance and superstition ; and 
that the same is contrary to the Second Book of 
Discipline, in which, upon solid and good ground, 
it is reckoned amongst abuses that are desired to 
be reformed, and unto several acts of General 
Assemblies; and that it is prejudicial to the 
liberty of the people and planting of kirks, and 
unto the free calling and entry of ministers unto 
their charge ; and the said estates, being willing 
and desirous to promote and advance the Reform- 
ation foresaid, that every thing in the house of 
God may be ordered according to his word and 
commandment, do therefore, from the sense of 
the former obligations, and upon the former 
grounds and reasons, discharge for ever hereafter 
all patronages and presentations of kirks, whether 
belonging to the King, or to any laick patron, 
Presbyteries, or others within this kingdom, as 
being unlawful and unwarrantable by God's 
Word, and contrary to the doctrine and liberties 
:>f the Kirk ; and do repeal, rescind, make void, 
and annul all gifts and rights granted thereanent, 
and all former acts made in Parliament, or in 
any inferior judicatory, in favours of any patron 
or patrons whatsoever, so far as the same doth or 
may relate unto the presentation of kirks ; and 
do statute and ordain, that no person or persons 
whatsomever shall, at any time hereafter, take 



upon them , under pretext of any title, infeftment, 
act of Parliament, possession or warrant whatso- 
ever, which are hereby repealed, to give, sub- 
scribe, or seal any presentation to any kirk, 
within this kingdom ; and discharges the passing 
of any infeftment hereafter, bearing a right to 
patronages, to be granted in favours of those for 
whom the infeftments are presented ; and that 
no person or persons shall, either in the behalf 
of themselves or others, procure, receive, or make 
use of any presentation to any kirk within this 
kingdom. And it is further declared and or- 
dained, that if any presentation shall hereafter be 
given, procured, or received, that the same is 
null, and of none effect; and that it is lawful for 
Presbyteries to reject the same, and to refuse to 
admit any to trials thereupon ; and, notwith- 
standing ^hereof, to proceed to the planting of the 
kirk, upon the suit and calling, or with the con- 
sent of the congregation, on whom none is to be 
obtruded against their will. And it is decerned, 
statuted, and ordained, that whosoever hereafter 
shall upon the suit and calling of the congrega- 
tion, after due examination of their literature and 
conversation, be admitted by the Presbytery unto 
the exercise and functioun of the ministry, in 
any parish within this kingdom, that the said 
person or persons, without a presentation, by vir- 
tue of their admission, hath sufficient right and 
title to possess and enjoy the manse and glebe, 
and the whole rents, profits, and stipends, which 
the ministers of that parish had formerly possesst 
and enjoyed, or that hereafter shall be modified 
by the commission for plantation of kirks. . . . 
And because it is needful, that the just and pro- 
per interest of congregations and Presbyteries, in 
providing of Kirks and ministers be clearly deter- 
mined by the General Assembly, and what is to 
be accounted the congregation having that inter- 
est ; therefore, it is hereby seriously recommended 
unto the next General Assembly, clearly to de- 
termine the same, and to condescend upon a cer- 
tain standing way for being a settled rule therein 
for all times coming. 

[It is not necessary to insert the tyrannical 
acts passed in the reigns of Charles II. and James 
VII., as these are sufficiently specified in the 
body of the work, and necessarily perished at the 
period of the Revolution. The Revolution Set- 
tlement follows : — ] 

Act 1690, ch. 5. Act Ratifying the Confession 
of Faith, and Settling Presbyterian Church 
Government. 

Our Sovereign Lord and Lady, the King and 
Queen's Majesties, and three Estates of Parlia- 
ment, conceiving it to be their bound duty, after 
the great deliverance that God hath lately wrought 
for this Church and Kingdom, — in the first place, 
to settle and secure therein the true Protestant 
religion, according to the truth of God's Word, 
as it hath of a long time been professed within 
this land : As also the government of Christ's 
Church within this nation, agreeable to the Word 
of God, and most conducive to the advancement 
of true piety and godliness, and the establishing 
of peace and tranquility within this realme : And 
that, by an article of the Claim of Right, it is de- 
clared that Prelacy, and the superiority of any 



APPENDIX. 



483 



office in the Church above Presbyteries is, and 
hath been, a great and unsupportable grievance 
and trouble to this nation, and contrary to the 
inclinations of the generality of the people ever 
since the Reformation, — they having reformed 
from Popery by Presbyters, — and therefore ought 
to be abolished : Likeas, by an Act of the last 
Session of this Parliament Prelacy is abolished : 
Therefore their Majesties, with advice and con- 
sent of the said Three Estates, do hereby revive, 
ratifie, and perpetually confirm, all Laws, Stat- 
utes, and Acts of Parliament made against Popery 
and Papists, and for the maintenance and preser- 
vation of the true reformed Protestant religion, 
and for the true Church of Christ within this 
kingdom, in so far as they confirm the same, or 
are made in favours thereof. Likeas, they, by 
these presents, ratifie and establish the Confes- 
sion of Faith, now read in their presence ; and 
voted and approved by them, as the publick and 
avowed Confession of this Church, containing the 
sum and substance of the doctrine of the Re- 
formed Churches, (which Confession of Faith is 
subjoined to this present Act.) As also they do 
establish, ratifie, and confirm the Presbyterian 
Church government and discipline ; that is to say, 
the government of the Church by Kirk-Sessions, 
Presbyteries, Provincial Synods, and General 
Assemblies, ratified and established by the 114th 
Act, Ja. 6, Pari. 12, anno 1592, intituled, Ratifi- 
cation of the Liberty of the true Kirk, <$*c., and 
thereafter received by the general consent of this 
nation, to be the only government of Christ's 
Church within this kingdom ; reviving, renewing, 
and confirming the foresaid Act of Parliament, in 
the whole heads thereof, except that part of it 
relating to Patronages, which is hereafter to be 
taken into consideration : And rescinding, annul- 
ling, and making void the Acts of Parliament 
following, viz : — Act anent Restitution of Bishops, 
Ja. 6, Pari. 18, cap. 2. ; Act Ratifying the Acts 
of Assembly 1610, J a. 6, Pari. 21, cap. 1 ; Act 
anent the Election of Archbishops and Bishops, 
Ja. 6, Pari. 22, cap. 1 ; Act intituled, Ratification 
of the Five Articles of the General Assembly at 
Perth, Ja. 6, Pari. 23, cap. 1 ; Act intituled, For 
the Restitution and Re-establishment of the an- 
cient Government of the Church by Archbishops 
and Bishops, ch. 2, Pari. 1, Sess. 2, Act 1 ; anent 
the constitution of a National Synod, ch. 2, Pari. 

1. Sess. 3, Act 5 ; Act against such as refuse to 
depone against delinquents, ch. 2, Pari. 2, Sess. 

2, Act 2; Act intituled, Act acknowleding and 
asserting the right of succession to the Imperial 
Crown of Scotland, ch. 2, Pari. 3, Act 2 ; Act 
intituled, Act anent Religion and the Test, ch. 2, 
Pari. 3, Act 6 ; with all other acts, laws, statutes, 
ordinances, and proclamations, and that in so far 
allenarly as the said Acts, and others generally 
and particularly above-mentioned, or contrary or 
prejudicial to, inconsistent with, or derogatory 
from the Protestant religion and Presbyterian 
government now established ; and allowing and 
declaring that the church government be estab- 
lished in the hands of, and exercised by, these Pres- 
byterian ministers who were outed since the 1st 
of January 1661, for non-conformity to Prelacy, 
or not complying with the courses of the times ; 
and are now restored by the late Act of Parlia- 
ment, and such ministers and elders only as they 
have admitted or received, or shall hereafter ad- 



mit or receive : And also, that all the said Pres- 
byterian ministers have, and shall have right to 
the maintenance, rights, and other privileges, by 
law provided to the ministers of Christ's Church 
within this kingdom, as they are, or shall be, 
legally admitted to particular churches. Likeas, 
in pursuance of the premises, their Majesties do 
hereby appoint the first meeting of the General 
Assembly of this Church, as above established, to 
be at Edinburgh, the third Thursday of October 
next to come, in this instant year, 1690. And 
because many conform ministers either have de- 
serted, or^ere removed from preaching in their 
churches, preceding the thirteenth day of April 
1689, and others were deprived for not giving 
obedience to the Act of the Estates made in the 
said thirteenth of April 1689, intituled, Proclama- 
tion against the owning of the late King James, 
and appointing publick prayers for King William 
and Queen Mary : Therefore their Majesties, with 
advice and consent foresaid, do hereby declare 
all the churches, either deserted, or from which 
the conform ministers were removed or deprived, 
as said is, to be vacant ; and that the Presbyte- 
rian ministers exercising their ministry within 
any of these paroches (or where the last incum- 
bent is dead), by the desire or consent of the 
paroch, shall continue their possession, and have 
right to the benefices and stipends, according to 
their entry in the year 1689, and in time coming, 
ay, and while the Church, as now established, 
take further course therewith. And to the effect 
the disorders that have happened in this Church 
may be redressed, their Majesties, with advice 
and consent foresaid, do hereby allow the gen- 
eral meeting, and representatives of the foresaid 
Presbyterian ministers and elders, in whose hands 
the exercise of the Church government is estab- 
lished, either by themselves, or by such ministers 
and elders as shall be appointed and authorised 
visitors by them, according to the custom and 
practice of Presbyterian government throughout 
the whole kingdom, and several parts thereof, to 
try and purge out all insufficient, negligent, 
scandalous, and erroneous ministers, by due 
course of ecclesiastical process and censures; 
and, likewise, for redressing all other Church 
disorders. And further, it is hereby provided, 
that whatsoever minister, being convened before 
the said general meeting and representatives of 
the Presbyterian ministers and elders, or the vis- 
itors to be appointed by them, shall either prove 
contumacious in not appearing, or be found 
guilty, and shall be therefore censured, whether 
by suspension or deposition, they shall ipso facto 
be suspended from or deprived of their stipends 
and benefices. 

Act 1690, ch. 23. Act concerning Patronages. 

Our Sovereign Lord and Lady, the King and 
Queen's Majesties, considering, that the power 
of presenting ministers to vacant churches, of 
late exercised by patrons, hath been greatly 
abused, and is inconvenient to be continued in 
this realm, do therefore, with the advice and con- 
sent of the Estates of Parliament, hereby dis- 
charge, cass, annul, and make void the foresaid 
power, heretofore exercised by any patron, of 
presenting ministers to any kirk now vacant, or 
that shalf hereafter happen to vaik within this 



484 



APPENDIX. 



kingdom, with all exercise of the said power: 
And also all rights, gifts, and infeftments, acts, 
statutes, and customs, in so far as they may be 
extended, or understood, to establish the said 
right of presentation ; but prejudice always, of 
such ministers as are duly entered by the foresaid 
presentations (while in use), their right to the 
manse, glebe, benefice, stipend, and other profits 
of their respective churches, as accords : And but 
prejudice to the patrons of their right to employ 
the vacant stipends on pious uses, within the 
respective paroches, except where the patron is 
popish, in which case is to employ th^ same on 
pious uses, by the advice and appointment of the 
Presbytery ; and in case the patron shall fail in 
applying the vacant stipend for the uses foresaid, 
that he shall lose his right of administration of the 
vacant stipend for that and the next vacancy, 
and the same shall be disposed on by the Presby- 
tery to the uses foresaid ; excepting always the 
vacant stipends within the bounds of the Synod 
of Argyle : And to the effect, the calling and en- 
tering ministers, in all time coming, may be 
orderly and regularly performed, their Majesties, 
with consent of the Estates of Parliament, do 
statute and declare, That, in case of the vacancy 
of any particular church, and for supplying the 
same with a minister, the heritors of the said 
parish (being Protestants) and the elders are to 
name and propose the person to the whole con- 
gregation, to be either approven or disapproven 
by them ; and if they disapprove, that the disap- 
proves give in their reasons, to the effect the 
affair may be cognosced upon by the Presbytery 
of the bounds, at whose judgment, and by whose 
determination, the calling and entry of a particu- 
lar minister is to be ordered and concluded. And 
it is hereby enacted, that if applic?^ion be not 
made by the eldership, and heritors of the paroch, 
to the Presbytery, for the call and choice of a 
minister, within the space of six months after the 
vacancy, that then the Presbytery may proceed 
to provide the said parish, and plant a minister 
in the church, tn.nquam jure devoluto. It is al- 
ways hereby declared, that this act shall be but 
prejudice of the calling of ministers to royal 
burghs by the Magistrates, Town-Council, and 
Kirk-Session of the burgh, where there is no 
landward parish, as they have been in use before 
the year 1660. And where there is a considera- 
ble part of the paroch in landward, that the call 
shall be by Magistrates, Town-Council, Kirk- 
Session, and the heritors of the landward paroch. 
And in lieu and recompense of the said right of 
presentation, hereby taken away, their Majesties, 
with advice and consent aforesaid, statute and 
ordain the heritors and liferenters of each paroch, 
and the Town-Councils for the burgh, to pay the 
said patrons, betwixt and Martinmas next, the 
sum of six hundred merks, &c., &c. 

[The circumstances connected with the act 
1693. and the objects it was intended to subserve, 
have been already mentioned in the body of the 
work, see pp. 309, 310 ] 

Act 1693. Ad for Settling the Quiet and Peace 
of the Church. 

Our Sovereign Lord and Lady, the King and 
Queen's Majesties, with advice and consent of 



the Estates of Parliament, ratifie, approve, and 
perpetually confirm the fifth act of the second 
session of this current parliament, entitled, Act 
ratifying the Confession of Faith, and settling 
Presbyterian Church Government, in the whole 
Heads, Articles, and Clauses thereof; and do 
further statute and ordain, that no person be ad- 
mitted, or continued for hereafter, to be a minis- 
ter or preacher within this Church, unless that 
he having first taken and subscribed the oath of 
allegiance, and subscribed the assurance, in man- 
ner appointed by another act of this present ses- 
sion of parliament, made thereanent : Do also 
subscribe the Confession of Faith, ratified in the 
foresaid fifth act of the second session of this par- 
liament, declaring the same to be the confession 
of his faith, and that he owns the doctrine therein 
contained to be the true doctrine which he will 
constantly adhere to : As, likewise, that he owns 
and acknowledges Presbyterian Church govern- 
ment, as settled by the foresaid fifth act°of the 
second session of this parliament, to be the only 
government of this Church, and that he will sub- 
mit thereto, and concur therewith, and never en- 
deavour, directly or indirectly, the prejudice or 
subversion thereof. And their Majesties, with 
advice and consent foresaid, statute and ordain, 
that uniformity of worship, and of the administra- 
tion of all public ordinances within this Church, be 
observed by all the saids ministers and preachers 
as the same are at present performed and allowed 
therein, or shall be hereafter declared by the au- 
thority of the same; and that no minister or 
preacher be admitted or continued for hereafter, 
unless that he subscribe to observe, and do actually 
observe, the foresaid uniformity : And for the more 
effectual settling the quiet and peace of this church, 
the estates of parliament do hereby make a humble 
address to their Majesties, that they would be 
pleased to call a General Assembly, for the ordering 
the affairs of the Church, and to the end that all 
the present ministers possessing churches, not yet 
admitted to the exercise of the foresaid Church 
government, conform to the said Act, and who 
shall qualify themselves in manner foresaid, and 
shall apply to the said Assembly, or the other 
Church judicatures competent, in an orderly way, 
each man for himself, be received to partake with 
them in the government thereof: Certifying such 
as shall not qualify themselves, and apply to the 
said Assembly, or other judicatures, within the 
space of thirty days after meeting of the said first 
Assembly, in manner foresaid, that they may be 
deposed by the sentence of the said Assembly 
and other judicatures tarn ob officio quam a bene' 
ficio (as from the office, so also from the bene- 
fice); and withal declaring, that if any of the 
said ministers who have not hitherto been re- 
ceived into the government of the Church, shall 
offer to qualify themselves, and to apply in man- 
ner foresaid, they shall have their Majesties' full 
protection, aye and until they shall be admitted 
and received in manner foresaid ; providing al- 
ways that this Act. and the benefit thereof, shall 
no ways be extended to such of the said minis- 
ters as are scandalous, erroneous, negligent, or 
insufficient, and against whom the same shall be 
verified, within the space of thirty days after the 
said application: but these and all others in like 
manner guilty, are hereby declared to be liable 
and subject to the power and censure of the 



APPENDIX. 



485 



Church, as accords : And to the effect that the 
representation of this Church, in its General As- 
semblies, may be the more equal in all time com- 
ing, recommends it to the first Assembly that 
shall be called, to appoint ministers to be sent as 
Commissioners from every Presbytery, not in 
equal numbers, which is manifestly unequal 
where Presbyteries are so ; but in due proportion 
to the churches and parishes within every Pres- 
bytery, as they shall judge convenient ; and it is 
hereby declared, that all school-masters, and 
teachers of youth in schools, are and shall be 
liable to the trial, judgment, and censure of the 
Presbyteries of the bounds, for their sufficiency, 
qualifications, and deportment in the said office. 
And lastly, their Majesties, with advice and con- 
sent foresaid, do hereby statute and ordain, that 
the Lords of their Majesties' privy council, and 
all other magistrates, judges, and officers of justice, 
give all due assistance for making the sentences 
and censures of the Church and judicatures thereof 
to be obeyed, or otherwise effectual, as accords. 

[The circumstances preceding and accompany- 
ing the Treaty of Union have been already re- 
lated in the body of the work : no more is ne- 
cessary than to insert here the Act of Security : — ] 

Act for Securing the Protestant Religion and 
Presbyterian Church Government, which was 
the basis of the Treaty of Union, at Edinburgh, 
January 16. 1707. 

Our Sovereign Lady, and the Estates of Par- 
liament, considering, That by the late Act of Par- 
liament for a treaty with England, for an union 
of both kingdoms, it is provided, that the com- 
missioners for that treaty should not treat of or 
concerning any alteration of the worship, disci- 
pline, and government of the Church in this 
kingdom as now by law established: which 
treaty being now reported to the Parliament, and 
it being reasonable and necessary that, the true 
Protestant religion, as presently professed within 
this kingdom, with the worship, discipline, and 
government of this Church, should be effectually 
awl unalterably secured, therefore, her Majesty, 
with advice and consent of the said Estates of 
Parliament, do thereby establish and confirm the 
said true Protestant religion, and the worship, 
discipline, and government of this Church, to con- 
tinue without any alteration to the people of this 
land in all succeeding generations : and more es- 
pecially, her Majesty, with advice and consent 
aforesaid, ratifies, approves, and for ever confirms 
the fifth act of the first Parliament of King Wil- 
liam and Queen Mary, entitled, "An Act ratify- 
ing the Confession of Faith, and settling Presby- 
terian Church Government, with the hail other 
Acts of Parliament relating thereto, in prosecu- 
tion of the declaration of the estates of this king- 
dom, containing the Claim of Right, bearing date 
the 1 1 th of April 1 689." And her Majesty, with 
advice and consent aforesaid, expressly provides 
and declares, that the foresaid true Protestant re- 
ligion, contained in the above mentioned Confes- 
sion of Faith, with the form and purity of wor- 
ship presently in use within this Church, and its 
Presbyterian church government and discipline ; 
that is to say, the government of the Clurch by 
Kirk-Sessions Presbyteries, Provincial Synods, 



and General Assembly, all established by the fore- 
said acts of Parliament, pursuant to the Claim of 
Right, shall remain and continue unalterable ; and 
that the said Presbyterian government shall, be 
the only government of 'the Church within the 
kingdom of Scotland. 

And further, for the greater security of the 
foresaid Protestant religion, and of the worship, 
discipline, and government of this Church, as 
above established, her Majesty, with advice and 
consent foresaid, statutes and ordains, That the 
universities and colleges of St. Andrews, Glas- 
gow, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh, as now estab- 
lished by law. shall continue within this kingdom 
for ever : and that in all time coming, no profes- 
sors, principals, regents, masters, or others, bear- 
ing office in any university, college, or school, 
within this kingdom, be capable, or admitted, or 
allowed to continue in the exercise of their said 
functions, but such as shall own and acknow- 
ledge the civil government in manner prescribed, 
or to be prescribed by the acts of Parliament : as 
also, that before or at their admissions, they do 
and shall acknowledge, and profess, and shall 
subscribe to the foresaid Confession of Faith, as 
the confession of their faith ; and that they will 
practise and conform themselves to the worship 
presently in use in this Church, and submit 
themselves to the government and discipline 
thereof ; and never endeavour, directly or indi- 
rectly, the prejudice or subversion of the same; 
and that before the respective Presbyteries of 
their bounds, by whatsomever gift, presentation, 
or provision they may be thereto provided. 

And further, her Majesty, with advice foresaid, 
expressly declares and statutes, that none of the 
subjects of this kingdom shall be liable to, but all 
and every one of them, for ever free of. any oath, 
test, or subscription within this kingdom, con- 
trary to or inconsistent with the foresaid true 
Protestant religion, and Presbyterian church gov- 
ernment, worship, and discipline, as above estab- 
lished : and that the same within the bounds of 
this Church and kingdom, shall never be imposed 
upon or required of them in any sort. 

And lastly, that after the decease of her pres- 
ent Majesty (whom God long preserve), the 
sovereign succeeding to her in the royal govern- 
ment of the kingdom of Great Britain, shall in 
all time coming at his or her accession to the 
crown, swear and subscribe, that they shall in- 
violably maintain and preserve the foresaid set- 
tlement of the true Protestant religion, with 
the government, worship, discipline, rights and 
privileges of this Church, as above established by 
by the laws of this kingdom, in prosecution of the 
Claim of Right : and it is hereby statute and or- 
dained, that this act of Parliament , with the estab- 
lishment therein contained, shall be held and 
observed in all time coming, as a fundamental 
and essential condition of any treaty or v.nion to be 
concluded betwixt the two kingdoms, without any al- 
teration thereof, or derogation thereto, in any sort 
forever: as also, that this act of Parliament, and 
settlement therein contained , shall be insert and re- 
peated in any act of Parliament that shall pass for 
agreeing and concluding the foresaid treaty or 
union betwixt the two kingdoms ; and that the same 
shall be therein expressly declared to be a fundamen- 
tal and essential condition of the said treaty or 
union in all time coming. 



486 



APPENDIX. 



Act Ratifying and Approving the Treaty of 
Union of the two Kingdoms of Scotland and 
England, January 16, 1707, founded on the 
foresaid Act of Security. 

The Estates of Parliament considering that 
Articles of Union of the kingdoms of Scotland 
and England were agreed on the *22d of July 
1706 years, &c. * * * and sicklike, her Ma- 
jesty, with advice and consent of the Estates of 
Parliament, resolving to establish the Protestant 
religion and Presbyterian church government, 
has passed in this session of Parliament an " Act 
for securing of the Protestant Religion and Pres- 
byterian Church Government," which, by the 
tenor thereof, is appointed to be insert in any act 
ratifying the treaty, and expressly declared to be 
a fundamental and essential condition of the said 
treaty of union in all time coming, &c. 

[After embodying the Act of Security, the doc- 
ument proceeds as follows : — ] 

Which Articles of Union, find act immediately 
above written, her Majesty, with advice and con- 
sent aforesaid, statutes, enacts, and ordains to be 
and continue in all time coming the sure and per- 
petual foundation of a complete and entire union 
of the two kingdoms of Scotland and England, un- 
der the express condition and provision, That this 
approbation and ratification of the foresaid articles 
and act shall be noways binding on this kingdom, 
until the said articles and act be ratified, approved, 
and confirmed by her Majesty, with and by the au- 
thority of the Parliament of England, as they are 
now agreed to, approved and confirmed by her Ma- 
jesty, with and by the authority of the Parliament 
of Scotland. Declaring nevertheless, That the 
Parliament of England may provide for the security 
of the Church of England, as they think it expe- 
dient, to take place within the bounds of the said 
kingdom of England, and not derogating from 
the security above provided for establishing of the 
Church of Scotland within the bounds of this 
kingdom. As also, the said Parliament of Eng- 
land may extend the additions and other provis- 
ions contained in the Articles of Union, as above 
insert, in favours of the subjects of Scotland, to 
and in favours of the subjects of England, which 
shall not suspend or derogate from the force and 
effect of this present ratification, but shall be un- 
derstood as herein included, without the neces- 
sity of any new ratification in the Parliament of 
Scotland. And lastly, her Majesty enacts and de- 
clares, That all laws and statutes in this kingdom, 
so far as they are contrary to, or inconsistent with, 
the terms of these articles, as above mentioned, shall 
from and after the Union cease and become void. 

[The insertion of the perfidious act of Queen 
Anne's Jacobite ministry, immediately after the 
Revolution Settlement and the Act of Security, 
is enough to show how completely the Patronage 
Act is a violation of national faith, and contrary 
to the inviolable Act of Security.] 

Act 10, Q. Anne, ch. 12, 1711. An Act to restore 
the Patrons to their ancimt Rights of present- 
ing Ministers to the Churches vacant in that 
part of Great Britain called Scotland. 

I. Whereas, by the antient laws and constitu- 



tions of that part of Great Britain called Scotland, 
the presenting of ministers to vacant churches 
did of right belong to the patrons, until, by the 
twenty-third Act of the second session of the first 
Parliament of the late King William and Queen 
Mary, held in the year one thousand six hundred 
and ninety, intituled, "Act concerning Patron- 
ages," the presentation was taken from the pa- 
trons, and given to the heritors and elders of the 
respective parishes; and, in place of the right of 
presentation, the heritors and liferenters of every 
parish were to pay to the respective patrons a 
small and inconsiderable sum of money, for 
which the patrons were to renounce their right 
of presentation in all times thereafter : And 
whereas by the fifteenth act of the fifth session, 
and by the thirteenth act of the sixth session, of 
the first Parliament of the said King William, the 
one intituled " An Act for encouraging of Preach- 
ers at vacant Churches benorth Forth," and the 
other intituled, " Act in favour of Preachers be- 
north Forth there are several burdens imposed 
upon vacant stipends, to the prejudice of the pa- 
tron's right of disposing thereof: And whereas 
that way of calling ministers has proved incon- 
venient, and has not only occasioned great heats 
and divisions among those who, by the aforesaid 
act, were entitled and authorised to call minis- 
ters, but likewise has been a great hardship upon 
the patrons, whose predecessors had founded and 
endowed those churches, and who had not re- 
ceived payment or satisfaction for their right of 
patronage from the aforesaid heritors or liferent- 
ers of the respective parishes, nor have granted 
renunciations of their said rights on that account: 
Be it therefore enacted, by the Queen's most ex- 
cellent Majesty, by and with the advice and con- 
sent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and 
Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, 
and by the authority of the same, that the afore- 
said act, made in the year one thousand six hun- 
dred and ninety, intituled, " Act concerning Pa- 
tronages," in so far as the same relates to the 
presentation of ministers by heritors and others 
therein mentioned, be, and is hereby repealed 
and made void ; and that the aforesaid fifteenth 
act of the fifth session, and thirteenth act of the 
sixth session, of the first Parliament of King Wil- 
liam, be, and are hereby likewise repealed and 
made void : and that in all time coming, the right 
of all and every patron or patrons to the presen- 
tation of ministers to churches and benefices, and 
the disposing of the vacant stipends. for pious 
uses within the parish, be restored, settled, and 
confirmed to them, the aforesaid acts, or any 
other act, statute, or custom to the contrary in 
any wise notwithstanding; and that from and 
after the first day of May one thousand seven 
hundred and twelve, it shall and may be lawful 
for her Majesty, her heirs and successors, and 
for every other person or persons who have right 
to any patronage or patronages of any church or 
churches whatsoever, in that part of Great Bri- 
tain called Scotland (and who have not made 
and subscribed a formal renunciation thereof un- 
der their hands), to present a qualified minister 
or ministers to any church or churches whereof 
they are patrons, which shall, after the first day 
of May, happen to be vacant ; and the Presby- 
tery of tile respective bounds shall, and is hereby 
obliged to receive and admit, in the same manner 



APPENDIX. 



487 



such qualified person or persons, minister or 
ministers, as shall be presented by the respective 
patrons, as the persons or ministers presented be- 
fore the making of this act ought to have been 
admitted. 

II. Provided always, that in case any patron 
or patrons have accepted of and received any sum 
or sums of money from the heritors or liferenters 
of any parish, or from the Magistrates or Town 
Council of any borough, in satisfaction of their 
right of presensation, and have discharged or re- 
nounced the same under their hand, that nothing 
herein shall be construed to restore such patron 
or patrons to their right of presentation ; any 
thing in this present act to the contrary notwith- 
standing. 

III. Provided also, and it is hereby enacted, by 
the authority aforesaid, that in case the patron 
of any church aforesaid shall neglect or refuse to 
present any qualified minister to such church 
that shall be vacant the said first day of May, or 
shall happen to be vacant at any time there- 
after, for the space of six months after the said 
first day of May, or after such vacancy shall 
happen, that the right of presentation shall accrue 
and belong for that time to the Presbytery of the 
bounds where such church is, who are to present 
a qualified person for that vacancy, tanquamjure 
devoluto. 

IV. And be it further enacted and declared by 
the authority aforesaid, that the patronage and 
right of presentations of ministers to all churches 
which belonged to archbishops, bishops, or other 
dignified persons, in the year one thousand six 
hundred and eighty-nine, before Episcopacy was 
abolished, as well as those which formerly be- 
longed to the Crown, shall and do of right belong 
to her Majesty, her heirs and successors, who 
may present qualified ministers to such church or 
churches, and dispose of the vacant stipends 
thereof for pious uses, in the same way and man- 
ner as her Majesty, her heirs and successors, may 
do in the case of other patronages belonging to 
the Crown. 

V. Declaring always, that nothing in this pres- 
ent act contained shall extend, or be construed 
to extend, to repeal and make void the aforesaid 
twenty-third act of the second session of the first 
parliament of the 1 ^te King William and Queen 
Mary, excepting so far as relates to the calling 
and presenting of ministers, and to the disposing 
of vacant stipends, in prejudice of the patrons 
only. 

[Although no real benefit arose from the Act 
1719, yet it may be inserted to show, that in a 
purer and more faithful state of the Church it 
might have been of some avail.] 

Excerpt from Act 5th, Geo. I. cap. 29, 1719, enti- 
tled " An Act for making more effectual the 
Laws appointing the Oaths for Security of the 
Government, to be taken by Ministers and 
Preachers in Churches and Meeting-houses in 
Scotland" 

VIII. And whereas great obstructions have 
been made to the planting, supplying, or filling 
Up of vacant churches in Scotland, with ministers 
qualified according to law, patrons presenting 
persons to churches who are not qualified, by 



taking the oatns appointed by law, or who, being 
settled in other churches, cannot or will not ac- 
cept of such presentations : To the end that such 
inconveniences may be prevented for the future, 
be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, that if 
any patron shall present any person to a vacant 
church, from and after the first day of June, one 
thousand seven hundred and nineteen, who shall 
not be qualified by taking and subscribing the 
said oath in manner aforesaid, or shall present a 
person to any vacancy who is then or shall be 
pastor or minister of any other church or parish, 
or any person who shall not accept, or declare his 
willingness to accept, of the presentation and 
charge to which he is presented, within the said 
time, such presentation shall not be accounted 
any interruption of the course of time allowed to 
the patron for presenting; but the j^s devolutum 
shall take place, as if no presentation had been 
offered : any law or custom to the contrary not- 
withstanding. 

IX. And be it also further declared and enacted, 
that nothing herein contained shall prejudice or 
diminish the right of the Church, as the same 
now stands by law established, as to the trying 
of the qualities of any person presented to any 
church or benefice. 

Excerpt from Act 4 and 5 William IV. c. 41. 

Be it enacted, &c, that where any church, 
chapel, or other place of worship, in that part of 
Great Britain called Scotland, built or acquired 
and endowed by voluntary contribution, shall be 
erected into a parochial church, either as an ad- 
ditional church within a parish already provided 
with a parochial church, or as the church of a 
separate parish to be erected out of the part or 
parts of any existing parish or parishes, whether 
the same be established and erected quoad spirit- 
ualia, by authority of the church courts of the 
Established Church of Scotland, or also qtioad 
lemporalia, by authority of the Commissioners of 
Teinds, neither the King's Majesty, nor any pri- 
vate person, nor any body politic or corporate, 
having right to the patronage of the parish or 
parishes within which such additional churches 
shall be established, or out of which such new par- 
ishes shall be erected, shall have any claim, right, or 
title whatsoever, to the patronage of such newly 
established churches, or newly erected parishes ; 
but the right of presenting ministers thereto shall 
be exercised according to the manner, and sub- 
ject to the conditions, which shall be provided or 
sanctioned by the church courts establishing the 
said churches, or where new parishes shall be 
erected, as shall be prescribed and regulated by 
the said church courts erecting such new par- 
ishes into separate spiritual jurisdictions, subject 
always to such alterations as shall be made by the 
said courts, according to the laws of the Church 
from time to time. 

[The object of this act was to relieve new 
churches from a peculiar operation of the Patron- 
age Act, which had proved a great obstacle to 
their erection. It had been found, as in the case 
of Whitburn, for example, that when a church 
had been built and endowed by voluntary contri- 
bution, and a district assigned to it as a new 
parish, the patron of the original parish might 



488 



APPENDIX. 



seize upon the patronage of the new erection, 
even though there had been inserted into its con- 
stitution an article expressly excluding patronage, 
and restoring the original principle of popular 
election. The people would not build churches 
to be immediately seized by patrons, who, follow- 
ing the usual policy of patronage without its 
usual fallacious plea, usurped a supremacy where 
they could not even pretend a patrimonial right. 
The above act put an end to all such usurpation, 
and tended greatly to promote the great Church 
Extension scheme of the reforming and reviving 
Church of Scotland. But Moderate policy, ha- 
ting these new churches because they were popu- 
lar and evangelical, and free from patronage, 
devised methods to crush them if possible. The 
legality of the admission into church courts of 
the ministers of such churches has been strenu- 
ously denied, and protested against; yet with 
strange inconsistency the Moderate party placed 
one of these ministers in the moderator's chair. 
In some instances the heritors have claimed 
the collections made at the doors of these new 
churches, as belonging to the parochial funds 
for the support of the poor, and the Court of Ses- 
sion has sanctioned the unjust claim, with the 
perfect certainty that the attempt to enforce it 
would put an end to the collections, without any 
benefit to the heritors. In other instances the 
heritors have applied to the Court of Session for 
an interdict to prevent the Presbytery of the 
bounds where a new church had been erected, 
from assigning to it a parochial district quoad 
spiritualia, and have obtained the interdict, on 
the strange plea, that every man in the original 
parish had a right to the religious services of the 
parish minister, and that, therefore, to give him 
the additional services of another, was a.n illegal 
interference vnth his civil rights! But the most 
formidable aspect which the fierce hostility of 
Moderatism against the new churches has as- 
sumed, is that which asserts that church courts 
are so completely vitiated by the admission of 
their ministers, that no measure in which they 
have taken a part is legal and valid. This, too, 
the Court of Session has sanctioned, notwith- 
standing the legislative recognition of these 
churches in the above act of parliament, by grant- 
ing interdicts to prevent the execution of sen- 
tences of deposition pronounced by Presbyteries, 
Synods, and the General Assembly itself, in the 
case of ministers convicted of heresy and theft, 
expressly on the ground that these sentences are 
invalid because pronounced by church courts in 
which ministers of new churches and quoad sacra 
parishes deliberated and acted as constituent 
members. If this decision of the civil could be 
carried into full effect, it would be equivalent to 
a new act Rescissory, as it would nullify the 
whole judicial procedure of the Church of Scot- 
land since the year 1834. In this, doubtless, 
Moderatism would rejoice, but for one considera- 
tion : not a few Moderate ministers would im- 
mediately lose all legal claim to their stipends, 
their ordination and induction being rendered 
void, as the illegal act of a vitiated church court. 
They will, therefore, probably adhere to their 
aatest policy, and strive to procure the ejection 
of the whole Evangelical party, that they may 
themselves enjoy the civil emoluments of the 
Church, so long as the righteous retribution of 



Providence will permit, till their cuj> is full. Que * 

Dens vnlt perdere, prius dementat.] 



No. III. 

PRINCIPLES, ACTS, AND RESOLUTIONS 
OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, RE- 
SPECTING THE APPOINTMENT OF 
MINISTERS AND PATRONAGE. 

The principles of the Church of Scotland with 
regard to the proper method of appointing minis- 
ters to the pastoral office have been much misrep- 
resented, and yet it appears absolutely impossible 
for any candid and unprejudiced person to read 
her standards and acts of Assembly, and to mark 
her general procedure, without clearly perceiving 
that patronage is essentially contrary to the spirit, 
the fundamental principles, and the constitution, 
of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. There 
is not the slightest doubt that kings, govern- 
ments, politicians, and worldly-minded men in 
general, whether without the Church or within 
it, have always striven to enact or to enforce pa- 
tronage because they expected through its influ- 
ence to render the Church subservient to their 
purposes as a mere political engine ; but the true 
subject of inquiry is, not what rulers and poli- 
ticians have always striven to effect, — that would 
only be an inquiry into their opinions, about 
which there is no doubt, — but what the Chr.rch 
has always declared, maintained in theory, and 
striven to realize in practice, as the scriptural, 
and therefore the best, method of appointing min- 
isters to the pastoral office. 

Beginning with the great and sacred principle, 
" That the Lord Jesus Christ is the only Head 
and King of the Church," the Presbyterian 
Church holds as self-evident, that the appoint- 
ment of office-bearers in his spiritual kingdom 
must necessarily belong exclusively to its Divine 
King, and be regulated solely by his precepts and 
commands, either as given in his own words, or 
as embodied in the proceedings of his inspired 
Apostles. Applying to the Scriptures to ascer- 
tain from them the mind and will of the King of 
Zion in this matter, it is found, that He distinctly 
declares the responsibility of his people in the 
exercise of their private judgment what pastor 
they are to hear and follow. The Apostles use 
similar but still more explicit language, and in 
the few instances of the appointment of office- 
bearers which are recorded in the Scriptures, this 
at least is evident, that they were either directly 
chosen by the people themselves, or with their 
consent and approval. Hence the principle, that 
there cannot be a scriptural appointment to the 
pastoral office without the consent and approval 
of the Christian people, that is, of those who 
compose the true flock, having been admitted to 
the privileges of Christian communion, and 
thereby made citizens of Zion and members of 
Christ's spiritual body, the Church, of which He 
is the only Head. But this principle may come 
into operation in either of two different ways,— 
either by tbe Christian flock directly choosing 
their own pastor, or by expressing their consent, 



APPENDIX. 



489 



approval of, and willingness to receive in that 
relation the person offered to them. The first of 
these modes the Church of Scotland has always 
regarded as the best, because the most scriptural, 
natural, and direct ; but when that could not be 
obtained, she has been willing to act upon the 
second, because not unscriptural, and capable, if 
properly administered, of securing the important 
objects in view, namely, the affectionate regard 
and confidence of the Christian people, and the 
appointment of an equally acceptable and efficient 
ministry, whom the Lord might bless in their la- 
bours for the extension of his kingdom and the 
edification of his people. And because the Church 
has believed that either of these methods of ap- 
pointing ministers might be employed, though 
preferring the former, she has in different periods 
employed the one or the other, according to the 
force of circumstances ; from which has arisen 
the varying aspects which this great principle has 
from time to time assumed ; but never has she 
abandoned the principle itself, and never can she 
abandon it without ceasing to be the Presbyterian 
Church of Scotland, or rather, without ceasing 
to be a Christian Church, and becoming a mere 
secular institution. 

A few extracts will show the truth of the pre- 
ceding statement. 

FIRST BOOK OF DISCIPLINE, 

Drawn up by John Knox and others immediately 
after the Reformation in 1560. 

"It appertaineth to the people, and to every 
several congregation to elect their minister." 
{First Book of Discipline, Fourth Head, chap. iv. 
sect. 2.) 

" For altogether this is to be avoided, that any 
man be violently intruded or thrust in upon any 
congregation ; but this liberty with all care must 
be reserved to every several church, to have their 
votes and suffrages in election of their ministers." 
{Ibid., sect. 4.) 

" The admission of ministers to their offices 
must consist in [the] consent of the people and 
church whereto they shall be appointed, and ap- 
probation of the learned ministers appointed for 
their examination." {Ibid., chap. iv. sect. 8.) 

SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE, 

Drawn up by Andrew Melville and others, and 
approved c ~ by the Church of Scotland as one 
of her Standards, 1581. 

" This ordinary and outward calling has two 
parts — election and ordination. Election is the 
choosing out of a person or persons, most able 
for the office that vaikes, by the judgment of 
the eldership, and consent of the congregation 
to whom the person or persons are appointed. 
* * * In this ordinary election it is to 
be eschewed that any person be intruded into 
any of the offices of the kirk contrary to the will 
of the congregation to which they are appointed, 
or without the voice of the eldership." {Second 
Book of Discipline, chap. iii. sect. 4, 5.) 

" The liberty of the election of persons called 
to the ecclesiastical functions, and observed with- 
out interruption, so long as the Kirk was not 
corrupted by antichrist, we desired to be restored 
and retained within this realm ; so that none be 
62 



intrudea upon any congregation, either by the 
prince or any inferior person, without lawful 
election, and the assent of the people over whom 
the person is placed, — as the practice of the apos- 
tolic and primitive Kirk, and good order, crave. 

"And because this order, which God's Word 
craves, cannot stand with patronages and presen- 
tations to benefices used in the Pope's Kirk, we 
desire all them that truly fear God, earnestly to 
consider, that forasmuch as the names of patron- 
ages and benefices, together with the effect 
thereof, have flowed from the Pope and corrup- 
tion of the canon law only, in so far as thereby 
any person was introduced or placed over kirks 
having cv.ram animarum; and forasmuch as that 
manner of proceeding hath no ground in the 
Word of God, but is contrary to the same, and to 
the said liberty of election, they ought not now 
to have place in this fight of reformation ; and, 
therefore, whosoever will embrace God's Word, 
and desire the kingdom of his Son, Christ Jesus, 
to be advanced, they will also embrace that policy 
and order which the Word of God and upright 
estate of this Kirk crave ; otherwise it is in vain 
that they have professed the same." {Ibid., chap 
xii. pars. 9, 10.) 

It will be observed that the language of the 
Second Book of Discipline varies a little from 
that of the First, chiefly in the precedence which 
it seems to give to " the judgment of the elder- 
ship," or Presbytery, in the election of ministers. 
The very slightest acquaintance with the history 
of the period is sufficient to explain that apparent 
difference. The people of Scotland were at that 
period little better than serfs and bondmen ; the 
Presbyterian Church had indeed struck off the 
fetters and broken the yoke of Popery, and given 
them religious liberty ; but they were still groan- 
ing beneath an oppressive civil despotism. The 
Church of Scotland, on the other hand, had ob- 
tained the sanction of the legislature to its prin- 
ciples so far, that it was rather perilous for the 
king to assail its recognised liberties, which his 
own hand had ratified. Holding fast her own 
principle, that the Christian people have a sacred 
right to the choice of their pastor, the Church 
adopted the generous part of placing herself in 
the front of the conflict, throwing over the peo- 
ple the shield of her own admitted rights and 
privileges, and encountering the royal despot's 
hostility, that she might secure to the Redeemer's 
flock that liberty wherewith he had made them 
free. At that time every article of religious free- 
dom which was gained by the office-bearers of 
the Church, was grained for the people compos- 
ing, with the office-bearers, the Church ; and 
nothing in the whole conduct of our Scotish Re- 
formers gives even the least ground of credibility 
to the strange assertion of Moderatism, that the 
sole object for which our reforming ancestors 
were then contending, was the acquisition of ec- 
clesiastical power to Church Courts, regardless 
of the people. This, indeed, is the system of 
Moderatism, but not that of the true Church of 
Scotland. 

In the year 1582, the General Assembly passed 
an act complaining of the "ambition, covetous- 
ness, and indirect dealing of sundry" who went 
about to enter into the ministry by corrupt collu- 
sion with patrons, and being in, employed un- 
lawful means to avoid correction and punishment 



490 



APPENDIX. 



for their offences, — "seeking by the civil power 
to exempt and withdraw themselves from the ju- 
risdiction of the Kirk," — " and procuring letters 
or charges to impair, hurt, or stay the said juris- 
diction." Such conduct was forbidden under the 
pain of excommunication ; but to avoid any un- 
necessary collision with the civil power, it is 
added, i£ and this act to be no ways prejudicial to 
the laic patrons and their presentations, unto the 
time the laws be reformed according to God's 
Wordy Nothing could more clearly prove, that 
our reformers did not consider patronage to be 
according to God's Word. 

When, in the year 1588, King James was busily 
prosecuting his weak and sinful policy of bestow- 
ing Church property upon his unworthy favour- 
ites, erecting titular lordships, and annexing pa- 
tronages to the lands which had been wrongfully 
seized and wickedly gifted to wicked men, nay, 
giving in some instances the naked patronage 
without any lands, the General Assembly passed 
an act, complaining of this procedure, remonstrat- 
ing with his Majesty, and finally " inhibiting in 
the mean time all Commissioners and Presbyte- 
ries, that they on no ways give collation or ad- 
mission to any persons presented by said new 
patrons, as is above specified, unto the next Gen- 
eral Assembly." This is a clear proof, that these 
new patronages were not at the time, and never 
since have been, recognised by the Church of 
Scotland as lawful and valid, but complained 
against as unlawful, and condemned as invalid ; 
and be it remembered, that four-fifths of the 
whole patronages in Scotland were thus illegally 
and tyrannically created. The Church was spoiled 
of her own patrimony, — that property was given 
to the King's unworthy minions, — and then the 
patronage was added in virtue of the pillage 
which these men had received. 

The last faithful Assembly, as Calderwood 
terms that of 1596, being well aware that there 
remained many abuses still to be reformed, and 
being desirous to reform the Church first, ap- 
pointed a Committee to point out these abuses. 
In stating the corruptions in the office of the 
ministry, the following specification is made. 
" Thirdly, Because, by presentations, many forci- 
bly are thrust into the ministry, and upon congre- 
gations, that utter thereafter that they were not 
called by God, it would be provided, that none 
seek presentations to benefices without advice of 
the Presbytery within the bounds whereof the 
benefice lies, and if any do in the contrary, they 
ire to be repelled, as ret ambitus" — that is, guilty 
of attempting to procure the office by corrupt 
means. 

At the era of the Second Reformation, 1638, 
the famous Assembly of that date passed an act 
" anent the presenting of either pastors, or read- 
ers, and school-masters, to particular congrega- 
tions," in these words: "That there be respect 
had to the congregation, and that no person be 
intruded in any office of the Kirk contrary to the 
will of the congregation to which they are ap- 
pointed. The Assembly allovveth this article." 

Several modifications of patronage took place 
during the intervening period between the Glas- 
gow Assembly and the year 1649, when the Scot- 
tish parliament passed an act abolishing patron- 
age altogether, recommending the next General 
Assembly to provide and enact a standing rule for 



the appointment of ministers. This was done at 
the next meeting of Assembly, on the 4th of .Au- 
gust 1649, and is as follows : — 

Directory for the Election of Ministers. 

" When any place of the ministry in a congre- 
gation is vacant, it is incumbent to the Presbytery 
with all diligence to send one of their number to 
preach to that congregation, who, in his doctrine, 
is to represent to them the necessity of providing 
the place with a qualified pastor ; and to exhort 
them to fervent prayer and supplication to the 
Lord, that he would send them a pastor accord- 
ing to his own heart ; as also he is to signify, that 
the Presbytery, out of their care of that flock, 
will send unto them preachers whom they may 
hear ; and if they have a desire to hear any other, 
they will endeavour to procure them a hearing of 
that person, or persons, upon the suit of the eld- 
ers to the Presbytery. 

"Within some competent time thereafter, the 
Presbytery is again to send one or more of their 
number to the said vacant congregation, on a 
certain day appointed before for that effect, who 
are to convene and hear sermon the foresaid day; 
which being ended, and intimation being made 
by the minister, that they are to go about the 
election of a pastor for that congregation, the 
Session of the congregation shall meet and pro- 
ceed to the election, the action being moderated 
by him that preached; and if the people shall, 
upon the intimation of the person agreed upon 
by the Session, acquiesce and consent to the said 
person, that the matter being reported to the 
Presbytery by commissioners sent from the Ses- 
sion, they are to proceed to the trial of the person 
thus elected ; and finding him qualified, to admit 
him to the ministry in the said congregation. 

" But if it happen that the major part of the 
congregation dissent from the person agreed upon 
by the Session, in that case the matter shall be 
brought unto the Presbytery, who shall judge of 
the same; and if they do not find their dissent to 
be grounded on causeless prejudice, they are to ' 
appoint a new election, in manner above specified. 

" But if a lesser part of the Session or congre- 
gation show their dissent from the election, with- 
out exceptions relevant and verified to the Pres- 
bytery ; notwithstanding thereof, the Presbytery 
shall go on to the trials and ordination of the 
person elected; yet all possible diligence and 
tenderness must be used to bring all parties to an 
harmonious agreement. 

"It is to be understood that no person under 
the censure of the Kirk because of any scanda- 
lous offence, is to be admitted to have a hand in 
the election of a minister. 

" Where the congregation is disaffected and 
malignant, in that case the Presbytery is to pro- 
vide them with a minister." 

When Charles II., by an act at once of perfidy 
and of tyranny, overthrew the Presbyterian 
Church of Scotland, patronage was reintroduced. 
When the revolution drove the perfidious and 
despotic family of Stuart from the throne, patron- 
age was abolished, and the rights and privileges 
of the Church and people restored and confirmed 
by the Revolution Settlement and the Act of Se- 
curity, as has been fully shown in the body of 



APPENDIX. 



491 



the work, and in these acts themselves in the 
Appendix. The opposition made by the Church 
of Scotland to the perfidious act of 1712, which 
violated the Union, if it be considered valid, and, 
at least, violated national faith in the attempt to 
reimpose patronage upon the Scottish Church, 
has also been sufficiently stated. A strong desire 
to avoid prolixity alone prevents us from tran- 
scribing the Address of the Scottish Commission- 
ers to the House of Lords against that bill ; and 
the same reason causes us to withhold both the 
Address of the General Assembly to Queen Anne, 
and a subsequent memorial to King George I., 
imploring redress from the grievance of patronage. 
Neither shall we insert the Address of the Gen- 
eral Assembly to King George II. in 1735, though 
these documents most strongly express the earn- 
est desire of the Church of Scotland to obtain the 
repeal of the Patronage Act. - 

But the Act of Assembly 1736 must be given, 
for the purpose of showing the view entertained 
by that reforming Assembly, during the tempo- 
rary ascendancy of the Evangelical and Constitu- 
tional body in the Church, with regard to their 
own duty and in conformity with their own prin- 
ciples, even though the desired redress had not 
been obtained. 

"Act 1736 against Intrusion of Ministers into 
vacant Congregations, and Recommendations 
to Presbyteries concerning Settlements. 

" The General Assembly, considering, from 
Act of Assembly August 6, 1575, Second Book 
of Discipline, chap. iii. pars. 4, 6, and 8, registrate 
in the Assembly books, and appointed to be sub- 
scribed by all ministers, and ratified by Acts of 
Parliament, and likewise by the Act of Assembly 
1638, December 17 and 18, and Assembly 1715, 
act 9, that it is, and has been since the Reforma- 
tion, the principle of this Church, ' that no min- 
ister be intruded into any parish contrary to the 
will of the congregation ;' do therefore seriously 
recommend to all the judicatories of the Church, 
to have a due regard to the said principle in plant- 
ing vacant congregations ; and that all Presbyte- 
ries be at pains to bring about harmony and 
unanimity in congregations, and to avoid every 
thing that may excite or encourage unreasonable 
exceptions in people against a worthy person that 
may be proposed to be their minister in the pres- 
ent situation and circumstances of the Church, 
so as none be intruded into such parishes, as they 
regard the glory of God and edification of the 
body of Christ." 

At the same time the following instruction was 
given to the Commission of that Assembly, and 
repeated to every succeeding Commission till the 
year 1784: — 

" And the Assembly do further empower and 
direct the said Commission to make due applica- 
tion to the King and Parliament, for redress of 
the grievance of Patronage, in case a favourable 
opportunity for so doing shall occur during the 
subsistence of this Commission." 

Extreme Moderate policy having reduced the 
constitutional principles of the Church and the 
rights of the people to a mere form, proposed in 
1782 to abolish the form itself, which still sur- 
vived in the call. This attempt, however, was 
resisted, and the following act was passed : — 



" Upon a motion that the reso ution of Assem- 
bly respecting the moderation of calls shoild, for 
the satisfaction of all concerned, be converted 
into a declaratory act, and printed amongst the 
Acts of Assembly, the General Assembly agreed 
thereto without a vote ; and in terms of said reso- 
lution did and hereby do declare, that the moder- 
ation of a call, in the settlement of ministers, is 
agreeable to the immemorial and constitutional 
practice of this Church, and ought to be contin ued ." 

Nothing further need to be stated respecting 
the proceedings of the Church, till the passing of 
the act on calls, commonly called the Veto Act, 
which is as follows : — 

" Edinburgh, May 29, 1835.— The General As- 
sembly declare, That it is a fundamental law of 
this Church, that no pastor shall be intruded on 
any congregation contrary to the will of the peo- 
ple; and, in order that this principle may be car- 
ried into full effect, the General Assembly, with 
the consent of a majority of the Presbyteries of 
this Church, do declare, enact, and ordain, That 
it shall be an instruction to Presbyteries, that if, 
at the moderating in a call to a vacant pastoral 
charge, the major part of the male heads of fami- 
lies, members of the vacant congregation, and in 
full communion with the Church, shall disap- 
prove of the person in whose favour the call is 
proposed to be moderated in, such disapproved 
shall be deemed sufficient ground for the Presby- 
tery rejecting such person, and that he shall be 
Tejected accordingly, and due notice thereof forth- 
with given to all concerned ; but that, if the ma- 
jor part of the said heads of families shall not 
disapprove of such person to be their pastor, the 
Presbytery shall proceed with the settlement ac- 
cording to the rules of the Church : And further 
declare that no person shall be held to be entitled 
to disapprove as aforesaid, who shall refuse, if 
required, solemnly to declare, in presence of the 
Presbytery, that he is actuated by no factious or 
malicious motive, but solely by a conscientious 
regard to the spiritual interest of himself or the 
congregation." 

It may be expedient to transcribe the usual 
form of a Call. 

"We, the Heritors, Elders, Heads of Families, 

and Parishioners of the Parish of , within 

the bounds of the Presbytery of , and 

county of , taking into consideration the 

present destitute state of the said Parish, through 
the want of a Gospel ministry among us, occa- 
sioned by the death of our late pastor, the Rev. 

, being satisfied with the learning, 

abilities, and other good qualifications of you, 

Mr. , Preacher of the Gospel, and 

having heard you preach to our satisfaction and 
edification, do hereby invite and call you, the 
said Mr. , to take charge and over- 
sight of this Parish, and to come and labour 
among us in the work of the Gospel ministry, 
hereby promising to you all due respect and en- 
couragement in the Lord. We likewise entreat 

the Reverend Presbytery of to approve 

and concur with this our most cordial call, and 
to use all the proper means for making the same 
effectual, by your ordination and settlement 
among us, as soon as the steps necessary thereto 
will admit. In witness whereof, we subscribe 

these presents, at the Church of , on the 

day of , years." 



492 



APPENDIX. 



That a document of such a solemn character 
should be held to be sufficiently subscribed by 
the signatures of one or two persons ; and that a 
church court would proceed to intrude a person 
who could obtain but one or two signatures, upon 
a whole parish and congregation, in spite of their 
respectful, and finally of their determined opposi- 
tion, even at the hazard of compelling them all to 
quit forever the Church of their fathers, is so 
strangely unnatural, oppressive, and contrary to 
both reason and religion, that it would not readily 
be thought possible, if it did not stand recorded 
as having actually taken place times innumerable, 
and if Auchterarder, Lethendy, and Marnoch 
could be forgotten. Still more portentously 
strange will it be, if the majority of the Evangel- 
ical ministers in the Church of Scotland be driven 
out of the Church, because they will not consent 
to become bound to perpetrate such atrocious 
tyranny and profanation at the command of a 
civil court, although contrary to the principles of 
the Church, contrary to the law of the land, con- 
trary to the British Constitution, and contrary to 
the precepts of the Lord Jesus Christ. 



No. IV. 

THE PROTEST. 

We, the undersigned ministers and elders, 
chosen as commissioners to the General Assem- 
bly of the Church of Scotland, indicted to meet 
this day, but precluded from holding the said As- 
sembly by reason of the circumstances hereinafter 
set forth, in consequence of which a free Assem- 
bly of the Church of Scotland, in accordance 
with the laws and constitution of the said Church, 
cannot at this time be holden, — considering that 
the Legislature, by their rejection of the Claim 
of Right adopted by the last General Assembly 
of the said Church, and their refusal to give re- 
dress and protection against the jurisdiction as- 
sumed, and the coercion of late repeatedly at- 
tempted to be exercised over the courts of the 
Church in matters spiritual by the civil courts, 
have recognised and fixed the conditions of the 
Church Establishment, as henceforward to sub- 
sist in Scotland, to be such as these have been 
pronounced and declared by the said civil courts 
in their several recent decisions, in regard to mat- 
ters spiritual and ecclesiastical, whereby it has 
Deen in'^r alia declared, — 

1st, That the courts of the Church as now es- 
tablished, and members thereof, are liable to be 
coerced by the civil courts in the exercise of their 
spiritual functions ; and in particular, in their 
admission to the office of the holy ministry, and 
f he constitution of the pastoral relation, and that 
they are subject to be compelled to intrude min- 
isters on reclaiming congregations, in opposition 
10 the fundamental principles of the Church, and 
their views of the Word of God, and to the liber- 
ties of Christ's people. 

2d, That the said civil courts have power to in- 
terfere with, and interdict the preaching of the 
gospel and administration of ordinances as author- 
ised and enjoined by the Church courts of the 
Establishment. 



3d, That the said civil courts have power to 
suspend spiritual censures pronounced by the 
Church courts of the Establishment against, min- 
isters and probationers of the Church, and to in- 
terdict their execution, as to spiritual effects, 
functions, and privileges. 

4th, That the said civil courts have power to 
reduce and set aside the sentences of the Church 
courts of the Establishment, deposing ministers 
from the office of the holy ministry, and depriv- 
ing probationers of their license to preach the 
gospel, with refererence to the spiritual status, 
functions, and privileges of such ministers and 
probationers, — restoring them to the spiritual 
office and status of which the Church courts had 
deprived them. 

5th, That the said civil courts have power to 
determine on the right to sit as members of the 
supreme and other judicatories of the Church by 
law established, and to issue interdicts against 
sitting and voting therein, irrespective of the 
judgment and determination of the said judica- 
tories. 

6lh, That the said civil courts have power to 
supersede the majority of a Church court of the 
Establishment, in regard to the exercise of its 
spiritual functions as a Church court, and to au- 
thorise the minority to exercise the said functions, 
in opposition to the court itself, and to the supe- 
rior judicatories of the Establishment. 

1th, That the said civil courts have power to 
stay processes of discipline pending before courts 
of the Church bylaw established, and to interdict 
such courts from proceeding therein. 

8th, That no pastor of a congregation can be 
admitted into the Church courts of the Establish- 
ment, and allowed to rule, as well as to teach, 
agreeable to the institution of the office by the 
Head of the Church, nor to sit in any of the judi- 
catories of the Church, inferior or supreme, and 
that no additional provision can be made for the 
exercise of spiritual discipline among members of 
the Church, though not affecting any patrimonial 
interests, and no alteration introduced in the 
state of pastoral superintendence and spiritual 
discipline in any parish, without the coercion of 
a civil court. 

All which jurisdiction and power on the part 
of the said civil courts severally above specified, 
whatever proceeding may have given occasion to 
its exercise, is, in our opinion, in itself inconsist- 
ent with Christian liberty, — with the authority 
which the Head of the Church hath conferred on 
the Church alone. 

And further, considering that a General As- 
sembly, composed, in accordance with the laws 
and fundamental principles of the Church, in 
part of commissioners, themselves admitted with- 
out the sanction of the civil court, or chosen by 
presbyteries, composed in part of members not 
having that sanction, cannot be constituted as an 
Assembly of the Establishment, without disregard- 
ing the law and the legal conditions of the same, 
as now fixed and declared. 

And further, considering that such commis- 
sioners as aforesaid would, as members of an As- 
sembly of the Establishment, be liable to be inter- 
dicted from exercising their functions, and to be 
subjected to civil coercion at the instance of any 
individual having interest who might apply to the 
civil courts for that purpose. 



APPENDIX. 



493 



And considering, further, that civil coercion 
has already been in divers instances applied for 
and used, whereby certain commissioners re- 
turned to the Assembly this day appointed to have 
been holden, have been interdicted from claiming 
their seats, and from sitting and voting therein ; 
and certain presbyteries have been, by interdicts 
directed against the members, prevented from 
freely choosing commissioners to the said Assem- 
bly ; whereby the freedom of such Assembly, and 
the liberty of election thereto has been forcibly 
obstructed and taken away. 

And further, considering that, in these circum- 
stances, a free Assembly of the Church of Scot- 
land by law established cannot at this time be 
holden, and that any Assembly, in accordance 
with the fundamental principles of the Church, 
cannot be constituted in connection with the 
State, without violating the conditions which 
must, now, since the rejection by the Legislature 
of the Church's Claim of Right, be held to be the 
conditions of the Establishment. 

And considering that, while heretofore, as mem- 
bers of Church judicatories ratified by law, and 
recognised by the Constitution of the kingdom, 
we held ourselves entitled and bound to exercise 
and maintain the jurisdiction vested in these ju- 
dicatories with the sanction of the Constitution, 
notwithstanding the decrees as to matters spiritual 
and ecclesiastical of the civil courts, because we 
could not see that the State had required sub- 
mission thereto as a condition of the Establish- 
ment, but, on the contrary, were satisfied that the 
State, by the acts of the Parliament of Scotland, 
for ever and unalterably secured to this nation by 
the Treaty of Union, had repudiated any power 
in the civil courts to pronounce such decrees, we 
are now constrained to acknowledge it to be the 
mind and will of the State, as recently declared, 
that such submissions should and does form a 
condition of the Establishment, and of the pos- 
session of the benefits thereof ; and that, as we 
cannot, without committing what we believe to 
be sin, — in opposition to God's law, in disregard 
of the honour and authority of Christ's crown, 
and in violation of our own solemn vows, — com- 
ply with this condition ; we cannot in conscience 
continue connected with, and retain the benefits 
of, the Establishment, to which such condition is 
attached. 

We, therefore, the ministers and elders afore- 
said, on this, the first occasion since the rejection 
by the Legislature of the Church's Claim of 
Right, when the commissioners chosen from 
throughout the bounds of the Church to the 
General Assembly appointed to have been this 
day holden, are convened together, do protest 
that the conditions foresaid, while we deem them 
contrary to, and subversive of, the settlement of 
Church government effected at the Revolution, 
and solemnly guaranteed by the Act of Security 
and Treaty of Union, are also at variance with 
God's Word, in opposition to the doctrines and 
fundamental principles of the Church of ScoUand, 
inconsistent with the freedom essential to the 
right constitution of a Church of Christ, and in- 
compatible with the government which He, as 



the Head of His Church, hath therein appointed 
distinct from the civil magistrate. 

And we further protest, that any Assembly 
constituted in submission to the conditions now 
declared to be law, and under the civil coercion 
which has been brought to bear in the election 
of commissioners to the Assembly this day ap- 
pointed to have been holden, and on the commis- 
sioners chosen thereto, is not and shall not be 
deemed a free and lawful Assembly of the Church 
of Scotland, according to the original and funda- 
mental principles thereof, and that the Claim, 
Declaration, and Protest, of the General Assem- 
bly which convened at Edinburgh in May 1842^ 
as the act of a free and lawful Assembly of the 
said Church, shall be holden as setting forth the 
true constitution of the said Church ; and that 
the said Claim, along with the laws of the Church 
now subsisting, shall in nowise be affected by 
whatsoever acts and proceedings of any Assem- 
bly constituted under the conditions now declared 
to be the law, and in submission to the coercion 
now imposed on the Establishment. 

And, finally, while firmly asserting the right 
and duty of the civil magistrate, to maintain and 
support an establishment of religion in accord- 
ance with God's Word, and reserving to ourselves 
and our successors to strive by all lawful means, 
as opportunity shall in God's good providence be 
offered to secure the performance of this duty 
agreeably to the Scriptures, and an implement 
of the statutes of the kingdom of Scotland, and 
the obligations of the Treaty of Union, as under- 
stood by us and our ancestors, but acknowledg- 
ing that we do not hold ourselves at liberty to 
retain the benefits of the Establishment while we 
cannot comply with the conditions now to be 
deemed thereto attached— we protest, that in the 
circumstances in which we are placed, it is and 
shall be lawful for us and such other commis- 
sioners chosen to the Assembly appointed to 
have been this day holden, as may concur with 
us, to withdraw to a separate place of meeting, 
for the purpose of taking steps for ourselves and 
all who adhere to us — maintaining with us the 
Confession of Faith and Standards of the Church 
of Scotland, as heretofore understood — for sep- 
arating in an orderly way from the Establishment ; 
and thereupon adopting such measures as may 
be competent to us, in humble dependence on 
God's grace and the aid of the Holy Spirit, for 
the advancement of His glory, the extension of 
the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour, and the ad- 
ministration of the affairs of Christ's house, ac- 
cording to His Holy Word ; and we do now 
withdraw accordingly, humbly and solemnly 
acknowledging the hand of the Lord in the 
things which have come upon us, because of our 
manifold sins, and the sins of this Church and 
nation ; but at the same time, with an assured 
conviction, that we are not responsible for any 
consequences that may follow from this our en- 
forced separation from an Establishment which 
we loved and prized — through interference with 
conscience, the dishonour done to Christ's Crown, 
and the rejection of his sole and supreme author- 
ity as King in his Church. 



494 



APPENDIX. 



No. V. 

HER MAJESTY'S LETTER TO THE GEN- 
ERAL ASSEMBLY. 

Victoria R. 

Right reverend and well-beloved ! We greet 
you well. 

Faithful to the solemn engagement, which binds 
us to maintain inviolate the Presbyterian Church 
of Scotland in all its rights and privileges, we 
gladly renew the assurance, that we desire to ex- 
tend to you the countenance and support which 
the General Assembly has long received from our 
royal ancestors. 

In other circumstances, it might have sufficed 
to adhere to the forms which have been generally 
observed in our former communications to you, 
and to express our anxious hope that Christian 
charity will, as heretofore, abound among you 
and restrain all animosities ; but in the present 
state of the Church, and adverting to the discus- 
sions which of late have so unhappily disturbed 
its peace, we desire to address you with more 
than usual earnestness and anxiety. 

It behoves you to remember, that unity in the 
Church is the bond of peace ; but that schism 
and its pernicious effects may tend seriously to 
endanger that religious Establishment from which 
Scotland has derived inestimable benefits. 

The faith of our crown is pledged to uphold 
you in the full enjoyment of every privilege 
which you can justly claim : but you will bear 
in mind, that the rights and property of an Es- 
tablished Church are conferred by law ; it is by 
law that the Church of Scotland is united with 
the State, and that her endowments are secured; 
and the ministers of religion, claiming the sanc- 
tion of law in defence of their privileges, are 
specially bound by their sacred calling to be ex- 
amples of obedience. 

The act ratifying the Confession of Faith, and 
settling Presbyterian Church government in 
Scotland was adopted at the Union, and is now 
the act of the British Parliament. The settle- 
ment thus fixed cannot be annulled by the will 
or declaration of any number of individuals: 
those who are dissatisfied with the terms of this 
settlement, may renounce it for themselves ; but 
the union of the -Church of Scotland with the 
State is indissoluble while the statutes remain 
unrepealed which recognise the Presbyterian 
Church as the Church established by law within 
the kingdom of Scotland. 

We cannot doubt, that your anxious consider- 
ation will be given to various important matters 
connected with the welfare of your Church, 
which require immediate adjustment. 

The Act of Assembly passed in the year 1834, 
on the subject of calls, has come under the re- 
view of competent tribunals ; and various pro- 
ceedings taken in pursuance of this act have 
been pronounced by solemn judgments to be illegal. 
It has not yet been rescinded by the Assembly ; 
and a conflict of authority between the law of 
the land and an act of the Church, in a matter 
where civil rights and civil jurisdiction are con- 
cerned, cannot be prolonged without injurious 
consequences. 

The Church of Scotland, occupying its true 
losition in friendly alliance with the State, is 



justly entitled to expect the aid of Parliament in 
removing any doubts which may have arisen 
with respect to the right construction of the sta- 
tutes relating to the admission of ministers. You 
may safely confide in the wisdom of Parliament ; 
and we shall readily give our assent to any mea- 
sure which the Legislature may pass for the pur- 
pose of securing to the people the full privilege 
of objection, and to the Church judicatories the 
exclusive right of judgment. 

There is another matter not less important, the 
present position of ministers in unendowed dis- 
tricts. The law, as confirmed by a recent judg- 
ment, has declared that new parishes cannot be 
created by the authority of the Church alone, and 
that ministers placed in such districts are not en- 
titled to act in Church courts. 

If it shall appear that the efficiency of the 
Church is thereby impaired, and that the means 
of extending her usefulness are curtailed, the law 
to which such effects are ascribed, may require 
re-consideration and amendment ; but until it be 
so considered by the Legislature, and while it 
remains unaltered, we are persuaded that it will 
be implicitly obeyed by the General Assembly. 

You will deliberate on such of these matters 
as fall within your cognizance attentively and 
calmly ; and we commend you to the guidance 
of Divine Providence, praying that you may be 
directed to the adoption of wise counsels, which 
shall promote the permanent interests and 
honour of the Church, and the religious peace 
and moral welfare of our people. 

We have again constituted and appointed our 
right-trusty and entirely beloved cousin, John 
Marquis of Bute, K. T., to be the representative 
of our royal person in this Assembly. And we 
are certain that his prudence and approved merits, 
and his tried attachment to the Church of Scot- 
land, will render him acceptable unto you in the 
execution of the duties of his high office. 

He possesses our full authority for the exercise 
of our royal prerogative in all matters relating tc 
the present Assembly, in which, in obedience tc 
our instructions to him, he may be called upon 
to act for us in our behalf. 

We implore the blessing of God on your de- 
liberations, trusting that He will overrule all 
events for the good of his Church, and for the 
spiritual welfare of the people committed to your 
charge : and we feel assured that divine grace will 
not be withdrawn from the labours of the minis- 
ters of the Church established in this part of the 
United kingdom. 

And so we bid you heartily farewell. 

Given at our Court at St. James's the 15th 
day of May 1843, in the sixth year of our 
reign. 

By her Majesty's command. 
(Signed) James Graham. 



No. VI. 

ACT OF SEPARATION AND DEED OF 
DEMISSION. 

The ministers and elders subscribing the Pro- 
test made on Thursday, the eighteenth of this 



APPENDIX. 



495 



instant May, at the Meeting of the Commission- 
ers chosen to the General Assembly, appointed 
to have been that day holden, against the freedom 
and lawfulness of any Assembly which might 
then be constituted, and against the subversion 
recently effected in the constitution of the Church 
of Scotland, together with the ministers and el- 
ders adhering to the said Protest, in this their 
General Assembly convened, did, in prosecution 
of the said Protest, and of the Claim of Right 
adopted by the General Assembly, which met at 
Edinburgh in May eighteen hundred and forty- 
two years, and on the grounds therein set forth, 
and hereby do, for themselves and all who adhere 
to them, separate from and abandon the present 
subsisting Ecclesiastical Establishment in Scot- 
land, and did, and hereby do, abdicate and renounce 
the status and privileges derived to them, or any 
of them, as parochial ministers or elders, from the 
said Establishment, through its connexion with 
the S tate, and all rights and emoluments pertaining 
to them, or any of them, by virtue hereof : De- 
claring, that they hereby in no degree abandon 
or impair the rights belonging to them as minis- 
ters of Christ's gospel, and pastors and elders of 
particular congregations, to perform freely and 
fully the functions of their offices towards their 
respective congregations, or such portions thereof 
as may adhere to them ; and that they are and 
shall be free to exercise government and discipline 
in their several judicatories, separate from the 
Establishment, according to God's Word, and the 
constitution and Standards of the Chnrch of 
Scotland, as heretofore understood; and that 
henceforth they are not, and shall not, be subject 
in any respect to the ecclesiastical judicatories 
established in Scotland by law ; reserving always 
the rights and benefits accruing to them, or any 
of them, under the Provision of the statutes re- 
specting the Ministers' Widows' Fund : And fur- 
ther, declaring that this present act shall noways 
be held as a renunciation on the part of such of 
the ministers foresaid as are ministers of churches 
built by private contribution, and not provided or 
endowed by the State, of any rights which may 
be found to belong to them, or their congregations, 
in regard to the same, by virtue of the intentions 
and destination of the contributors to the erection 
of the said churches, or otherwise, according to 
\i w ; all which are fully raerved to the ministers 



foresaid and their congregations. And further, 
the said ministers and elders in this their General 
Assembly convened, while they refuse to ac- 
knowledge the supreme ecclesiastical judicatory 
established by law in Scotland, and now holding 
its sittings in Edinburgh, to be a free Assembly 
of the Church of Scotland, or a lawful Assembly 
of the said Church, according to the true and 
original constitution thereof, and disclaim its au- 
thority as to matters spiritual ; yet in respect of 
the recognition given to it by the State, and the 
powers in consequence of such recognition be- 
longing to it, with reference to the temporalities 
of the Establishment, and the right derived 
thereto from the State, hereby appoint a duplicate 
of this act to be subscribed by their moderator, 
and also by the several ministers, members of this 
Assembly, now present in Edinburgh, for their 
individual interests, to be transmitted to the 
clerk of the said ecclesiastical judicatory by law 
established, for the purpose of certiorating them, 
that the benefices held by such of the said min- 
isters, or others adhering to this Assembly, as 
were incumbents of benefices, are now vacant ; 
and the said parties consent that the said bene- 
fices shall be dealt with as such. And they au- 
thorize the Rev. Thomas Pitcairn and the Rev. 
Patrick Clason, conjunct clerks to this their Gen- 
eral Assembly, to subscribe the joinings of the 
several sheets hereof; and they consent to the 
registration hereof in the Books of Council and 
Session, or others competent, therein to remain 
for preservation ; and for that purpose constitute 

their procurators, 
&c. In testimony whereof, these presents, writ- 
ten upon stamped paper by William Petrie Couper, 
clerk to James Crawford, junior, writer to the 
Signet, are, with a duplicate thereof, subscribed 
by the whole parties in general meeting assem- 
bled, and the joinings of the several sheets by 
the saids Rev. Thomas Pitcairn and Rev. Patrick 
Clason, as authorised as aforesaid, all at Edin- 
burgh, the twenty-third day of May, one thou- 
sand eight hundred and forty-three years, before 
these witnesses, — Mr. John Hamilton, advocate , 
William Fraser, writer to the Signet ; John Hun- 
ter, junior, writer to the Signet ; and the Rev. 
John Jaffray, preacher of the Gospel, and secre- 
tary to the Provisional Committee, Edinburgh. 



INDEX. 



Aberdeen, prorogued Assembly of, p. 120. Doctors 
of. oppose the Covenant, 157. The Covenant forced 
upon, by Montrose, 175. Synod of, indicates prelatic 
tendencies, 212. 

, first Earl of, made Chancellor by the Duke 

of York, 267. 

, Earl of, his Bill, 411 Assertion at its pro- 
posed reintroduction. 461. Passed into law, 467. 
Abjuration Oath, 329, 336. 

Acts of Parliament and of Assembly, see Appendix. 
The Black Acts, 90 

Adamson, Patrick, his opinion of bishops, 76 Accepts 
the Archbishopric of St. Andrews, 79. Excommuni- 
cated by the Synod of Fife, 91. Supported by Mel- 
ville, and dies, 93. 

Allegiance, Oath of, establishing the King's Suprem- 
acy, 209. 

Andrews, St. Castle of, held by the conspirators against 

Beaton, 32. Taken, 35. 
■ , town of. scene of the martyrdom of Wishart, 

32. Knox preaches in, 45. 
Apocrypha Controversy, the. 390. 
Apologetical Declaration, the, its remarkable language, 

274. 

Argyle, Earl of, supports the Reformers, 37. Sub- 
scribes che Covenant, 33. 

, Earl of, remains in the Glasgow Assembly. 169. 

His imprisonment, trial, and execution, 212, 213. 

, Earl of, takes the Test with a qualification, for 

which he is tried and condemned, 264. But escapes, 
265. Returns and attempts a revolution, but is de- 
feated and taken. 277. His trial and death, 278, 279. 

Arminianism introduced by the Prelates. 137. Begins 
to infect the Church after the Revolution, 327. In- 
creasing progress of, 341. Degenerates into Socin- 
ianism. 367, 378. 

Arran. Recent after the death of James V., favourable 
to the Reformation. 29. Enters into the schemes of 
Cardinal Beaton, 29. 

. Earl of, son to the Regent, joins the Reform- 
ers. 46. 

Assembly, General, of the Church of Scotland, meet- 
in? of the first. 52. Suppressed by King James. 125. 
Resumes its meetings at the Second Reformation, 
100. Again suppressed by Cromwell, 202 Meeting 
of first, after the Revolution. 303 Attempt of King 
William to suppress it, 308. Termination of the con- 
test. 311. 312. Renewed attempt to interfere with 
its liberties, 318. These liberties fully asserted and 
maintained, 318. 

the First, of the Free Church of Scotland, 

404, 405. The First, of the Erastianized Establish- 
ment, its proceedings, 466 

Auchterurder Creed, 340-343. 

Case, the, proceedings in, 401. Decision 

of the Second Appeal in, 443. Its Effects, 444. 
Ayr, Dr. M Gill of, tried for Socinianism, 378. 

Baiixie. Robert, joins the Covenanters, 150. One of 
the Corn missioners to the Westminster Assembly, 1S2. 
Baillie of Jerviswood, his trial and execution, 272. 
Balmerino, Lord, trial of, 141. 

Bannatyne, Sir William, the atrocious conduct of, 232. 

B'iss, trie island or rock of the. made a state prison, 240. 

Beaton, Cardinal, account of him, 28. Assassinated, 33. 

Bishops, hilchan, meaning of the word, and object for 
which they were appointed. 76 The office of, con- 
demned by the Assembly. 81. Restored by King 
James. Ill 147. Their tyrannical conduct, 128-131. 
Impetuosity of the young, 137. Deposed, 170. Re- 



imposed upon the Church of Scotland by Charles II., 

215. The order abolished in Scotland finally, 298. 
Black, David, tried by the King, on account of language 

uttered in his sermons, 107. 
Blackadder, John, holds a great field-meeting at Beath, 

238. 

Blair, Robert, obliged to retire to Ireland, 130. Goes 
to London as a Commissioner, 182. 

Dr. Hugh, defends Hume's infidel writings, 364. 

" Bloody Act," the, 275. 

Boston, Rev. Thomas, recommends the Marrow of 
Modern Divinity, 342. One of the twelve Marrow- 
men, 345. Treatment of him by the growing Mode- 
rate party, 347. Protests alone azainst the simple 
suspension of Professor Simson, 348. 

Both well Bridge, battle of, 255. Treatment of the pris- 
oners taken at, 256. 

Breda, treaty of, 198. 

Brown, Rev. John, of Wamphray, his works burned, 

233 

, John, of Priesthill, murdered by Claverhouse, 

280. 

Bruce, Robert, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, ap- 
pointed a privy councillor, 93. The King's expres- 
sion of gratitude to, 93. Supports David Black, 109 
Banished. 116. Permitted to reside at Inverness, 128 
His influence among young ministers, 136. 

Burnet, Gilbert, his character of the prelatic party in 
Scotland, 220. Assists Leighton in his attempted ac- 
commodation, 239. 

Burnet, Alexander, procures the Act of Glasgow, 219. 
Opposes the Indulgence, 237. 

Burns, Robert, the poet, misled by the New Lights, 378. 

Calderwood, David, banished by Kins James. 124. 
■ Call, attempted to be abolished by Df. Hill, 374. Dr. 
Cook's theory respecting the, 374. 
Cameron, the Rev. Richard, acknowledged and fol- 
lowed by the strict Covenanters, who, from his 
name, are sometimes cailed Cameronians, 257. Killed 
at the skirmish at Airdsmoss, 260. 
Cameronians, their conduct at the Revolution, 291. 
j Their petition, 296. Conduct towards the Church. 307. 

Canons, Book of, ordered to be received in Scotland, 142. 
: Cargill, the Rev Donald, becomes a leader of the strict 
Covenanters, 254. Pronounces the Torwood excom- 
munication, 260. Reasons with the Gibbites, 261. 
I His death, 263. 
Carstares, the Rev. William, his trial and torture, 271. 
His character and views, 300. His advice to King 
William, 304. Remarkable interview between him 
and the king, 311. 
Cess, the, imposed on the Presbyterians, 248 Its con- 
sequences. 248. 
j Cessnock, Sir Hugh Campbell of, his trial, 270. 
Chalmers, Dr., his address to the parishioners of Kil- 
many, 388. 

Charles I., succeeds his father, 132; equally hostile to 
the Church. Attempts to resume the crown and 
church lands, 132. Visits Scotland, 13S. Conduct 
there, 139. Guileful instructions of, to Hamilton, 168. 
Resolves to make war upon the Covenanters, 172. 
Enters into treaty with them at Dunse Law, 177. 
Renews his preparations for war, 179. His last visit 
to Scotland, 1S4. Retires to the army of the Cove- 
nanters, 192. Correspondence wiih Henderson, 192. 
Returns to the English, 193. Forms an engagement 
with the Hamiltons, 193. His decapitation, 19 i. 

Charles II. proclaimed King, 196 Subscribes the De- 
claration of Dunfermline, 198. Swears the National 



INDEX. 



497 



Covenant and Solemn League and Covenant, and is 
crowned at Scone. 200. Defeated at \V\ tester, 201. 
His Restoration, 205. Gives orders for the Establish- 
ment of Prelacy in Scotland, 216. His remark upon 
the conduct of Lauderdale, 257. Death and charac- 
ter, 277. 

Christianity, when introduced into Scotland, 9. 

Church of Scotland, maintains its independence against 
the encroachments of England, 17. Reformation of, 
recognised by Parliament", 50. First Confession of 
Faith of the, 50. First General Assembly of, 52. 
Patrimony of the, seized by the nobles, 57, 61. Es- 
tablished by Act of Parliament. 69. Eulogium pro- 
nounced upon, by King James, 93. Great charter of, 
granted by Parliament, 94. Contest between the 
King and "the, in the case of Black, 107. State of, 
during the contests between the Resolutioners and 
the Protesters, 202. Overthrown by the Act Recis- 
sorv and the Glasaow Act, 210, 219. Re-established 
at the Revolution," 293, 302. Confirmed by the Act 
of Security, 319. State of, in 1842, 424. Preparations 
for a disruption of, 459. State of. at meeting of As- 
sembly 1843, 460. Disruption of, 463. The Free, 
464. Proceedings of its First General Assembly, 464, 
465. 

Claim of Riffht, 296. 

Claim of Rights, and Declaration, 431. 

Classes, Act of, passed by the parliament, 195. Re- 
scinded by the parliament, which gave rise to the 
dissensions between Resolutioners and Protesters, 
200. 

Commission of the General Assembly, the first, 184. 
Opposes the engagement, 194. 

Commissioners to the Westminster Assembly of Di- 
vines, 1S8. 

Commission of Assembly, its petition rejected by the 
House of Commons, 458. 

Committee, the Provisional, its object and arrange 
ments, 456. 457. 

Comprehension Scheme, policy of King William in de- 
vising the, 29S, 301. Evil consequences produced by 
it, 305, 30S, 323, 383. 

Conformity of Church Government, argument for, 
182. 

Congregation, Lords of the, origin of the term, 38. 

Conventicles, act against the, 226. 

Convocation, held in Edinburgh, 443. Its proceedings, 
449. Remarks on, 450. 451. 

Covenant, the First, subscribed at Edinburgh, 38. 

, the Second, subscribed at. Perthj 44. 

, National, signed in the Greyfriars' Church- 
yard, Edinburgh, 155. Renewed at Lanark, 228. 

, Solemn League and, subscribed, 186. Its 

character, 187. 188. Signed by Charles II.. 200. Con- 
demned by Middleton's parliament, 210. 

' raw, Paul," a Bohemian, martyred at St. Andrews, 22. 

Covenanters, prepare to act on the defensive, 173. 
Army of the, at Dunse Law, 176 Resolve to cross 
the Tweed and enter England, 181. Enter into 
treaty with the English parliament. 191. Receive 
Charles, 192. Are obliged to abandon his defence, 
193. Remonstrate against his trial. 196. Proclaim 
Charles II. King, 196. Character of. 243. Petition 
of, 296. 

Craig, William, rejected by the Presbytery of Auchte- 
rarder, 340. 

, Francis, his settlement at Kinross opposed, be- 
cause he favoured the Marrow, 350. 

Cromwell, defeats Leslie at Dunbar. 199. Suppresses 
the Assembly. 202. Favours the Protesters, 202. 

Culdees, meaning of the name, 11. Their Abbey at 
Iona. 12. Their form of Church Government," 12. 
Teach Christianity to the Saxons, 12. Encountered 
by Augustine the Monk, 13. Struggle between them 
and Popish Prelacy. 14. Their final suppression, 15. 
Doctrines of the Culdees, 15. 

Culsalmond, case of, 423. 

Dalziel, Sir James, of Binns, takes command of the 
army against the insurgents, 227. Cruelties perpe- 
trated by him. 232. 

Darnley, Lord, comes to Scotland, 65. Married to the 
Queen, 65. Murdered, 69. 

Davidson. John, proposes National Confession in the 
Assembly of 1596, 102. 

Debate on Christian missions to the heathen, singular 
arguments of the Moderates in the, 379. 

Demission, Deed of, signed, 465. See Appendix. 

Dickson. David, Revival of religiorrunder his ministry. 
135. Supports the Resolutioners, 200. His final 
opinion of the Protesters, 216. 

Discipline, First Book of, prepared and subscribed by 



the Privy Council, 53. General outline of its princi- 
ples and arrangements, 54-57. 

■ , Second Book of, laid before the King and 

the Privy Council, 80. Sanctioned by the General 
Assembly, and engrossed in its records, 83. Sum- 
mary of the, 83-85. 

Doctrine, Act for preserving purity of, 326. Cause and 
object of this act, 326. 

Douglas, John, appointed to the Archbishopric of St. 
Andrews by Morton, 73, 74. 

, Robert, supports the Resolutioners, 203. Cor- 
respondence with Sharp, 206. Interview between 
him and Sharp, 215. His opinion of the Protesters, 216. 

Drumclog, Battle of. 253. 

Dunnottar Castle, dreadful state of the prisoners con- 
fined in, 282. 

Ecclesiastical Characteristics, Witherspoon's. 364. 
Eldership, corruption of the, under Moderatism, 365. 
Election of Ministers, Directory for the, 196. See also ' 
Appendix. 

Engagement, the, between the King and Hamilton, 193. 
Causes a division among the Covenanters, 194. Con- 
demned by the Assembly, 194. 

Enterkin, pass of, rescue of a minister and prisoners at 
the, 273. 

Erskine, John, of Dun, subscribes the Covenant, 38. 
Correspondence with the Earl of Mar. 74. 

, Lord, joins the Covenanters, 169. 

, Colonel, of Cardross, memorial presented by 

him to Government, 343. 

, Rev. Ebenezer, dissents from the innovations 

of the Moderates. 351. His Synod Sermon. 351. Pro- 
tests against the conduct of the Assembly, and is 
joined by other ministers, 351. Is suspended by the 
Commission, and secedes from li the prevailing party 
in the Church," 352. Deposed, 354. 

Faith, the Church of Scotland's First Confession of, 
50. Westminster Assembly's Confession of, received 
and ratified by the General Assembly, 193. Ratified 
and embodied* in the Act of Parliament 1690. re-estab- 
lishing the Church of Scotland, 302. The Moderate 
party wish the subscription of. abolished, 372. In- 
stance of a minister ordained without signing the, 377. 

Field-meetings, the origin of . N 21. First at which arms 
for self-defence appeared, 238. 

Forrest, Dean Thomas, his singular conversation with 
the bishop of Dunkeld ; suffers martyrdom along 
■with four others. 27. 

Gibbites. the, 261. 

Gillespie, George, his character, 182. A Commissioner 
to the Westminster Assembly. 188. His writings, 
193. His death, 197. 

, Patrick, his character, 197, 214. Requests 

Charles EL not to subscribe the Covenant, 198. 
Writes the Remonstrance, 200. Favoured by Crom- 
well, 202. Spared, 214. 

, the Rev. Thomas, of Carnock, deposed, 360. 

He founds the Relief Secession, 367. 

Glasgow. Assembly of, called the Ansrelical Assembly, 
124. Reforming Assembly at, 167-170. 

, Act of, expelled nearly four hundred minis- 
ters, 219. Character of the Prelatic party introduced 
by the, 220. 

Glencairn, Earl of, supports the Reformers, 33. 

Graham, James, of Claverhouse, begins his cruelties 
against the Covenanters, 24S. Defeated at Drum- 
clog, 253. His conduct at and after the battle of 
Bofhwell Bridee, 255. His increased cruelties, 279. 
His murder of John Brown, 280; and of Andrew His- 
lop, 2S0. 

, Sir James, his Letter, and the Commission's 

Answer, 453, 454. See Appendix. 
Greenshield's, the Liturgy reintroduced by him, 327. 
Guthrie. James, of Stirling, deposed by the Resolution- 

ers. 201. Imprisoned, 208. His trial and execution, 

213, 214. 

Hackston, David, of Rathillet, present at the assassi- 
nation of Sharp. 251. A leader of the Covenanters at 
Drumclog, 253 : and Bothwell Bridge. 255. Taken at 
Airdsmoss. 260. Barbarously executed, 260. 

Haddow, Principal, his conduct towards Hamilton of 
Airth, 326. And in the case of Professor Simson, 
337-339. Assails the Marrow, 344. 

Hall, Henry, of Hausrhhead, a leader of the Covenant- 
ers at Drumclog, 253. Killed at Queensferry, 258. 

Hamilton. Patrick, the first Scottish martyr, an account 
of him, 24. Decoyed to St. Andrews and tried fot 
heresy, 25. Burned at the stake, 26; 



498 



INDEX. 



, Marquis of, appointed Lord High Commis- 

missioner, 159. Guileful instructions given to him by 
Charles, 160. Proceedings between him and the 
Covenanters, 160—162. Frames an engagement with 
Charles, 193. Leads an army into England, is de- 
feated, and executed, 195. 

, Robert, a leader among the Covenanters, 252. 

Hardy, Dr. Thomas, an Evangelical Moderate, his pam- 
phlet, 375. 

Harvey, Marion, and Isabel Alison, executed for atten- 
ding field-preaching, 261. 

Henderson, Alexander, comes to Edinburgh to petition 
against the Liturgy, 148. Frames a complaint against 
the Liturgy and Canons. 150. Assists in framing the 
National Covenant, 154. Goes to Aberdeen, 163. 
Commissioner to the Westminster Assembly, 18S. 
His correspondence with the King, 192. His death, 192. 

High Commission, Court of, instituted ; its tyrannical 
character, 123. Despotic procedure, 128, 129. Re- 
newed, 224. Its despotic proceedings, 225. 

Hill, Dr. George, of St. Andrews, succeeds Principal 
Roberstson as Moderate leader, 373. 

, Rowland, his opinion of Moderatism, 382. 

Hislop, Andrew, murdered at the command of Claver- 
house, 280. 

Holland, resorted to by the Scottish ministers and stu- 
dents, 241. 
Host, the Highland, 246. 
Hume, of Hume, his trial and execution, 268. 

India Missions, the Church of Scotland's, 389. 
Indulgence, the first, 235. Its effects, 236. The second, 

241. Its effects, 241. 
, King James' first, 286. Second and third, 

286. Its objects and results, 287. 
Informatory Vindication, the, 287. 
Intercommuning, letters of, 244. 

Intrusion into kirks, act anent : cause and explanation 
of the, 312. 

of ministers into vacant congregations, act 

against, 353, and Appendix. 
Inverkeillor, case of, 447. 

Ireland, Robert Blair and others retire to, 130. Sym- 
pathy with the sufferings of the Presbyterians of, 
manifested by the General Assembly, 185. 

James V., general character of his reign, 28. 

VI. assumes the full sovereignty, 80. He and 

his favourites begin a series of intrigues against, the 
Church, 85. Supports Robert Montgomery, 86. 
Passes the Black Acts, 90. Eulogizes the Church, 93. 
Assails the Church in the case of Black, 107. At- 
tempts to vitiate the Assembly, 110. Partially suc- 
ceeds, 110. Proposes that ministers should sit in Par- 
liament, 112. Appoints bishops, 115. Banishes 
Robert Bruce, 116. Succeeds to the Crown of Eng- 
land, 118. Prorogues the General Assembly, 119. 
Banishes Melville, 122. His tyrannical proceedings 
against the Church, 122, 123. His death and charac- 
ter, 131. 

VII. ascends the throne, 277. His first Scottish 

Parliament, and its proceedings, 277. Grants tolera- 
tion to the Papists by his own authority, 277. His 
first Indulgence, 286. Second and third, 286. Effects 
of the third Indulgence, 287. 

Johnston, Archibald, of Warriston, assists in framing 
the Covenant, 154. Suffers martyrdom, 223. 

Jurisdiction of the Church in spiritual matters, and over 
its own members, and right to try their conduct, and 
to exercise discipline, 73. Contested by the King, 
88, 106. Admitted by the Civil Courts, 359. 

Kennedy, of Ayr, suffers martyrdom, 27. 

King and Kid, Rev. Messrs., executed after the Battle 
of Bothwell Bridge. 256. 

Kingsbarns, parish of, held by Dr. Arnot, Professor of 
Theology in St. Andrews, 384. 

Knox, John, the Scottish Reformer, accompanies Wis- 
hart, 30. Enters into the Castle of St. Andrews, and 
is called to the ministry, 34. Argues with the Pa- 
pists, 34. Confined to the galleys, 35. Released and 
resides on the Continent, 35. Returns to Scotland, 
36. Departs a.eain to Geneva, 37. Returns finally to 
Scotland, 42. Preaches at St. Andrews, 45. Defends 
himself before the Queen in Council, 63. Opposes 
the Tulchan Bishops, 76. His death, and eulogium 
pronounced by the Regent Morton, ".7. 

Lanark, Declaration of, 265. Its tenor, 266. 

Laud, Archbishop, his influence with Charles, urging 

the introduction of Prelacy and Arminianism into 

Scotland. 138. 



Lauderdale, Earl of, appointed Secretary of State for 
Scotland, 208. Assumes the chief management of 
affairs in Scotland, 222. His final loss of power, and 
the King's remark upon his conduct, 257. 

Lawburrows, writ of, 247. 

Leighton, Robert, made a bishop by Charles II., 215. 
Attempts an accommodation, 239. 

Leith, held by a French garrison, 46. Besieged, 48. 
Surrendered, 49. Convention of, 75. 

Lennox, Earl of, appointed Regent, 72. Killed, 74. 

Leslie, General, appointed to command the army of the 
Covenanters, 166. Is defeated by Cromwell, 199. 

Lethendy, case of, 405. Action of damages, 459. 

Light, the New, or Socinian Party, 377. Their influ- 
ence on the mind of Burns, 378. 

Liberum Arbitrium, negociations concerning the, 422. 
Rejected, 434. 

Lindsay, Secretary, his scheme respecting the patri- 
mony of the Church, 103. 
'Linlithgow, Assembly of, where bishops were made 
constant Moderators, 122. 

Liturgy, riot at the attempted introduction of the, 146. 
Re-introduction by the Prelatists, 327. 

Livingstone, John, remarkable religious revival accom- 
panying his preaching, 136. One of the Commission- 
ers to Breda, his opinion of Charles II., 198. 

Lockhart, George, of Carnwath, his schemes to over- 
throw the Church, 326, 330. 

Lollards of Kyle, account of them, 24. Persecuted, 24. 

Loudon, Earl of, assists at the framing of the Covenant, 
154. Committed to the Tower by the King, 179. 

M'Crie, Dr., publishes the Life of Knox, 387. 

M'Kail, Hugh., his trial, torture, and execution, 231. 

M'Kenzie, Sir George, Lord Advocate, and a violent 
persecutor, 249. Excommunicated by Cargill, 260. 

Macmillan, Rev. John, joins the strict Covenanters, and 
becomes their minister, 335. 

Maitland, William, of Lethington, scoffs at the Propo- 
sals of the Reformers, 50, 60. Joins the Queen's 
Party and the Hamiltons, 72. 

Marnoch, Case of, 407. 

Marrow of Modern Divinity, recommended by Boston 
and Hog, 342. Republished, 342. Assailed by Prin- 
cipal Haddow, 344. Condemned by the Assembly, 
345. The twelve Marrow men, 345. 

Mary of Guise, widow of James V., becomes Queen- 
Regent, 35. Hostilities between her and the Protest- 
ants, 40. Has recourse to arms, 44. Suspended by 
the Convention, 47. Dies, 49. 

Mary, Queen of Scots, married to the Dauphin of 
France, 35. Lands at Leith, 58. Favours Popery, 
58. Interview with Knox, 59. Married to Darnley, 
65. Accused of his murder, 69. 

Melville, Andrew, comes to Scotland, 78. His inter- 
view with Morton, 79. Interview with the King, 87. 
Assistance given by him to the King against the 
Popish Lords, 102. His remarkable address to the 
King, 105. Banished, 122. 

Memorial against Patronage, 338. 

Middleton, Earl of, appointed Commissioner, 208. Par- 
liament held by him, and its acts, 209. And charac- 
ter, 210. His last proceedings, 212. His loss of 
power, 222. 

Middle-Party, rise of, 424. 

Mill, Walter, suffers at the stake, the last martyr of the 
Reformation, 39. 

Missions, Christian, to the Heathen, condemned by the 
Moderates, 380. 

Mitchell, James, attempts to assassinate Sharp, 234. 
His trial, and torture, and execution, 249. 

Moderatism, its beginning traced to the Indulgence, 
285. Greatly augmented by the Comprehension 
Scheme of King William, 305. Its tendency to Ar- 
minianism. 327. Unfaithfulness in cases of heresy, 
340, 348. Opposition to the doctrine of free grace, 
345. Support of patronage, and disregard of the peo- 
ple, 341, 348. Germ of its policy in suppressing the 
freedom of Church Courts, 349. Proposes and car- 
ries an innovation on the mode of settling ministers, 
350. Temporary loss of power, 352. Recovery of 
it, 355. Proposes an augmentation of stipend, but ia 
defeated, 359. Moderate Manifesto, 361. Admits a 
corrupt, Eldership, 365. Leniency of, to immorality, 
370. Favours pluralities, 371. Attempts to abolish 
the subscription of the Confession of Faith, 372. At- 
tempts to abolish the Call, 374. Rise of a tendency 
to Evangelism among the Moderates, 375. Defends 
Patronage absolute and unlimited, and rescinds the 
instructions of the Commission asrainst, 376. Op- 
poses Missions to the Heathen, 379. Discourages 
Chapels cf Ease, 381. Puts an -end to Christian com- 



INDEX. 



499 



munion with other Churches. 382. Discountenances 
Religious Societies and Sabbath Schools, 3S3. Gene- 
raj view of Moderatism as a system. 333. Symptoms 
of its decline. 334. Defeated in the Leslie case. 335. 
Internal disunion. 336. Recent conduct of. see the 
Auchterarder. Lethendy. and Marnoch cases. 

Monastery of the Carthusian friars at Perth demolish- 
ed, 43. 'General demolition of. 45. 

Monmouth. Duke of. commands the Kins's armv at 
Bothwell Bridge. 253. 

Montgomery. Robert, accepts a bishopric, 86. Contest 
between him and the Church. 36. Submits, 83. 

Montrose. Earl of. supports the Covenanters. His con- 
duct at Aberdeen. 175. Joins the Kin?. 173. Is de- 
feated by Leslie, 191. 

Monzie, Campbell of, his Bill, discussion on. prevented. 
440. 

Morton. Earl of, subscribes the Covenant. 33. Devises 
schemes for defrauding the Church. 73. Appoints 
John Douglass to the Archbishopric of St. Andrews. 
73. Appointed Regent. 77. His eulogium over the 
grave of Knox, 77." Enters into a series of contests 
with the Church, 77. His interview with Melville, 
79. Resisns the Regency. 50. His- fall aad execu- 
tion, 82. 

Murray. Earl of, favours the Reformation. 35. Nego- 
ciates between the Queen-Regent and the Congrega- 
tion, 44. Joins the Reformers'and subscribes the Se- 
cond Covenant, 44. Raised to the Regency, 69. 
Assassinated by Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh at Lin- 
lithgow, 72. 

Neilson, John, of Corsack, tortured and executed, 230. 
Neonomians, the. a party of Semi-Arminians. 341. 
Non-residence, such a plurality of offices as to cause, 
prohibited, 387. 

Ochiltree. Lord, subscribes the Second Covenant, 44. 

Opposes the Five Articles of Perth, 125. 
Ormiston, Laird of, Wishart seized forcibly in his 

house, 30. 

Pall ad i rs sent from Rome to Scotland. 10. Died at 

Fordoun, 11. 
Paton. Captain John, his trial and execution. 271. 
Patrick, St.. form of Church Government introduced 
. by him into Ireland. 11. 

I atronage. its introduction into Scotland, 23. Discus- 
sion with the Queen respecting. 67. Unjustly sriven 
<o the Titular Lords, 92. Abolished by Act of Parlia- 
ment, 195. Re-imposed after the Restoration, 210. 
Asrain abolished at the Revolution. 303. Re-imposed. 
360 Still invalid. 330. Professor Hutcheson ; s con- 
siderations on, 370. Address by General Assembly 
for its abolition. 430. 

Peace. Bond of. 233. 

Peden, Alexander, confined in the Bass, 242. His 
death. 235. 

Pentland. risinsr of. its origin. 226. Defeated at Rullion 
Green. 229. Sufferings after the. 229. 

People of Scotland, their deep interest in religious mat- 
ters, 357. 

Persecution of the Church of Scotland, beginning of the, 

203. Termination of the, 291. General summary of 

the effects of. during twenty-eight years. 291. 
Perth, tumult at. and' destruction of the Carthusian 

Monastery. 43. The Second Covenant subscribed at. 

44. Five Articles of. 125. 
Pluralities finally prohibited, 339. 
Policy of the Stuart family, ruling principles of the. 

291. 1 
Poor, state of the. in Scotland at the Revolution. 315. 

Efforts of the Church to relieve the, 324. Effectual 

till the increase of the Secession, 367. 
Prayer, private meetings for. opposed by Henrv Guth- 

ry, 181. Permitted by Assembly, 183. 
Preamble of the Patronage Act, falsehood of the. 

proved. 332. 

Prelacy deceptively introduced into the Scottish Church 
by Morton. 73. By James, 111. Abolished by the 
General Assembly, 170. Re-introduced by Charles 
II, 215. Character of the curates. 220. Their con- 
duct during the persecution, 224—253. Abolished at 

Presbyteries, first erection of. 82. 

Presentation, the first, received after the Patronage 

Act, repelled. 337. 
Protest, the. of the Evangelical and Free Church of 

Scotland. 462. See Appendix. 
Protesters opposed the rescinding of the Act of Classes. 

200. Contests between them and the Resolutionersi 

201. Injurious consequences of this schism. 216. 213. 



Qceeksberrv. Earl of. one of the Duke of York's ad- 
ministration. 267. Commissioner in the prelatic par- 
liament, 277. 

Queensferry paper, the, its general tenor, 259. 

Rabbling Act, the first. 314. The second, its causes, 

Recissory Act. annulling all acts of parliament from 

Reformation besrun in Scotland. 23. Confirmed bv par- 
liament, 50. Finally ratified. 69. 

— . the Second, account of it. 171. 

he Rev. James, joins the Society People, or 
ters, and continues field-preachin?. 269. 
33. His trial, death, and character, 239. 
n, suffers martyrdom, 22. 
;rs support the rescindine of the Act of 



Rem 

Co 



Resl 
Resc 



Classes. 199. Generally guided by expediency, 200. 
Contests of the, with the" Protesters, weakening the 
Church, 201. 

Revivals of religion, 103. At Stewarton, 135. Shotts, 
136. Cambusfang and Kilsyth, 356. Again at Kilsyth 
and other places, 410. 

Revolution, the, 239. Conduct of the Covenanters at, 

Settlement, state of the Church at the time 

of the, 293. General character of the. 305. 

Rhyme, Church built at. in one day, 435. 

Riding Committee, first instance "of the, 341. Second 
instance. 349. Last instance. 360. 

Rizzio, David, assassinated, 63. Note respecting his 
assassination. Appendix. 

Robertson, Principal, his Manifesto, 361. His policy 
and character. 367. 

Rothes, Earl of, his opinion of the prelatic attempts, 
150. Supnorts the Covenanters, 155. 

. Earl and Duke of. son of the former, joins Lau- 
derdale. 222. His death, 260. 

Rough, John, preaches in the Castle of St. Andrews, 
assisted bv Knox. 34. 

Rullion Green, battle of. 229. 

Rutherford. Samuel, banished to Aberdeen, 143. His 

death, 214. 
Rutherglen Declaration. 252. 

Ruthven. Raid of, S3. 'Sanctioned, then condemned, 
by the King, 88. 

Saxdilaxds. Sir James, preceptor of Torphichen, joina 
the Reformers. 36. Sent to France to negociate with 
the Queen. 51. ' 

Sanquhar Declaration, the. its object and tenor, 258. 

Saturday. Black 126. 

Schism. Overtures respecting, and debate, 363. 
Schismatical procedure of the Moderate Partv. 455. 
456. 457. 

Schools, system of parochial, proposed by the Reform- 



ers, 
Aga 
Big 



ired at the Second Reformation. 170 
Revolution. 314. Deficiency of. in the 



before the Reformation. 13. 



sec< 



Fri 



R : ?e 



its the doc- 



te Second. 361. 
320. Violated 
resardins this 



security. Act ot. trie basis ot tne uni 

by the Patronage Act. 330. Rema: 

unconstitutional violation. 330, 331. 
Session, Court of, first contest with the Church of 

Scotland, 93. 

Settlement of a minister without the concurrence of 
the people, the first. 340. The first against the dis- 
sent, 348. 

Sharp. James, sent to London. 205. His character. 205. 
Correspondence with Douglass. 206. Interview be- 
tween him and Douglass. 215. Assassinated, 251. 

Shields, Rev. Alexander, joins Renwick, 285. Main- 
tains field-preachin? after Renwick : s death. 239. 
Received into the Church bv the General Assembly. 
304. 4 

Shotts, Kirk of. remarkable revival of religion at the, 
136. 

Simson, Professor, accused of heresy. 337, 340. Again 
accused. 343. Suspended, 34S. 

Society People, a name given to the Covenanters. 565. 

Spence. William, his trial and torture, 271. 

Spotswood, John, or* of the Reformers, made superin- 
tendent of Lothian, 52. 

. John, his son. joins in the King's intrigues 

against the Church. 110. Made Archbishop and a 
Lord of Session. 123. Made Chancellor. 142. De- 
spairs when the Covenant is signed, and dies, 15S. 

Stark. Helen, suffers martyrdom at Perth, 30. 

Stewart, Lord James; see Earl of Murray. 



500 



INDEX, 



Stewart, Captain James, created Earl of Arran, his 
character, 82. 

Stewart, Major Ludovick, his speech when interdicted, 
428. 

Stewarton, revival of religion at, 135. 

case, stated, 441. Plea of independent juris- 
diction, 441, 442. Decided, 454. 

Strathbogie, Presbytery of, their conduct in the Mar- 
noch Case, 407. Suspended, 409. Sentence of As- 
sembly on those who held Communion with them, 
432, 433, 436. 

Superintendents appointed in consequence of the pau- 
city of ministers, 51. 

Tables, the Four, their construction and use, 151. 
Talla-linn, meeting at, its consequence, 267. 
Teind, Commissioners of the, 320. 
Test Act, the, 263. Its consequences, 264. 
Thomson, Dr. Andrew, his character, 386. 
Toleration, 301, 329, 338. 

Torphichen, last instance of a Riding Committee at, 360. 

Torwood Excommunication, the, 260. 

Transportations, Acts for regulating, cause and expla- 
nation of the, 313. 

Traquair, Earl of, comes to Edinburgh to support the 
prelatic party, 152. His deceptive conduct, 153. 

Turner, Sir James, his cruelties, 224. Seized by the in- 
surgents at Dumfries, 227. 

Union between England and Scotland, proposals for a, 
318. Directions given to the Scottish Commissioners 
with regard to the Church, 318. The Act of Security 
rendered the basis of the, 320. Finally ratified. 320. 
Reflections concerning the new position in which the 
Church of Scotland was placed by the, 321. Violated 
by the Patronage Act, 330-335. 

Violent Settlements of Ministers, first instance of the, 
343. Some of the most remarkable cases of ; — Hut- 



ton, 349; Kinross, 350; Bowden, 355; Torphichen, 
360; Inverkeithing, 360; Nieg, 364; Jedburgh, 365; 
Kilconquhar,367; Shotts,367; St. Ninians,369; Mar- 
noch, 407. 

Visitation of Families recommended by the Assembly, 
Voluntary Controversy, the, 392. 

Wallace, Adam, suffers martyrdom, 35. 

, Colonel, takes command of the Insurgents, 

227. 5 ' 

Welsh, John, son-in-law of Knox, confined in Black- 
ness, then banished, 120. Death of, 128. 
, John, a price set on his head, 242. 

Westminster, Assembly of, its character and proceed- 
ings, 188, 189. 

, Bicentenary Commemoration 

of, held, 468. 

William, King, his character and views, 299. His death, 
and remarks on his policy, 317. 

Willock, John, joins the Reformers, 36. 

Wilson Margaret," drowned near Wigton, by command 
of Lagg and Windram, 281. 

Winram, John, sub-prior of St. Leonard's, favours the 
Reformation, 27. 

Wishart, George, account of him, 30. Preaches at 
Montrose, Ayr, and Dundee, 30. Accompanied by 
John Knox to Haddington, 30. Suffers martyr- 
dom, 32. 

Wodrow, Robert, the historian of the persecution, his 
instructions, to Erskine of Cardross, 342. 

York, Duke of, afterwards James VII., appointed to 
the administration of affairs in Scotland, after the fall 
of Lauderdale, 257. Excommunicated by Cargill, 
260. His cold cruelty, 261. Acts of the parliament 
held by him, 263. His last visit to Scotland, 267. His 
saying respecting the only method of pacificating 
Scotland, 269. 



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